Can a horse windsuck without anything to hold on to?

[Jambarissa]

Highland on my yard, in the field. Lifting it's head probably as high as it goes and making sucking/gulping sound.

Owners are aware. I can't think what that could be?

 

[TheMule]

Highland on my yard, in the field. Lifting it's head probably as high as it goes and making sucking/gulping sound.

Owners are aware. I can't think what that could be?

Yes, that’s what windsucking is
Holding something and drawing air in is crib-biting

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Yes they do I've seen a few do it one gelding used to look like he did it on his tongue almost as it would hang out the bottom of his mouth.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Wind sucking can come in different forms, Cortez on my last yard used to flap his lips while sucking in which was a form of it

 

[poiuytrewq]

Yep, my little pony wind sucks a lot, he never grabs anything though.

 

[Jambarissa]

Never seen them do it without holding on. Altho Tbh never really seen it on turned out horses.

Wonder what's changed.

 

[splashgirl45]

I have a theory that cribbing/ wind sucking is linked to cushings. Just based on my mare, she started crib biting after I’d had her for about 8 months, nothing had changed in her management.. fast forward 6 years and she was diagnosed with cushings, after about 2 months on prascend she stopped cribbing and never did it again…

 

[SEL]

Yes - used to be on a yard where a mare would just start in the field and do it. Cross between a cough and the hiccups.

 

[ycbm]

I have a theory that cribbing/ wind sucking is linked to cushings. Just based on my mare, she started crib biting after I’d had her for about 8 months, nothing had changed in her management.. fast forward 6 years and she was diagnosed with cushings, after about 2 months on prascend she stopped cribbing and never did it again…

Cribbing is linked with stress and the Cushings will have been causing stress that was relieved by the medication.
.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Never seen them do it without holding on. Altho Tbh never really seen it on turned out horses.

Wonder what's changed.

One gelding in the yard next door to me stands at the gate of the field and constantly cribs and windsucks on the wooden post.

It can be a sign of ulcers.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I have heard that they can windsuck in the field with nothing at all to hang onto. I have never seen it myself though but I am sure it happens.

Come to think of it, in getting on for 70 years of ownership of many horses and ponies I have never owned a winsucker or cribber. I guess I have just been very fortunate.

 

[Jambarissa]

I have never seen it without a post . Just standing in the middle of the herd in a field full of grass doing it. I thought he was choking!

He's young and healthy and well managed. They had him on quite a strict diet earlier in the year but he's been a good weight for a while now.

 

[BBP]

Yep I have known a couple do this. My youngster started to ‘hiccup’ when worried and would then thrown himself on the floor and roll. It was actually wind sucking caused by anxiety, I think because he was holding his breath so there was some disruption to the diaphragm causing him to intake air. The rolling was trying to relieve the gut discomfort.

 

[Lois Lame]

Yep I have known a couple do this. My youngster started to ‘hiccup’ when worried and would then thrown himself on the floor and roll. It was actually wind sucking caused by anxiety, I think because he was holding his breath so there was some disruption to the diaphragm causing him to intake air. The rolling was trying to relieve the gut discomfort.

I used to get the hiccups every morning in my first job (dental assistant) after morning tea. Reading your post, I'm now thinking that it was because it was tricky to sip my coffee inbetween moments of being needed. Sometimes I would sneak a look at a horse magazine at this time. We had no formal break for morning tea - you just gulped it when you could - and I felt that surely it was okay to have a quick look at Horse and Rider or Hoofs and Horns or whatever it would have been back then. But no. My dentist boss grew very read in the face once when he opened the door of the nurse's room to inform me that he didn't pay me to read horse magazines.

 

[Lois Lame]

But, back on topic, I've never seen a horse windsuck without also grabbing an object, but there you go.

Windsucking is due to stress, but I've heard that the stress can be caused by a horse not getting enough roughage. Not getting enough roughage means they are not producing enough saliva, which in turn means that the stomach's acidity is not getting enough of the alkaline saliva to make it feel more comfortable.

 

[scats]

The term wind sucking originated from this, the horse gulping air whilst not latching on to anything. I’ve seen a few do it but far more seem to crib.

I’ve owned 2 crib biters but both arrived as such. They both were both fed ad-lib hay, given plenty of turnout and lived as stress-free lives as possible but they never stopped. Both had had questionable pasts before me, however, so I do think their behaviour was from previous stress. But it was a deeply ingrained habit by the time I got them and they carried on.

 

[Lois Lame]

The term wind sucking originated from this, the horse gulping air whilst not latching on to anything. I’ve seen a few do it but far more seem to crib.

I’ve owned 2 crib biters but both arrived as such. They both were both fed ad-lib hay, given plenty of turnout and lived as stress-free lives as possible but they never stopped. Both had had questionable pasts before me, however, so I do think their behaviour was from previous stress. But it was a deeply ingrained habit by the time I got them and they carried on.

Yes, that's the thing, once they start they never stop. The habit is forever.

 

[splashgirl45]

Yes, that's the thing, once they start they never stop. The habit is forever.

If you check my post mine stopped so there is a chance they will stop, mine had been doing it for over 6 years and stopped ,

 

[Auslander]

If you check my post mine stopped so there is a chance they will stop, mine had been doing it for over 6 years and stopped ,

i had one here, who was a terrible cribber - to a point he had no top teeth at all. He cribbed like a demon until his 29th year, then we noticed that he'd stopped completely. It seemed to tie in with feeding him protexin, which we started after a series of digestive issues. He didn't crib at all for the last 3 years of his life

 

[splashgirl45]

That’s interesting Auslander, seems like there is hope for some , I am sure mine was due to cushings symptoms , but I wasn’t aware she had it until she was 20 so she didn’t do it for her last 5 years , wish I had realised before as I could have made her more comfortable

 

[MagicMelon]

One I had would crib holding onto something, however I did see her a few times making the gulping noise as she pulled hay down from a haynet. I personally wish Id put her on a supplement for gut health looking back now. As otherwise she was not a stressy pony, had always lived out 24/7, had a pretty relaxed life!