Weaving- do horses copy?

S

starry94

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 December 2011
Messages
168
Visit site
Sorry if this has been done before!
The horse in the stable next to mine goes through random stages of weaving when he's in, I have heard that horses may start to copy, is this true?
 
Mine has a tendency to weave if the yard is busy and she is not getting any attention. Six others can see her, some of them are very stressy, but none of them has copied her. Another one cribs, and none have copied this, either :)
 
There is no solid answer as it is a question that's totally up in the air with opinions and research.

Personally, I would like to say no, but I can't say that's the definitive answer to such a question. My mare has lived opposite the same horse for three years that weaves along with other vices and she has never copied. Nor have I noticed copying take place in any other yards.

I also wonder with some owners who say their horse has started to copy, if it's maybe always weaved or developed it for other reasons, and they are looking for something to blame.
 
No, I've always believed horses end up with similar vices because they're subjected to the same stresses not learned behavior. Mine spent from 2-10 stabled next to my friends windsucker & has been stabled near horses who crib & weave too & has never shown any inclination to copy.
 
Our tb weaves when stressed the appy, ours, next to him was on box rest for lami tried to do it as after 3 weaves he stopped shook his head and carried on kicking the crap out of the stable door instead :D
The others havent and i think the appy was just trying out a new thing to see if it would get him more hay.....the word diet was evil as far as he was concerned.

X
 
It's not copied.

People suggest it's copied when several horse begin doing it at the same place ie a racing yard.

However the behaviour begins because it is the horses way of dealing with their routine, and as the racehorses all have the same far from ideal routine then they start to respond by weaving cribbibg etc.
 
littlelegs said:
No, I've always believed horses end up with similar vices because they're subjected to the same stresses not learned behavior. Mine spent from 2-10 stabled next to my friends windsucker & has been stabled near horses who crib & weave too & has never shown any inclination to copy.
Click to expand...

Agree...:p
 
I believe its hereditory, not the vice but temperament. I have never known a horse copy a vice but i do know of foals out of mares with vices who have started with vices (sometimes different vices) when stabled and brought into work.
 
I used to look after a show hack many years ago who used to weave badly, none of the other horses copied it.

My daughters first pony used to crib badly, again none of our other horses copied.

Both are vices and Langford University came and looked at our pony with a view to using him in a study, they were of the opinion that it was heredity as studies in racehorses in USA could follow lines where there were cribbers and other stable vices.
 
The logical thought is that while a horse will not automatically copy this behaviour, if that horse has that tendency then it can be kicked off off by another horse doing this. Despite numerous studies and trials, no one can be really sure what will kick it off or how to reduce the behaviour. I personally think that a lot has to with the breeding. There is a well known event stallion and I had one of his offspring. I knew a further 4, all in different yards, all had never known anything unpleasant. All cribbed. Badly. Two ended up,with surgical colic.
 
I think the predisposition is inherited.

Spud inherited his weaving off his dam and H off his sire. Other horses by H's sire that I've known have done something - if not weaving, then box walking, nodding, etc. Felix (Spud's brother) we've had in on box rest a couple of times and he's coped, and touch wood he hasn't weaved but he does become a serial bucket thrower.....They just like to be out doing.

If you're worried, just make sure that your horse has a varied active life with lots to occupy him if he is in.
 
I wonder if there's any studies on whether its a predisposition to react badly to stress. So not so much an inherited vice as an inherited inability to cope with stress? (Or more correctly cope with stress in a non physical way)
I can see the logic in it being copied in a foal & dam situation but it would be interesting to know if the foals continued after weaving or grew out of it.
 
I took a lot of flack for having a cribber when in one of horsey colleges, we were in the DIY block and the others carried on so bad the ym put the full grill on the door :(
I also knew a colt that weaves he was next to my pony
Between the two horses that I spent a long time around that had vices there was not one horse that coped the vice :)
 
Well I have a mare that cribs every now and again. She was horrible when I got her at 3. She was treated for ulcers and remains on a stomach thing. She's had 4 foals and none have grown up with the habit. Including one who ended up in terrible circumstances before finding a good competition home and my competition mare.

