horses eating woodshavings

Question
I have three horses eating wood shavings in a stables.  I was interested in the answer given but as the horses are not at home with me and I cannot change their diet without changing stables, my question is "if they eat wood shavings, will this develop into a health problem?"  The weather is hot and the horses should be put out every day (I can't check this without being there every day) but grazing is very limited.  They are given a hard feed in the morning and at night and about 8lbs of hay at midday.

Kind regards
Kerry

Answer
Hi Kerry,

Thank you for your question.  Horses may eat their bedding for a few different (or combinations of) reasons.  Horses may eat their shavings if they simply do not have enough to eat.  They may eat wood shavings if their diets don't have enough effective forage in their diets, that's to say not enough long stem forage like pasture or hay.  They may also consume bedding as a habit if they don't have access to enough natural grazing behaviour.  Often these situations exist in combination.  From what you are describing, these three horses are experiencing all of the above.  An average 1000lb horse should eat about 18-19 pounds of hay per day or about 60 pounds of fresh grass.  I'm not sure how much hard feed their getting, or even what is in it, but 8 pounds of hay per day does not sound like its nearly enough.  If the horses are not being turned out, they are also missing the behaviour of grazing.  

So eating bedding is not normal but it certainly does happen and in the case of wood shavings it can develop into digestive problems.  Wood shavings are made up almost exclusively indigestible fiber.  Large amounts of indigestible fiber can lead to a horse developing impaction colic as the shear mass of shavings volume can block the horse's hindgut.  The only way to stem the behaviour is to eliminate its cause.  They should have at least a few hours of turnout daily and must have access to forage at all times.  A horse should never go more than 4 hours without feed and if they find themselves in that position they will improvise by eating whatever is available.  In your case, you may need to speak to the stable owner or consider finding alternate accommodations for your horses.

Thanks, Corlena