Hey everyone, We recently built a horse shelter. We used treated lumber, but I got a new horse and he's chewing it. He chewed most of the way through a 4x4. Is there anything that I can put on the wood? I thought of waste oil, but thought I'd check on here first. Any input would be great.

Kreosote (not sure that is spelled correctly)
Make sure not to gt it on your clothes as it won't wash out. Gasoline will clean it off your hands.

Wood chewing is caused by a couple of different reasons. One is boredom and the other is a mineral defeciency. Before I would try any treatments to the wood, I would try a treatment to the horse. Get a bag of good mineral that can be fed free choice. Mineral salt blocks don't do it. They are trace mineral blocks meaning there is a very little bit of mineral added to the salt. Get the horse accustomed to eating the free choice mineral and within a week or so the wood chewing will go away if it is a mineral problem. If the horse still chews on wood, then it is a boredom issue.

Get the biggest bottle or bottles of Tabasco and saturate the wood with it. Tabasco is such a good treatment for this, a person can buy it in gallon jugs at most race tracks. As far as chewing through the 4 X 4, I would suggest getting that fixed so the barn doesn't collapse. You can take pieces of angle iron and attach it to the corner edgesof exposed wood. It doesn't have to be very thick iron, just enough to cover the wood. Horses that chew wood won't chew on steel. Buy the irons in 4 foot pieces and drill holes every 16-18" and screw or nail them to the wood.

Kreosote is hard to come by these days. There is some health waring that they tagged with it to make it inaccessable. It is messy and will leave permanent stains on clothing. This problem is why I am not a fan of wooden structures around horses.

There is another cause, NW, although it is rather rare, but not unheard of.
Wood chewing can also be a symptom of Photosynthitization, an illness that most always ends in death...however, wood chewing is only one of several symptoms with this paricular illness...colic and sensitivity to the sun, cracking skin on most or all whie areas of the horse, ie; legs, nose, etc.
And there is no known cure, one can only try to make the horse comfortable.
Rest in Peace, Sunnyboy...los to Photosynthitization 2006

BTW, my mustang likes Tabasco, strange as that may be..I once found him walking around sucking on an old empty bottle he found in our pasture (had to have been blown in by Wy winds as we don't use it) he didn't want or like me taking the bottle away from him, lol. But then, he's a strange little fella, given the choice, he would eat sage brush and Russion Olive over green grass.


Ridecowgirl, NW is right thugh, if you can treat the cause, you're better off.....but imo, it wouldn't hurt to treat the wod AND treat the horse as NW suggested at the same time sice he won't be cured over night.

Creosote is a dangerous substance. I'd not want my horses eating it!

Absolutely, your horse might be eating the wood from a mineral deficiency or from boredom. So, if loose vitamins/minerals (mixed with salt) don't work, you can deal with boredom by giving him something else to chew on. If he likes to play, you could get him one of those horse balls. If he isn't a player, put a bale of straw in with him and let him eat that instead. (He will.)

Then again, maybe he's a cribber, pure and simple. If so, get one of those anti-cribbing halter-like thingies et voila! Problem solved!

Creosote is a carcinogen, by contact or if ingested. You might try wrapping the wood in chicken wire. If your pony is a cribber you'll never cure him, you can only hope to control him.
Is this your only horse, he might have a mental problem if he's not with other ponies. All ponies are herd animals, some more than others.

I was reading one of my other horse magazines and there was a quick tip:

"To discourage wood chewing, rub a strong-scented bar of soap on the wood. The smell and "yuck" taste are enough to repel most equine palates. If the soap trick works on your horse, you'll save having to purchase more costly anti-chewing chemicals." "Catie McCormick, Washington"

I've used a hot pepper solution before, like tabasco and it worked for my bored chewer, but it is easy to get on you and can burn if not careful.

Obviously, I did not know this...learn something new everyday I've never used it myself, but have often heard of it being used.

I live less than 1/2 mile from a creseote plant. Reckon I'll be dead soon. Maybe not, been here 39 years so far!

Thanks for all the tips! I'm going to get some minerals, but I think the problem is boredom. Also, the frame of the shelter was pressure treated pine and the siding is hardwood. My husband used hardwood to cover any exposed pine and we haven't had any problems with either horse chewing. ( I have two) They do chew on trees out in their pasture, but I think the reason for that is that there's lots of snow on the ground all winter, and they only get fed twice a day - they can't just browse around on dead grass. Just got back from a visit to Tennessee - boy I miss the winters there!