windsucking - help!

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Jericho

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We have had our very lovely Connie for 7 months now and when we were 'given' him we were told he cribs a little but actually it is a definite windsuck. We didn't notice it much at first but more recently i have noticed that he is doing it more. The first thing he does when tied up is grab the rope to have a gulp (well I actually learnt it is more an expelling of air to ease discomfort in stomach rather than a suck of air... the wonder of google!) and when he wants to come in from the field he grabs the fence and when he is travelling he grabs the ledge in the lorry. Today when I was poo picking he came over for a fuss - he is the worlds friendliest horse! - but then wandered off to look at some horses over the hedge and did it then. This horse is very laid back although I think he may be an internal stresser a little as he tries really hard to be good, nothing much phases him, he loves work, he loves attention, he loves food, he is a really good doer, he lives at home with a good pony friend and in sight of other equine company, he has a non cereal, low starch, sugar diet, 7 acres of grazing, a good routine, a varied work load of flatwork, jumping, beach rides, hacking, competitions and clinics at other venues, being ridden about 3 - 4 times a week and virtually no stress. He loves humans, has no obvious medical issues. I did wonder about ulcers and am managing him as such (feed, supplement, routine, lots of turnout etc) but he is so not an obvious case - no grumpiness, loves being groomed, no issues ridden.

I just can't work out why he is doing it - i think it is a little bit of internal stress because of when he does it, when he wants to come in and when travelling but seeing him doing it in field today when he was happy really upset me. What do you think? Just a habit, maybe he was bored , thought i was going to give him something interesting to do and was anxious when I didn't? or more issues lurking?
 
With some, they will always do it, even if you remove the source of it.

He sounds lovely, but I think you have hit the nail on the head, in that he is probably an internal worrier.

I would treat him if he had ulcers tbh, start with something like omeprazole and then swap to Egusin or similar for a good length of time and see if it shows an improvement, if he was mine I wouldn't scope.
 
What you describe is crib biting, windsucking is when they don't take hold of anything and just gulp, it is a sign of ulcers and even the most chilled animals can have them, it may be that he has had them previously and your management is keeping them from getting worse, you can either ignore it, keep him on an ulcer friendly diet and stress free management with a supplement to help reduce stomach acid or look into scoping and treating if anything shows, I would probably go for the first option unless he starts to show other signs or the cribbing gets worse.
 
thank you be positive and d. elf (and yes you are right - cribbing then as he def holds something!) I think it may have been possible he may have developed ulcers/ the habit previous to our home - lots of schooling, dressage and high energy diet, individual limited turnout, busy yard so a prime candidate although you wouldn't suspect it from his outward personality. I have thought long and hard about the scoping but I am not sure it will show anything I don't suspect already - mild ulceration - and it won't see the hind gut anyway and the treatment and management would be the same as I am doing as I am trying to manage his diet and routine to counteract this and then he will be excluded for anything related thereafter.... After doing lots of research i selected a (very expensive) supplement which helped deal with both hind and fore gut issues and also had him on ranitindine (sp?) - local pharmacy doubled their takings for a couple of months but it made no difference at all. I guess I could ask the vet for a course of Gastroguard without going through insurance and without scoping to see if it improves...

So hard - he is such a lovely chap and hate to think he is upset/ hurting - most of the time he seems the happiest pony alive, positively opens his mouth for you to put his bit in!
 
If his only sign of discomfort is that he is crib biting it could be that he did have ulcers at some stage but it's now a habit. If he's increasing the amount he's cribbing or he's struggling to maintain condition, being girthy etc. then I would be going down the route of gastroguard but even when the ulcers are healed horses will usually continue to crib bite so it doesn't necessarily mean he's in pain now.
 
Horses that crib are often calm as they have found a way to cope with stress - it also releases endorphins so it becomes a habit. Can be ulcer related so as others have said, worth checking. Maybe provide him with a surface to crib on that wont damage his teeth also.
 
I have done that. It stresses my boy out so much if he cant crib so I try to give him surfaces that wont damage his teeth too much. I put a thin strip of metal on his stable door but he has worn down his teeth.
 
Mines a windsucker, always using something to grab hold of - a door, fence etc.

He's on a supplement that dispels excess gases and has ad lib forage and a non-cereal diet. I don't bother trying to stop him.

Friends horse also does it, she puts a collar on him but it makes him so stressed that he literally attacks people over the door. When his collar is off and he is fee to crib, he is far less aggressive.
 
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