Windsucking

[ponytales]

Just to get some conversation going - I read somewhere that horses with this habit often have stomach ulcers. The windsucking then releases endorphins which relieves the pain.

Unfortunately the horse gets addicted to the endorphin rush, and even if the underlying cause is removed, it is difficult to break the windsucking habit.

Who has successfully cured a windsucker and how?

[Anine]

I've heard that windsucking CAUSES the ulcers, the windsucker doesn't eat and will rather windsuck, so the stomach is emptier than it should be.

OR that a horse that is prone to windsucking is also prone to ulcers. aka a nervous/tense horse.

[Salinero]

I've never had a windsucker but I do believe they can be cured. Put them in a big (acres and acres) field with a herd. Voila! I don't see horses in the wild windsucking?

[Anine]

Sal: I think if you catch it quickly enough a big paddock and a herd will certainly help.
but sometimes it becomes such an ingrained habit that it cant be cured.

Evie's new horse is a cribber. he wears a miracle collar in the stable.

he goes out in a BIG paddock with about 5 other geldings and he'll crib any chance he gets. the other boys run about like lunatics but foxy will run a big circle to the nearest tree-stump or fence post and stand cribbing

[~WaKi~]

My one friends horse wind sucks!
He is a warmblood and has been wind sucking for 4 years and he is perfectly healthy!

People often say that it is caused by bordom but this warmblood lives out and has 24 hectars to graze on! He only comes into the stable for feed and to be tacked up!!

So I really dont know what to think about it???

[deandra]

you need to isolate the source of the problem. find out why the horse winsucks and eliminate the reason. if he does it out of anxiety or stress or just plain boredom. windsucking in the paddock could be because he is nervous, doesnt like being alone, or is just bored. maybe put a soccer ball in the field with him, teach him to play with it or put him out with another horse or a few horses. if he does it in the stable, put him out asap in the mornings and bring him in as late as possible in the evenings. plating the stable door with a steel door-cap may put him off windsucking or even painting the door top with chilli sauce. try to keep the horse entertained as much as possible. thats the only thing i can suggest. and if he's nervous, try find out why and fix it.

also remember, horses pick up habbits from other horses. if there is a horse within his view, either in the stable or in the paddock, who windsucks, he's probably picked it up by imitation.

[Salinero]

Anine, no, that's not what I meant. He is still in the stabled/riding/human environment. The "cure" I'm suggesting is to really put him out in the veld like the wild horses are. Is not feasible with a horse you want to ride, I know (especially not a TB), but thats what I think will work. To ride them, we really just have to bite the bullet and live with windsucking and try to keep them as happy, healthy and occupied as possible.

[Jubes]

a friend of mines TB used to wind suck. She eventually had him living out 24/7 on 10 acres, stopped riding him, he had a herd for company and he still wind sucked. On the water trough on the paddock posts. I thik he did it for the attention even if it was negative not that he didnt have lots of love but he was an extremely jealous boy.

I think once they have it its very hard to stop

[deandra]

living out's the best remedy but obviously it depends on the type of horse

[Salinero]

Interesting Jubes ... well, there goes that theory then! All though I still think it would help for some horses! ;D

[**....laura.....**]

Not to be nasty to a wind sucker but i would never buy one..... i have had alot of expiriance with them and they are soooo hard to get condition onto...
We tried everything from a 24 hectre paddock to a huge farm with heards of horses to the miricle coller....EVERYTHING
He was getting fed five small meals a day and wasent being ridden cause as soon as you did he would drop condition immeadiatly.
In the end we put him in a big paddock with electric fencing.... it helped for a bit but then he taught himself how to suck in the air without grabbing onto anything.
so that was that idea down the drain.
He is now in retirement at the age of 8 and happily still windsucking he gets 8 meals a day his last meal being at 10 at night his first at 6 in the morning... he is looking healthy but the vet has advised as soon as the wind sucking gets way out of controll and he loses condition he should be put to sleep as he has got massive stomach ulcers which were caused by bute and he was in such pain that he took up wind sucking which has obviously made it worse.

Oh wind sucking can cause ulcers because of the stomach acid, it should be breaking down food and instead the stomach only has air in it so it starts eating the stomach wall away.

[evie]

Foxy cribs, but he is a very interesting case. He's been at our stables for about 2 years now, and was bought by the previous owner as a very neglected horse. he had nice paces and an incredible mind, so she felt sorry for him and bought him anyway, although he looked like sh!t and cribbed very badly.

They had him vetted with scoping the whole works, and according to the vet, he was cribbing because of hunger as well as boredom. He was at a dealer's yard (a notorious one to boot) where he was only a number, and this is one of those horses who absolutely thrive on human contact. In fact, I think it would really take him a very long time to get over being chucked out in a huge field, with minimum human contact. He gets very attached to his humans.

At this dealer's yard, he became totally uninterested in people, although he was never nasty or anything. Dealer realised that this will probably make him harder to sell, so started feeding him less, so he would start assosiating people with food more, and show more interest in prospective buyers. Bottom line, he started cribbing as the air filled stomach made him feel fuller, and probably it was a way to pass the time for a horse that was obviously feeling very alone.

He's since improved a million fold: he still has some food issues, al be it that mainly that food is very important and he feels the need to stuff his face frantically 24/7. (at least he doesn't LOOK like a cribber!). He will still try cribbing without his windsucking colour, but is good about it when he is wearing it. I've now bought him a lick-it, so will see if that helps him in the stable. He will still do back flips for anything edible, and he just loves human companionship.

And vet is happy that he is very healthy.

[Buffy]

I have owned 2 windsuckers. I have not managed to cure either. One thing I have to disagree with is that it is automatically taken up as a habit by other horses. My old jumping horse was a wind sucker. I then picked up a mare that windsucked with a very young foal at foot. He was less than 2 months old. My horses all live as a herd. The foal obviously spent time with his mother and when she died he adopted my old jumping horse as his mom. Besides him being confused about what sex his mother should be he has never wind sucked a day in his life and neither have any of the horses that I had with them and it was just one or two. Mixture or TB's and WB's. My old jumping horse was so deparate that he would try and wind suck on my arm if he could. I definitely think he had ulcers before he started windsucking. It is not easy to have a horse like that in the yard but I dont regret having him for a minute. He was a wonderful horse.

[dee]

My junior horse windsucked for the whole 12 years I had him and was fat as a big. Panda is also a windsucker and Panda can windsuck without biting on anything - a real pro. He is quite thin and has ulcers. Girgenti wore a collar but unless I had it so tight that he could hardly breath it didn't work. Interesting what you say about other horses Buffy. When I got Girgenti he didn't windsuck but the horse opposite him in the stable did and he picked it up within a month of my buying him.
There is a horse at our yard now that windsucks on anything an everything and he is really skinny. I suppose (based on my experience) that it all depends on the horse. Panda only windsucks in the stable and Girgenti would windsuck anywhere.

[Buffy]

Like the others said previously, you need to get to the route cause of the wind sucking. With the two horses I had they were already wind sucking when I got them and we tried to treat it from there. The rest of my horses should never have had any reason to be predisposed to wind sucking. The werent stressed or under any type of trauma. Also none of them were / are the nervous type. And they live out as a herd in summer. So not much chance of boredome. Who can say what triggered your horse to start. You knew him best so you will probably have the best chance of finding a possible cause. He was obviously heathly in every other way.