So I was out dragging one of my pastures last night and noticed my horses have dug some very deep holes!!! Like knee deep holes. Ive seen them digging before but never really thought to check the size of them and they've now dug several.

Looks like I'll have a weekend project....carrying dirt out to these holes

Why are they doing this?!

My horses will dig holes to eat the grass roots...

I find it so strange...are their any benefits to eating grass roots? LOL. Makes me worry about how much sand/dirt is in their gut.

I would say they are lacking something. Are you feeding mineral and salt.

Yep! I have salt and mineral blocks out plus Redmond licks in their stalls. I feed Triple Crown Senior now along with MVP Exceed 6 way and Gastroplex daily, excellent quality timothy hay 24/7. I was thinking about putting an Equipride lick out but my local store was out of them. Last time my gelding was infront of one of those, it was gone in no time so I'm hesitant to get one again.

Are you sure it’s them?  The neighbors dog decided he needed to try and bury deer carcusses in our hayfield a few winters ago.  He didn’t succeed and left with the carcuss, left us with the hole.

We dont have any stray dogs that I've ever seen....I've personally watched them dig one of them. My colt likes to fling the dirt as high as he can. The weird thing is, they arent very large holes, just really deep!!

We get holes after the ants decide to move their beds, are you sure it is the horses? If so they are needing something, even if it is just something to keep from being bored.

Skunks will dig holes all over the place too. I wonder if it's them or some sort of critter?

GROUNDHOGS!! Sounds like this could be the cause, the suckers had taken over the place we recently purchased and I’m still trying to get them under control. They’re a nightmare, the holes they dig could easily break a leg, some of the ones I’ve seen could swallow one of my 85 pound german shepherds too. It’s crazy what they can do for being so small. 

This was AFTER multiple bags of soil. That’s a full size shovel too in order to get an idea of just how massive their holes are.

Oh my gosh!!! Skunks, we have a lot of. Groundhogs?! Wow. Didnt know that. Looks like I'll be putting up trail cameras to find out who the true culprit is. I always see hoof prints in mine but who knows. My colt sees a hole and see's it as a playground! Thanks for the ideas!

They may be "playing" in the hole thats already there but if they are digging that deep on their own somethings up.

I'm in central MN and the skunks around here are bad (make sure your horses are current on rabies vacs!) badgers can be a problem too. We have had skunks tear up our yard and dig up my plants in the garden every year about this time to get grubs and such. Try putting out a live trap and see what you get.