Some number of months ago I posted that the pony was obsessive on the salt lick, would lick for hours on end, and was in turn, drinking a ton and peeing the same amount. She was turning her stall into a swamp in just one night in.
Well, I took the salt block away from all of them for awhile, just to see if I could break the habit.
A few weeks ago, I saw Bay digging and nibbling dirt, as he's done every once in awhile before. He digs a big hole and licks the bottom of it... I always suspect it's a salt/mineral thing he's craving when he does this, so we bought a salt/mineral block and put it in the paddock on Saturday. All of them went after it at first, the two horses licking at it awhile and then leaving it.
The pony, however, has gone right back to staying at it for hours. She's barely been out to graze today, and then only when one of the other horses ran her off the block.
Look how much is eaten just since Sat. She's rounded off all the corners, she just bites big chunks off with her teeth in addition to licking it.
Unless you know of a health risk immediate with ODing on a salt mineral block, I've sortof decided to let it play out for a few days, just in case she's really deficient and will eventually reach a level where she's not craving it. I'm skeptical about that though. Maybe she'll tire of it... maybe she'll wear all the skin off her tongue and quit then.
It's just a relatively new behavior, salt blocks that size used to last me a year.