So I personally don't believe it's an inherited trait. But maybe it's the circumstances they grow up in. I would not consider my mare stressy but she was done poorly before I bought her at 3. Also very hungry. None of her children grew up in that environment. I just don't know. Personal experience says no. But any time we have a horse who develops issues we want to blame anybody but ourselves. FWIW, I've seen the problem exasperated by trying to control the issue. Like hot-wire on stable doors, cribbing collar, ect. Stella hated a collar and it made her worse. So treated her internal issues and ignored her. Now she only does it an odd time. I have a single wrapped chain in front of her door and electric fencing outside so not too many options.

I also have a weaver that came to me at 9 with this habit. He does it very little now. Waiting for feed. I bought him from a person that kept top and bottom doors shut the whole time. To date no one has picked up the habit.

Terri
 
littlelegs said:
I wonder if there's any studies on whether its a predisposition to react badly to stress. So not so much an inherited vice as an inherited inability to cope with stress? (Or more correctly cope with stress in a non physical way)
I can see the logic in it being copied in a foal & dam situation but it would be interesting to know if the foals continued after weaving or grew out of it.
Click to expand...

I think most horses do something when stressed. Feed time, for example. Some paw, some kick the door, some toss their heads, some box walk. It's a rare horse that just stands there like a robot ;) They're flight animals, and they are hard wired to move when things get stressful, be that 'good' stress or 'bad' stress. I think some are more hard wired that way than others, and that's where the inherited tendency comes from.

That said, both our weavers are absolutely bombproof and love being out and about. H actually weaves under saddle - walk or trot along on a long rein and he'll bob his head from side to side. That's excitement though as he can never wait to see what's round the next corner. Ears jammed forwards and a spring in his step.

Spud didn't actually weave while he was on his dam, and they spent much of the time out anyway. It was after he was weaned, when he hit the show circuit on a big scale and was stabled 24/7 as a growing colt that he started weaving. We ended up with him aged 7 because he'd got so stressed by being stabled that he not only weaved like a booger but he also came up in a bubble rash type skin reaction. We're 8 years down the line now and he will at least stable if he has to.
 
I looked after a broodmare and both she the two offspring of hers that I knew all weaved. I thought at the time they were copying her, but nothing else on the yard weaved. It had never occurred to me that it may be hereditary, and not having come accross another weaver, I never gave it another thought. Interesting.
 
My TB will only weave if she sees another horse doing it but I don't believe it is copied by horses who don't have stress related vices. My horse primarily box walks when stressed/left in 24/7 and never weaves or cribs unless she sees another do it then she copies. So I wouldn't want her near a weaver or crib biter but wouldn't mind if my other horse could see one.
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Well I have a mare that cribs every now and again. She was horrible when I got her at 3. She was treated for ulcers and remains on a stomach thing. She's had 4 foals and none have grown up with the habit. Including one who ended up in terrible circumstances before finding a good competition home and my competition mare.

So I personally don't believe it's an inherited trait. But maybe it's the circumstances they grow up in. I would not consider my mare stressy but she was done poorly before I bought her at 3. Also very hungry. None of her children grew up in that environment. I just don't know. Personal experience says no. But any time we have a horse who develops issues we want to blame anybody but ourselves. FWIW, I've seen the problem exasperated by trying to control the issue. Like hot-wire on stable doors, cribbing collar, ect. Stella hated a collar and it made her worse. So treated her internal issues and ignored her. Now she only does it an odd time. I have a single wrapped chain in front of her door and electric fencing outside so not too many options.

I also have a weaver that came to me at 9 with this habit. He does it very little now. Waiting for feed. I bought him from a person that kept top and bottom doors shut the whole time. To date no one has picked up the habit.

Terri
Click to expand...

And I don't agree at all. I do thinks having researched as much as I could that some cribbing can be traced to ulcers etc and feed can help, but equally I have seen horses ( like the ones I mentioned earlier) who have always been looked after well, not near cribbers etc and still manifest this behaviour. The only common trait was they were all out of the same stallion.
 
Eater young- that's what I was trying to get at. Several horses can be in the same environment but all exhibit stress differently. So some deal with it in a manner that quickly ends when the cause is gone, some suffer longer lasting symptoms. Just like any temperament trait can be inherited, I could easily believe that some horses inherit a nature that inclines them towards habitual stress relief, rather than an inherited vice. Which would fit with equilibrium irelands post of the foals raised in a stress free environment & your own experience. Don't mean they'd have to be a stressy horse, the worst two windsuckers I've known were both ploddy beginners horses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top