Windsucking - Advice

ArabianGold

ArabianGold

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I have a 15 year old TB mare who is a pain for windsucking. She has always done it and I brought her knowing she does it.

I am not to worried at all about the windsucking, I'm a smoker so human or animal we all to have our bad habits.

I get her teeth checked yearly if not more often and the vet comes frequently to have a good check over her.

HOWEVER other people on my yard especially the owner wants me to "ideally" do something about it, as I must admit she is pulling top rails off in the field and causing damage to fences. I can't put the rails back on quick enough. They apparently are fed up with walking past the field seeing my poor mare stood at the fence sucking and not grazing. I have had everything suggested to me from collar, to herbs and smacking her everytime I see it. (which in my eyes the person that suggested that nearly got a smack themselves).

She can't wear a collar because she has a scar on her neck from a sarcoid and it causes the collar to rub and bleed which re-opens the scar which I don't particularly want.

Like I said I am not too fussed about her doing it, but I don't know if there is something I can try that I haven't heard of or not seen or do I just ignore the comments from others on the yard and let my mare do it..

Any advice would be great because I kind of feel in the wrong for letting her do it at the moment.
 
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Cover every surface possible in 'cribox'.

That's what my friend does. Her boy still windsucks in the stable on his trough, but he doesn't damage anything.
 
I have put a strand of electric tape along the top rail in my paddock- this stops my horse. I have left a small out of the way area for him to chew/suck on as like you say if its an ingrained habit its a bit unfair to suddenly stop them.
My o/h is in the process of making a "windsuck station" as he called it- a large solid chunk of wood at the right height that we dont care about so he can destroy without me feeling guilty about protecting the fencing!
 
ArabianGold said:
There is part wire on most of the post and rail, but the occasional rails that don't.

The thing is we change fields on a monthly basis, and some fields are up to 12.5 arces thats a lot of cribox. I will deff get some though and try it on the smaller fields that she is in.
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Ooh dear, you might need a barrel full of the stuff then!

Funnily enough the other day I was at a yard and they had a massive lump of wood- okay, more like the majority of a tree trunk- it was about 2ft diameter, surrounded by a band of happy cribbers/windsuckers. Whether that was the reason for it I don't know.. it was quite strange because there were also a number of horses wearing anti-windsucking collars too!

Anyway, that aside, not sure. I'm sure you'll get some good ideas here though!
 
Have you had her checked for ulcers? There was a report that said that TBs were extremely prone to them. I use Coligone for my windsucker, he is not a cribber, and that has drastically reduced his windsucking. So much so that the only time he windsucks is when he gets excited or stressed, as opposed to every few seconds. If you search for Coligone on here you will come up with loads of people who use and recommend it.

This is an article explaining ulcers in TBs.
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=11638

Hope your mare is okay,
FDC
 
Firstly, she is a cribber, not a windsucker. ;)

Secondly, there is a theroy (which is gainily alot of evidence to support it) that cribbers often come down with colic if you stop them cribbing altogether, because many of them are cribbing due to ulcers.

So, I would get the Vet to scope her for ulcers.

I hate the anti-crib collars. A cribbing station (as suggested above) plus electric tape around the rest of the fence would be best, but it would be quite an expensive task, especially when it's not your land. :(

The other option would be to talk to the YO, say that you're getting her scoped and that you'll continue to fix any damage to the fences. Tell the other liveries that they do not have permission to hit your horse.
 
Faracat said:
Firstly, she is a cribber, not a windsucker. ;)

Secondly, there is a theroy (which is gainily alot of evidence to support it) that cribbers often come down with colic if you stop them cribbing altogether, because many of them are cribbing due to ulcers.

So, I would get the Vet to scope her for ulcers.

I hate the anti-crib collars. A cribbing station (as suggested above) plus electric tape around the rest of the fence would be best, but it would be quite an expensive task, especially when it's not your land. :(

The other option would be to talk to the YO, say that you're getting her scoped and that you'll continue to fix any damage to the fences. Tell the other liveries that they do not have permission to hit your horse.
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Says "windsucking" in first line of OP first post and cribbing is just another way of wind sucking. A horse is said to be cribbing when it grasps a solid object like a fence rail, tree stump, or even its own foreleg with its front teeth, arches its neck, and then gulps to force air into its throat. The horse may follow the gulp with licking or chewing and sometimes removes bits of fence with each bite. The horse will brace itself with its forelegs and the throat will expand it gulps. There is usually a distinctive ‘glug’ sound with each gulp. Research suggests that horses receive a hit of endorphins when they crib, and become addicted to the habit. Cribbing is similar to obsessive-compulsive disorders in humans. The scientific name for wind sucking is aerophagia.Cribbing and windsucking are the same thing, except cribbing is using a surface and windsucking isn't ;)
FDC
 
Firstly thank you for all your suggestions much appreciated.

