What is people's problem with weavers?

It's just annoying... if you're easily annoyed by that sort of thing.

Thats what I think anyway unless of course it is a mental case in which case it should probably be put out of its misery but I assume it's rare...
 
Damage to the legs.
Expensive to feed as they tend to be worriers/weave the weight off
Damage to bedding as they tend to create a mess
All the bad pointers..
 
My mare weaves - she never weaved until she had to have long term hospital care and then box rest for months. Now if she's in for more than 5 minutes she starts. however it only seems to be when others are moving their horses or when I'm around. I've hidden and watched her from where she can't see me, and when I go out of sight, she stops....so I think it's that she associates me with feeding her and turning her out and going hacking and it's just excitement/stress....I turn her out as much as possible and when she is in, I try to make sure that my gelding is in with her so that she has company and I give her a feed ball and lots of haylage to keep her occupied. It's distressing to see, although she never loses weight. It's supposed to be awful weather tomorrow where I am , and although she's out 24/7, she'll be coming in for the day tomorrow. So I'll hack her out first thing so that she's had some exercise to occupy her first and then get my other horse in to keep her company. It's awful to watch, but I'm learning to manage it as much as I can. If she had been a weaver when I bought her, I would never have bought her though.
 
Suziq77 said:
Sorry I didn't mean to be ignorant about the "copying" thing, I honestly thought it was true from having seen a number of weaving TBs when I was younger and being told that they had picked it up from each other - as an adult I can appreciate that perhaps the way the horses were managed in their early years led to the behaviour developing.

I can see how upsetting it would be if other liveries made a fuss about your horse and it's really interesting to hear that even when kept with a chronic weaver horses haven't picked it up. That certainly makes me happier about stabling at shows (no I'm not a lead rein mum but I do have baby horses which I worry about).

This has certainly been an interesting thread and I hope I didn't inadvertantly offend anyone. You certainly do learn something new every day......:)
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Sorry if I sounded rude. I don't expect everyone to know and I certainly wasn't offended. I just expect livery yard managers to know better. Because ultimately it's their job and all!

Were they racing TBs? There is research into the heritability of the trait going on at the moment and the idea it runs in families has been postulated.

Obviously most likely down to the stress they were under but its a theory I find quite interesting :)
 
I think the predisposition for stereotypies is inherited, but it's not a given that the horse will weave if it they have that predisposition - management does come into it.

We've got two weavers and it really doesn't bother me. We manage round it and they live out full time. As a previous poster said, it just means they'd rather be out doing. Or in Spud's case, he'd rather the food got to him quicklier.....

H's dad didn't weave but his stable name was 'Noddy' because he would nod all day, and many of H's (half) brothers also demonstrate stereotypies (not so much the sisters though - maybe because potential broodies were more likely to live out whereas potential colts were more likely to be stabled during their formative years). Lots of horses have a stereotypie that's not weaving - nodding, box walking, lip licking, wood chewing, head tossing, door banging, pawing, yawning, bucket throwing, jangling a clip or a tie ring over and over, etc etc. They're all variations of the same thing: a repetitive behaviour that the horse exibits when its stressed.

Incidentally, do any do your weavers also weave under saddle? Spud will weave with his back end if he gets to a puddle or something that he doesn't want to cross, and if H is very excited and wants to get going, he'll weave in walk or trot if you give him a long rein.
 
I had a horse that would weave in the field, he would weave up and down another horses back, he would weave on the end of a lead rein he was out 24/7 - I wouldn't buy another one, but I think he was an extreme case.
 
I had a weaver for 3yrs and she did my bl00dy nut in!
she would weave at a wall, over the stable door, whilst tied up, in the wagon, even when you were sat on her she'd weave! I would possibly get another that weaved but one that wasnt as bad!
 
I think most people have been made vaguely aware somewhere in their psyche that other horses copy weavers, windsuckers, cribbers, etc. Whether it's true or not, it's like horsey-folklore!
 
