Does your horse eat sand? And do you know why?

In winter, horses can sometimes have problems with sand in their intestines. This can lead to diarrhea or even painful sand colic. Of course, it is important to treat a horse that has sand in its belly, but it is even better to address the cause. Do you know why your horse eats sand?

Eating sand and sand colic seem to occur particularly in autumn and winter. One reason for this is that horses sometimes graze on short or bare pastures, bringing a lot of sand with the grass roots. The transition from pasture to stable and (boring) paddock can also lead to increased sand intake.

Six reasons for sand licking

If your horse is consciously licking sand, there can be six possible reasons:

• Silicon deficiency
• Deficiencies in other minerals
• Boredom
• Worms
• Insufficient roughage throughout the day
• Learned habit

Silicon deficiency leads to eating sand

Silicon deficiency is common in horses. Silicon is an extremely important mineral for the production of collagen and therefore for tendon tissue, connective tissue, bones, and cartilage. Your horse cannot absorb silicon from sand for use in its body. It naturally occurs mainly in absorbable form in green plants. But a horse with a silicon deficiency will try to resolve that deficiency by eating sand. It knows it needs it, but doesn't know that sand doesn't help! You can safely supplement a silicon deficiency by giving your horse a hydrolyzed, liquid silicon supplement. This is easily absorbable. Silicon is especially important for pregnant mares and young horses that are still growing.

Other minerals

Your horse may also have a deficiency of other minerals, such as zinc or iron. Horses need small amounts of many different minerals, known as trace elements. Because a lot of pasture land in the Netherlands is mineral poor, many horses have a deficiency in some of these substances. They simply no longer contain all of them in sufficient quantities in our roughage. A great way to supplement these types of minerals is to use a liquid concentrate of Bering Sea water. It contains over 85 elements and fulvic acid from the Bering Sea, which is very clean. Most of the salt is removed from this concentrate. It contains many more minerals than regular salt licks. Especially if you see your horse digging for special layers of earth, such as black soil or red sand, a mineral concentrate may be a good solution.

Want to know more about the other possible reasons for sand eating? Read this blog:

https://askheltie.com/6-oorzaken-waarom-paarden-zand-likken/

Treating your horse with psyllium against sand? Then also read this article:

https://askheltie.com/psylliumkuur-tegen-zandkoliek-vaak-veels-te-laag-gedoseerd-bij-paarden/