Wind sucking/ crib biting neighbour - would you be worried ..

[Spangles]

that your horse might copy ?

 

[Echo Bravo]

I had a crib biter and I now have a box walker do my other 4 copy no

 

[Asha]

We owned a crib biter onc, none of my others copied either. We had a mixture of youngsters too. I just found it really annoying. So for that reason wouldnt have another on the yard.

 

[Spangles]

Would I be within my rights to ask the livery yard for a windsucker not to be stabled next to our horse who is on box rest at the moment and I'm worried is getting tetchy so might find it fun to 'have a go'. And once they start, that's it ...

 

[Squeak]

There has been a huge amount of research disproving the theory that horses copy these types of behaviour. I've had a wind sucker for years and no horse has ever copied him.

 

[Goldenstar]

I have had horses who learned to open doors from watching others .
I have had horses who learned to bang doors from others .
I have had a horse who learnt to grunt when ridden from another .

I don't care what the research says I will never ever allow a windsucker or crib biter on my yard.

 

[AppyLover]

There was a cribber in the same field as my boy he was doing the same thing within a few days and he had never ever done it before. I don't really know much about cribbing etc but I believe he learnt it from his field mate and it took a good few months for him to stop once he left and they were together maybe 3 weeks max drove me nuts luckily he hasn't done it in some time *touches wood*

 

[Spangles]

I've read varying opinions and want to ask that the windsucker is not stabled next to our horse ... I just don't want to risk it, we're having enough a to deal with in a stressful situation. Will I be poo poo'ed ? I want to stand my ground on this but ultimately it's a livery yard and it's up the the managers. How can I approach this. Help ?

 

[Enfys]

I find windsuckers/cribbers incredibly irritating, for that reason alone I would not want to have a stable anywhere near them, in fact, if I knew about them I would refuse the stable altogether because it gets to the stage where all I can hear is them grabbing and sucking - it literally drives me nuts.

That my horse might copy them would be the least of my concerns.

I had cribbers at my livery yard, I refused to have them in my stables, or tied up in the barn because they would destroy it, I had watched them do it. No horses in the barn, or adjoining paddocks copied them. The owners denied they did it, when we sold I was thrilled to see her moaning on FB that they were eating her barn

 

[SusieT]

Is this a new situation? Ie has this horse always been stabled next to yours?

 

[Spangles]

No, the horse is new to yard but in isolation at the moment. I saw it wind sucking today but ws told it doesn't do it that much. It was certainly going for it when I was watching.

 

[quirky]

I find windsuckers/cribbers incredibly irritating, for that reason alone I would not want to have a stable anywhere near them.

I have one that has turned up in the next stable. Dear Lord, I just want to staple his gob together.
The irony is, they tried cribox, it works. They don't use it...why?...cos it gets cribox on his neck.
I merrily plaster it on if I'm down and he's going at it. Makes for a happier horse and a happier me.

I am moving off anyway (got a house with land) but if I wasn't I'd be looking for a new yard.

My horse shows no signs of copying thankfully.

 

[w1bbler]

Worked at a yard years ago with a chronic windsucker. Yes its annoying, but he was the only one of 40+ horses that did it, so they dont appear to copy.

 

[Red-1]

I have had horses who learned to open doors from watching others .
I have had horses who learned to bang doors from others .
I have had a horse who learnt to grunt when ridden from another .

I don't care what the research says I will never ever allow a windsucker or crib biter on my yard.

^^^ This. I had a youngster that was owned for a year with no problems, a weaver moved next door, and within a couple of weeks she had learned :-(

 

[twiggy2]

I have worked with those that do it, we used to give them a solid base to access to use and make the rest of the stable unusable-just ignore them the more settled they are generally the less they do it unless there is an underlying cause such as ulcers.

OP once settled in at the yard and out of isolation the horse may indeed rarely do it, it often increases at times of stress, a yard move and isolation (terrible for any horse) are probably making it a lot more frequent.If you are worried then speak to the YM/YO they may understand your concerns. I have never seen it copied but I have never stayed long on yards where horses are kept in such a way they are bored or stressed enough to look for such an outlet and I don't believe that horses copy from a distance if at all.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

As a YO, I would rather deal with a burper/cribber than a fence runner any day, so much so that I will never take in a fence pacer, ever.
Had a few weavers/cribbers/burpers over the years and not had a problem either in or out in fields. If a hardened criminal, they went out in a paddock ring fenced in electric, so nothing to grab onto, tho one managed to still cope by hanging onto the water tank.