Weaving can be prevented with management! I have a weaver who will do it when stressed, hungry or at feed times. As he lives in (not ideal I know but he isn't all that bothered) I break his day up for him by short bursts of turnout (even if its just out in the sand school), ad lib hay and before the yard gets fed he gets a snack ball thrown in, that way he isn't stressing about being fed. He's also in a quiet spot but where he can still see lots going on. I also dont agree with weaving bars, mirrors can help though.
 
What do insurance companies think of weavers? This would be what would stop me buying a known weaver tbh.

There is a very nice eventer that's been for sale for over a year and is now at a knockdown price. I was going to look this time last year when it was advertised for more than double what it is now until the owner told me on the phone that it windsucked occasionally. My insurance company immediately said they would not cover anything digestive - including colic - so I didn't go to even look.

Just wondering whether the same could be said of a weaver with regard to any insurance exclusions?
 
i think most peoples problems with most vices is due to the myth that they are 'catching'.
my mare sometimes weaves out in the field at feed time, it's so rare tho that i actually forget she does it from year year to the next. i would imagine that if she were stabled it would become more pronounced, but i rarely stable her as i know she doesn't like it;)
 
I really hate weaving, it reminds me of seeing animals in the zoo swinging from side to side in their cages, I just can't bear seeing a horse doing it.

My ex-racer is a bit of a stress head & she does weave if she's upset & in the stable but she lives out with me so it's not a problem.

I wouldn't stable a weaver but that's down to my hatred of seeing it, I wouldn't blame the poor horse. I always keep my horses at grass livery so I wouldn't be put off buying one as long as it didn't do it whilst turned out
 
My boy weaves. When he's stabled it's an activity thing - if someone's at the yard before me they usually feed him, but then his routine says he should get turned out or get ridden - when this doesn't happen, he goes back to weaving.

In winter he goes out at 7.30am and comes in at 5pm but he'll weave at the gate from about 4pm, when the other horses start coming in.

During the summer, he's out 24/7 but still weaves at the gate a.m and p.m when he's expecting his feed.

We're on a small yard - when we were at a larger yard he was actually a bit better in his stable (as long as he was in a fairly quiet spot).

The difficulty we have is his current field companion is a good doer so I can't feed in the field as much as I'd like now the grass has dropped off. Hopefully this rain will get it going again and he'll calm down again.
 
I had a horse years ago who weaved for Britain - we had a large yard and none of the others ever started weaving. He suffered no wear and tear to his front legs either. But after driving us mad for ten years or so we had to move him in to one of two small stables made in a little barn and he never weaved again! He was next door to his girlfriend and they could touch and I think he just loved it. He was not a stressed horse at all so we never knew why he did it. I would probably not chose to have another one, but of all the vices it is the one I would worry about the least.
 
I bought a weaver, she is a stressy type on occasion and that's when it starts. She has a stable mirror and rarely does it now. Only if there is some unusually loud noise that she can't see, but she does it up and down the wall and is in a secluded stable. Messes up the bedding on occasion but I also forget that she weaves as it happens so infrequently. She gets loads of turnout and is excellent under saddle.
 
Lucinda_x said:
I was at Exeter horse sales the other day and saw a nice looking ex-racer who weaved. It made me wonder, what is people's problem with weavers? I've never had or been on a yard with a weaver so could someone enlighten me? :)
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back in ye olden days weaving was tantamount to murder, and if you had a horse that weaved you cured it by shooting it :eek: it was generally believed that every horse in the yard would copy the weaver, and it'd be all downhill from there... they'd damage their front feet and/or legs, and shoulders, they'd sweat up, loose condition and eventually they went quite mad and became dangerous, and you had to shoot them. :(

Nowadays we know better, other horses won't copy a weaver and how badly it's legs, feet and shoulders are 'damaged' depends on how badly the horse weaves...

I saw a pony weaving one time, she was quite the pro, hopping from one front foot to the other and swinging her head violently left and right. But she only did it if she could put her head over the door...
 
Years ago we had a weaver in the yard - the good old brick on a rope was tried and we cracked up when we realised how he dealt with it.

Instead of being socked in the head by it when they met - he would give it a nudge, set it off swinging and then get in time with it.
 
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