Chew Chew Chew

One of the most annoying things that horses do when they are stabled or yarded is to chew wood. Not all of them do it, and some do it more chronically than others! Most of the time it just looks ugly and is something that they do out of boredom, but sometimes it can also be an indication of deficiencies in diet ( most likely copper), stomach troubles or teeth problems. If you've ruled out these things, then maybe it's time to put something to stop your horse chewing on the fence, and give him some toys to amuse him, a little extra work wouldn't go astray either!

Recently I have come across two of the worse fence-chewers I have ever had the (dis)pleasure of looking after. We gave them CaCoLiv ( OralX company makes this) to ensure there is no copper deficiency and had teeth and general health checked. Now we have 2 healthy horses eating through nearly a rail a day, (Needless to say the rails are pine - this never happens with hardwood!!!) out comes the crib-stop pastes.
There are three shelf-ready products available to me to use for this purpose:

1. Crib Paste - worked for a day while it stayed thick and creamy ( and ugly), the rain got to it and it turned the rails fluro green! This seemed to work ok on the inside rails, but it melted on hot days and needed to be reapplied constantly.
2. Crib Stop - stayed on in the rain, and all over the horses! It's bright red so my boss didn't like it very much. They didn't even flinch at chewing straight through it, and I discovered I am allergic to it. Yay for me :(
3. Red Hot Liquid - This has soap and herbs in it, and I can tell you it made those rails smell so good it didn't surprise me the next day to find the rails had been eaten twice as much as the day before. I even tried to up the anti with this one and put some detol in it as well, slowed them a little but not much.

Nothing left to try! I know sunlight soap works a treat to stop them, but can only be used inside as it washes off. What next???

A customer at the shop was talking to me about detering possums off her fenceline, and told me vaseline and curry powder works amazingly. The possum treads in it, tries to clean it off it's feet and gets a mouthful of burning goo instead! I LOVED it!!!

Since I'm a cheapskate, and vaso costs to much in the amounts I had to use to paint the fences in it, I looked through the store and found some out of date "Farrier's Choice" hoof grease. Lemon scented and a greeny tan colour, it had just the right consistency I was after - GOOOO!
Found some Massala powder at home, powerful stuff, I can smell it from 20 meters away I'm sure, mixed the 2 together and presto. Cheap anti crib paste that matches the fence colour, stays on in the wet and actually stops the little bastards from not only eating the fence but actually putting their face near it.

Thanks Possum lady!


I'd just like to give anyone putting up fences a word of warming. Rounded rails are easy to chew, they are really not suitable for horse fences, they're also a real bitch to attatch electric fence insulators to, so it's a double bogey! Use hardwood. Treated pine may be cheaper in the beginning, but let me assure you it will cost more in the end. The nice soft pine can be munched through so fast you'll think your horse owns a chainsaw. Fences should be made of striaght, flat hardwood. Not only will it look better for longer, be safer and be easier to secure things onto it, hardwood is also more difficult for white ants to attack, and staves off rot better. Try painting with a paint that has a tar base, Kentucky Fence black is a fantastic product, as it will repel water and has a very acidic taste ( yeah yeah I accidently ate some) which your horse will not enjoy!