Whats the difference between cribbing and windsucking?

She makes a really weird noise when doing it anyone would think the wind had just blown down her throat.. She really draws a big breath and leans back just on her teeth on the fence/door.and then repeats the whole process again. It makes me cringe when I see her doing it and always worried that one of her teeth are going to fly out under presure.. urgh..

Her previous owner (I know well) had her checked for ulcers and they couldn't see anything but I was advised to get her checked frequently.

I would never let anyone smack my horse and if I saw that anyone had been they would be head first in the muck heap..

I like the idea of a wooden station type thing, its just getting her to use that and not the fences at least I could move it from field to field fairly easily..
 
Flippin' 'eck... it's pedantic mark II! :p


*grumbles* OP described a cribber, so there! ;)




I like the idea of a wooden station type thing, its just getting her to use that and not the fences at least I could move it from field to field fairly easily..
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You'll probably need to fix it to the ground, or she'll pull it over!
 
ArabianGold said:
Firstly thank you for all your suggestions much appreciated.

Whats the difference between cribbing and windsucking?

She makes a really weird noise when doing it anyone would think the wind had just blown down her throat.. She really draws a big breath and leans back just on her teeth on the fence/door.and then repeats the whole process again. It makes me cringe when I see her doing it and always worried that one of her teeth are going to fly out under presure.. urgh..

Her previous owner (I know well) had her checked for ulcers and they couldn't see anything but I was advised to get her checked frequently.

I would never let anyone smack my horse and if I saw that anyone had been they would be head first in the muck heap..

I like the idea of a wooden station type thing, its just getting her to use that and not the fences at least I could move it from field to field fairly easily..
Click to expand...


Sounds exactly like my friend's boy- AFAIK cribbing is the biting action, the windsucking is the weird noise bit.
 
Hi AG, sorry if I came across as a bit harsh on my first post in this thread (I didn't intend to).

I was comparing FDC to Pedantic as she did a very precise and accurate post, compared to my babble. :D

However I must ask you... does the real Pedantic say 'nation of ****holes' all the time IRL? ;)
 
Firstly get her checked over for ulcers.

Second, instead of using cribox or any other nasty tasting stuff. Try mixing your Horses's poo and water together and painting it on the fencing. This is actually a tip I read of here, which I passed along to a friend and she now swears by it. A bit messy but effective :p and much cheaper then buying the other stuff.
 
Faracat said:
Hi AG, sorry if I came across as a bit harsh on my first post in this thread (I didn't intend to).

I was comparing FDC to Pedantic as she did a very precise and accurate post, compared to my babble. :D

However I must ask you... does the real Pedantic say 'nation of ****holes' all the time IRL? ;)
Click to expand...

Hi yes the real Pedantic does say 'nation of ****holes all the time' used to make me smile,
 
Just run a length of electric fencing along the side of the post and rail - far enough in so that she can't grab the top fail.

Easily put up and taken down - you can move the electric fencing when you move the horse.

She sounds more like a cribber than a windsucker, though.
 
i used settlex on my mare when she cribbed/windsucked really badly and it seemed to help but not stop it completely. mine is on good grazing and hardly ever does it when in the field and now only does after her feed if she hasnt got any hay or haylage available when in the stable... there are other herbal feeds that may help as some of the theories suggest it may be due to too much acid..... also i dont feed mints as treats as these seem to trigger the behaviour...
 
I know a pony that, if given polos or carrots (by his owner), will go up to the gate, put his head over the top, press his throat down onto the bar where it meets the angle of the lower jaw and gulp air. He'll repeat this two or three times and then stop. This is the only time he windsucks in this unusual way, and he is otherwise a good doer. Needless to say, I don't feed him polos or carrots!

There are some foodstuffs which seem to give me instant indigestion if taken at the wrong time of the day. So it doesn't seem beyond the bounds of possibility that some horses could be the same and react to sugary food with a feeling of digestive discomfort which they try to remedy by doing something that has given them relief in the past.
 
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