MY HORSE LICKS THE DIRT...
My 2, Tom and Henry, dig a hole in the grass, and lick the mud underneath. Then, after it's rained they paw the ground to make it bigger and roll in it!
This is a rare enough occurrence that I had yet to catch them doing it with a camera or phone in my hand until John snapped them tonight, but they do it often enough that the spots they choose can be easily spotted...one dent in each field.
The general thinking and subsequent advice about licking the ground is to provide a mineral or salt lick, since it is thought your horse does this to provide his body with trace elements he isn't getting in his feed...whether that is just grass or a high fibre, forrage based diet. The chances of a horse fed on a preparatory horse mix or balancer, lacking certain minerals and salts would be very unlikely since they are designed with the whole nutritional needs of the horse in mind, and generally contain a broad spectrum of minerals and vitamins.
...we spend a lot of time worrying about our horses...but here's a thought... why not just let him lick the ground?
It’s natural, it does them no harm and undoubtedly he gets more from it than just the taste, it might be something a horse likes to do, and has proved a successful way to add minerals and salts to their diets for thousands of years......long before mineral licks?
When mine dig a hole to lick, often just after rain, quite large ones licking down to the clay layer that's not far from the top here in Essex, they’ll roll in them too once they’ve filled with water after the rain!
Let your horse be a horse, what possible harm can it do him? He knows far more about the needs of an animal that’s been around longer than we have. It worries me how we 'interfere' in our horses lives to the point where a simple learned evolutionary behaviour is thought ill advised by us humans. let your horse be a horse.
I have mineral and salt licks available too, but if my horse wants to lick the dirt, I think that’s ok.
Lesson: don’t assume human involvement is better, and certainly don’t go filling the hole in like some have suggested in the many horse forums, you’ll ruin his fun! Here is an old location, now has grass growing in it and this is where the cats like to roll.
It’s natural, it does them no harm and undoubtedly he gets more from it than just the taste, it might be something a horse likes to do, and has proved a successful way to add minerals and salts to their diets for thousands of years......long before mineral licks?
When mine dig a hole to lick, often just after rain, quite large ones licking down to the clay layer that's not far from the top here in Essex, they’ll roll in them too once they’ve filled with water after the rain!
I have mineral and salt licks available too, but if my horse wants to lick the dirt, I think that’s ok.
Lesson: don’t assume human involvement is better, and certainly don’t go filling the hole in like some have suggested in the many horse forums, you’ll ruin his fun! Here is an old location, now has grass growing in it and this is where the cats like to roll.
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