Windsuckers

[JadeWisc]

Ok, I have lived my whole life (32 yrs) been around hundreds of horses (if not thousands) And I have no idea what a "windsucked horse" is. Call me ignorant, but what the he(( is this so called vicethat I keep hearing about on this forum. Is there a different term for it in the North American regions of the world?

 

[PapaFrita]

Horses that've been/are stabled for long periods of time often develop this rather nasty habit (PF got it when she was in training) Horses in question arch their necks and gulp air (like one does when one is preparing to burp... not that you or I would know ANYthing about that sort of thing!!) Some horses (crib biters) do the same thing, but grab the fence/stable door/ other convenient bit of wood at the same time. In doing so they tend to wear down their front teeth. The noise they make is like an inwards burp.
Whilst some people believe windsucking (like weaving) can be imitated by other horses, I've never ever found this to be the case.

 

[JadeWisc]

Ok, ignorant here again....but could there be a common link with the air quality? Perhaps the urine or the dust from bedding??

 

[Tia]

I don't think so - I think it is generally acknowledged that it is a symptom of stress and or an internal problem (ulcer etc) or a mental issue as by doing it this releases endorphins within the horse which gives it satisfaction like we may have from smoking a cigarette or eating a bar of chocolate.

I think we don't see it much over here in North America because people tend to leave their horses outside for most of their lives, only bringing them inside on the rare occasion.

 

[PapaFrita]

What Tia said, but can also be caused by diets that are higher in concentrates than fibre.

 

[JadeWisc]

hmmmmmm....so many ailments with our friends!
I think there are both pros and cons to every horse keeping theory.
In, Out
this feed, that feed
I guess we never stop learning.Much like being a mother to a child. There will always be another Challenge or distress to make us learn. There will also , surely, be a reward from it all (much like children)

No "ONE" method is ever "right" No "ONE" horse is ever "perfect"
one CERTAINTY....they will both cost us a FORTUNE!! lol
Not sure how this fits into this post, just had to say that. .

 

[Tempi]

i did have an open mind on this until the girl whos got a stable next to Bloss's brought a windsucker........ Now this one cribs and then sucks off the wood if you see what i mean. He reaches his head through to Bloss's stable (As his is covered in cribbox so he cant do it on his) and sucks off her side - last night i spent ages of my time putting cribbox all round Bloss's stable and this morning hes still doing it and has managed to eat his way through half the partition in the night.

IMO its the most annoying sound in the world - im sorry but i just couldnt put up with it.

I do however know that you can try and reduce it by making sure they arent in a situation where they can windsuck - by putting electric fencing round there field so they have nothing to suck off can help - altho some will just stand and suck off nothing. It depends really how bad he is tbh.

 

[sherwood']

well i thought that it wouldnt be a problem as i had found the most perfect horse. he was 4. i got him on loan for a week and he colicked twice. the second he was minutes form ebing put down but my vet was so excellent he survived. Needless to say he went home as i was a direct consequence of the windsucking.

The owner actually offered him to me for free ( he wasnt cheap) but i said no as you wud never know when it would happen again. Maybe before a big class etc and not worht heartache. thats my view anwyay

 

[H-J]

I used to have an eventer that windsucked and the noise never bothered me at all and he was very talented, he was beaten before I had him and stabled and as a result windsucked. I did end up selling him as he reached PN level XC and didnt want to go any further but was a very talented dressage/SJ and the windsucking only annoyed me when I had chosen to sell him! And now I hate teh noise!! But when I had him it was fine and it made no difference to him, no other horses picked it up and it made no difference to his competing. I also know a very sucessful dressage/show pony who windsucks and again it causes her no trouble at all. I would go for it, a good way top get a talented horse cheap, you could prob knock more off the price too, good luck x

 

[Tierra]

My concern would be how much you end up paying for him. Whilst its clear from this forum that it doesnt bother some people and drives others crazy, thats going to be an issue when / if you try to sell him on.

You dont want to have a large chunk of cash invested in an animal that you then cant get rid of. Sooo, I wouldnt pay anymore than you are willing to lose completly if you cant get rid of him again.

 

[Tufty]

I agree with the point about selling the horse on . I took the view that I would keep the horse for a very long time when I bought my windsucker because I would never previously have looked at a horse with a vice and I think the majority of people feel the same, that is why you always see adverts with price reductions hence " is known to windsuck on occasion !"unless you are thinking of turning this horse into some amazing eventer or talented showjumper etc, in which case you will probably have a queue when you want to get your money back then think hard, if you buy him you have little or no chance of curing this vice and unless someone falls for him you will have big problems selling him. I have written my money off already but dont care because I have just sold a horse that has no vices and to all intent and purpose was lovely except I did not get on with him and would rather have my windsucker any day !

 

[Nic]

What if I told you they were asking 3k?

 

[buckybee]

I think it’s really quite shallow that the main reason people are put off by cribbers/wind suckers is that they make an annoying noise!!!

I think on the whole scale of things it doesn’t really matter, we’ve got three horses on our yard – one cribs one weaves and one just tries to kick the door down (v.v. annoying!!!) but they are all super stars so they can do what the f**k they want in there spare time for me! I don’t try to stop my horse cribbing but I do find it difficult to keep weight on him in winter, I don’t think this is connected to his cribbing but I couldn’t be sure on that.

The main thing to consider IMO is that you might find it difficult to sell him on, and will probably not get as much money, but I think when he gets more experience under his belt his wind sucking will matter less. Personally I wouldn’t pay much more than 3k for him. He’s not done very much and if things didn’t work out, you could do with being able to sell him for a similar price to what you paid for him.

I wouldn’t have been able to afford my horse if he didn’t crib, and to be honest I’d rather have a talented/nice horse that cribs than a plain/boring horse that doesn’t!

Good luck!! I think you should go for it!!

 

[Tia]

Shallow? Oh so if everytime you went out with someone who burped and farted during the whole of the time you were with them day in and day out, are you saying that it wouldn't annoy you?

Windsucking is a vice - why are they a recognised worldwide vice if what they do is so inconsequential?

 

[Nickymac]

If you're confident that it's the horse that you want and you think it's going to do the job you want it to do, then £3k sounds like a good price to me. If you were buying it as a project to sell on, then you can see by the number of responses on here (ranging from outrage to indifference) that you may have a problem.

I bought H at the age of 3 out of a field and he started windsucking as soon as he was brought in to be backed. He only does it for a couple of minutes at a time, normally once he's eaten but it doesn't bother me (or anyone else at the yard). I know that if I were to sell him his good points would far outweigh this quirk, or in most people's eyes I'm sure they would.