OP, I really have no problems in stabling one, have not had anything pick these habits up. However - door banging CAN be catching..... :mad3:

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

The horses here are in full view of the 2 windsuckers and they windsuck a lot both these horses windsuck on the door using their chin and pulling door back. = Not 1 has copied so I am happy they won't

Incidentally my boy is stabled next to one of the winduckers and in full view of the other, he has made no attempt to copy.


I would rather have a windsucker than a door kicker any day, which is why my new mare has a quitkick to stop her.


Door banging is a def no-no on this yard especially at 0.600 am

 

[_HP_]

Ime they don't copy...

 

[stormox]

My 5yr old had never windsucked or cribbed in his life till I took himtolivery at a yard where there was 2 crib-biters opposite him in the American barn. He started 5 days after arriving there and hasnt stopped since.

 

[wkiwi]

I have had horses who learned to open doors from watching others .
I have had horses who learned to bang doors from others .
I have had a horse who learnt to grunt when ridden from another .

I don't care what the research says I will never ever allow a windsucker or crib biter on my yard.

This is usually referred to as 'social facilitation' rather than copying i.e. the horse hasn't learnt the behaviour (as it can already do it) but the other horse has triggered it (in the same way that when one rolls the others then roll). Still VERY annoying though when it happens, whatever it is called.
Another complication is operant conditioning combined with social facilitation, which can definitely mimic copying to the extent that careful research is needed to rule it out (e.g. groups of birds appearing to copy others breaking the foil tops of milk bottles to get the cream - LOL not everyone reading this will even remember glass milk bottles with foil tops stabbed by the birds before you get out in the morning). True copying hasn't been found in any species lower than the higher mammals, (and possibly only a few species of those), although if your horse is prone to weaving etc. then another horse weaving might trigger it to start again.

 

[claracanter]

Interesting reply wkiwi.

Yes I remember those milk bottle tops..haha

I have a cribber/windsucker and none of the others on his yard have ever copied although I've had a lot of owners worried that their horses will.

 

[kc100]

My 2 year old is opposite a windsucker and has never tried it, and has been watching this horse at it for over 6 months now. He is more interested in eating his haynet (and then his bed when the hay has gone!). I will admit though he has learnt certain behaviours from his field mates, so they can learn certain things....I think it just depends on the horse's attachment to the other horse and the horse's temperament. Mine only seems to learn from horses he is in the field with, as these are his 'friends' rather than just a horse he is stabled opposite.

However if you are adamant you dont want your horse near the new horse you are just going to have to talk to the yard owner. They may think you are being a bit over-dramatic but as the yard owner they do have to listen to their liveries and ideally try and make them happy where possible, without happy liveries everyone would leave and they would have no business. It just depends what the options are for swapping stables - the yard owner may have no other options than putting the new horse near you so in that case you'd just have to get on with it.

 

[Charlie007]

I have a cribber, had him eleven years. Nothing has ever copied him. I have a new horse as well and I'm not at all worried

 

[bluebellfreddy]

Some horses are prone to crib Bitting and some are not. Horses will pick it up off other horses if they are prone to, But most horses will not think about it. And will therefore not pick it up. I would not worry unless you see your horses starting to crib, then ask for it to be moved.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I spoke with my vet a while ago about 'wind sucking' & crib biting' & he assured me that these vices are not copied by other horses. It's an old wives take that they are. He has won vet of the year & also writes articles for various horse magazines including H&H.

 

[_HP_]

Usually, if a horse appears to have copied another, it probably would have done anyway.
Cribbing and windsucking starts off as a response to pain and stress/boredom, so quite often horses kept in a similar environment may appear to copy but may actually just be somewhere that doesn't suit them.
I had a tb that had cribbed all his life (before i got him)so nothing was going to stop him....he used to crib on my other horse....none of his field mates copied.

 

[Zipzop]

This will be no help whatsoever but just a thought. If they do copy each other I think I'll rig my DVD player and tv up in his stable and leave him watching Grand Prix dressage.........

 

[HashRouge]

My old mare has lived with my sister's horse, who crib bites, for three years, just the two of them, and she's never shown the slightest sign of copying.

 

[Asha]

Regardless as to what others experience have been, and mine included. If I was in the OP position, I wouldn't be happy. Firstly it's annoying, but more importantly, if your horse for whatever reason does start with this behavior , then the value / sale ability of your horse drops. Protect your asset.

 

[MagicMelon]

I used to have a wind sucker, none of mine ever copied her and that included a very easily influenced youngter at the time. What I would do is immediately turn the windsucker / crib biter out 24/7 (if it was my horse). I don't believe they copy, I think if another horse started doing it it would be purely coincidence (and to probably look at ulcers).