Wind Sucking

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Hi I am only new to the forum & got a quick question.

My mare is a wind sucker, She never done this before until we sent her to a dealers yard to sell & he starved her for 2 weeks until I found her in skin & bone... since then she wind sucked & box walked - I've stopped her from box walking but her Habbit of sucking is still on going... Is there really any cure..???? Or would I be wasting money.? This wind sucking will happen out in the field and in the stable - she has lots of feed but still continues..
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Thanks
 
Its probably because of stomach ulcers. If a horse goes without food for even a few hours the stomach acid can attack the lining of the stomach and cause ulcers. Even though she now has more food the ulcers may not have healed.
The best thing to start with is remove all cereals from the diet as these dont help. Feed ad lib hay, even in the field as not much grass at this time of year. Any hard feed should be fibre based. Alfalfa is a good feed because the calcium it contains buffers excess acid.
Your vet could endoscope your horse to see if ulcers are there and how bad they are. There is a treatment called gastroguard but it is very expensive. Here is some more info on herbs that can help:
http://www.rockenhayne.com/page6.html
 
I'd strongly recommend Coligone which is specifically designed for just this situation and is safe to give even on a regular maintenance basis. PM H's Mum for more info. The other thing to think about is that stereotypical behaviours such as this release endorphins in the horse's brain, which is why it is not adviseable to try to prevent such behaviour unless you first address the aspect/s of the horse's management that has given rise to it. The endorphins give a degree of numbness/well being to a stressed horse that enables it to cope a little with the unnatural management being forced on it. Unfortunately, this feeling of artificial well being can be highly addictive to the horse, and it will often continue the stereotypical behaviour even when the original cause is removed.

I'd try the Coligone to make sure any stomach ulcers were eased then try to ignore the windsucking while you return your girl to a much more natural way of life with as much turnout (with company) as you can and as high a level of good quality forage in her diet as possible. The idea is to get her back to being a horse. The windsucking may never go away but hopefully, when she is allowed to be a horse again, it should subside and maybe only pop up now and then at times of stress eg competition, moving fields/yards etc. You may detect a pattern if this happens so you could give a preventative dose of Coligone say for 3 days before your girl moves fields (I do this with Sunny after a gassy colic attack last spring).

Good luck but try not to worry too much, just let her relax back into being a happy, natural horse - oh and I'd certainly cross that dealer off my Christmas card list if you know what I mean! Good luck hun x
 
Hi all,
Sorry I haven't replied sooner - my computer was broke..
Thanks for your replys &amp; suggestions;
Is the Coligone / gastroguard an on going treatment i.e is it to be given EVERYDAY b4 food? If so I think it would work out very expensive..
Another quick question I have looked at the key ingredients &amp; if i went to a herbalist to make a replica - do you think that would work??

CHEERS!!
Kaso
 
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