Anne,

I dont know about horses, but Ive been told by a few different bear hunters that they have had deer feed on the fish that they put out for the bears. Seeing how horses and deer are similar,( I think they are both ruminants?)I dont think its that unusual for your horse to nibble at yummy meat tidbits just like the deer. There must be a nutrutional reason for this behavior.
Fordfreak

Does he eat the rabbits?

I saw a doco that showed Girrafe chewing bones to get the minerals out of them. Perhaps your horse is lacking some mineral?

Animals can be bizzare, can't they? Now that I think of it, if I throw bumpers for my lab to fetch in the pasture the chickens will also chase after it. The lab always beats the birds to the bumper unless I hold her. It is funny to watch them scatter when I release her and she makes a bee line for the toy. She never goes after the birds, but they always try and get the bumper first.

My shephard, who cannot be let loose, lived on a chain for awhile until I built a kennel. A ruffed grouse used to spar with him all the time. A hawk eventually got the grouse, but it was fun watching it play with the dog. He would pounch the bird each time it flew into the dog's face. They would do this for hours. I am sure the dog was playing as he never put his mouth on it but the bird was defending it's territory. Too bad I didn't have a video cam then, would have been awesome footage.

I have also heard of deer eating baby birds from the nest.

Last night I had some old bread that was donated for my chickens, they did not like the green flatbred (green from being made with spinach). So I offered it to Playboy, my deer-bone-eating horse, he ate it.

Bakes,

No, he doesn't eat them but definitly makes a mess of them.

He's fed plenty as well as all the suppliments he could wish for. We spoil our horses here. He used to be very unfriendly to anyone but me, always pinning his ears and looking unpleasant. Now he seems to like everyone and looks to please.

Maybe he does it out of boredom.

My horse, Red, developed the nasty habit of killing young calves by picking them up by the neck and shaking them until dead. He was also extremely inventive about getting out of the paddock in order to get to the calves, to include undoing three sets of secured doors and/or gates. We finally had to sell him because of the cost, plus he once dangled a visiting child by the hood of his coat for awhile.

Horses can be mean, and have bloodlust. I've also had horses that were emotionally disturbed, and addicted to drugs, and/or alcohol.

Perhaps one of our European correspondents can give us the specific horse and rider but...

I remember that there was a horse that bit the face off a Russian (?) soldier during the Crimean (?) war. This horse was apparently well known for his "agressive" tendencies.

Fascinating topic.

If I sit down to eat anything while out riding, my begger of horse will come and beg until I give him some. Often it has been a piece of jerky. No big deal to him. I always assumed he craved the salt in the jerky.

I've packed Elk on him and watched as he turned and licked the blood of the paniers.

I have read that the Mongol's fed their horses meat.

I also had a gelding that was absolute death on any rat or mouse that he caught in his stall. I suspect that he resented them trying to steal his grain.

I have also had several horses that hated sheep, and would actively try to stomp any of our sheep that got into the pasture. Since one of my chores was to care for the meadow maggots, I always rooted for the horses, and would have helped on several occassions if I had thought I could get away with it.

I suspect that much of this behavior has to do with a territorial or competative instinct.

Perhaps he just liked to hear them squeel......sorry just kidding

Quote:

---

Now he seems to like everyone and looks to please.

---

He's stoned on bone

If he was unfriendly before and is friendly now perhaps he was lacking something. Whatever he's getting from the bones may be just the thing he needs, animals seem to know what they need.
Of course it could be boredom, is he by himself in the paddock? Animals do weird things to amuse themselves, he could just have a nastie streek. We've had a few dogs like that.

Bakes, nope, he's not alone, shares with 39 chickens. Two of them are big roo's.

After reading the responces here he doesn't sound unusual after all. My mom just told me her horse kills turtles.

Still bizzare.

It's bitter cold here now and the chickens are locked up for the day due to the sub zero wind. Don't want my eggs to freeze before I can get them either. With them locked up the horse is on his own today but he can see the dogs in the kennel if he goes to the front of the turn out.

When he was cowboying my brother had a quarterhorse/thoroughbred cross that would eat meat. When you were packing him, you had to be a little careful or he would chew chunks off the quarters. He liked to chew on fresh hides to get the meat scraps off, too. He, like your horse, was well-fed and vetted -- he just liked meat. I think many herbivores may be a little more omnivorous than we might believe. MO Dept of Conservation put cameras out over quail nests a few years back to figure out what the primary predators on quail nests were. Whitetail deer came up about number three on the list, as I recall. They liked to eat the eggs and chicks.

Stay warm...sounds like it's colder there than SE Alaska!