Windsucking

[juventino]

Hi - I've just come across the following paragraph on Horsedata and wondered if anyone else has seen this supposed solution to the problem:


Five years ago Michael Peace and his wife Susi came up with a theory that rather than being stress related, wind-sucking could possibly be due to a problem horses have in digestion. They'd noticed years before that wind-sucking horses kept on limestone soils tended to wind-suck less than if they were kept on clay soils for example. They decided to try feeding Rennie (the human antacid treatment for indigestion) to a wind sucking horse they owned at the time. They gave the horse 6 Rennie tablets after his feed and his wind sucking decreased. The results were amazing albeit in just a one horse trial. So simple, yet nobody had come up with it in years of research. They went to De Montfort University with their idea who carried out an extensive trial on 100 horses and the results proved to be significant. This has changed the whole direction of research into wind-sucking in horses.

 

[SKY]

that is very interesting, we have lime on our walls and horses always lick them, touch wood, no windsuckers, maybe thats why.

 

[dollyolly]

Hi, I've been reading up on this too because I bought a German Warmblood 8 months ago and he has started windsucking to his hearts content!!! I have just put him on Gastrogard he is also on Settlex as a treatment for ulcers. He is a real stressy type and life is a complete trauma for him! I've only just started the treatment about 3 days ago but already the windsucking is subsiding. I also changed his diet, to include D&H Fibregy and Hi Fibre nuts. He is turned out during the day and has a constant supply of hay which does seem to help. I give him the chaff half an hour before I ride him just so he always has something in his tummy.
This is such hard work but it does seem to be working and I find the whole windsucking quite horrible to watch when you consider why he's doing it.
I'll be interested to hear if anyone is using Protexin and what their results have been with this?

 

[Arkmiido]

I think there is a definite link between windsucking and gastric ulcers/gastritis, but I don't think it is that simple, or that easy to cure, unless perhaps in the milder cases, eg the horses that just have a couple of gulps of air after dinner?
My mare, formerly known as Skinny cos she would spend the whole of her day attached to a gate therefore not grazing, has windsucked since she was taken from her dam at 12 weeks due to an infection - she started as a foal, possibly due to gastric discomfort, or a frustrated suckling reflex? Now aged 8 it is a definite addiction, and I think the endorphin release plays a big part in that addiction. I have tried feeding her rennies (she quite likes them as sweeties I think) and she is out 24/7 in the summer, and has ad lib forage in the winter, with alfa a as a main part of her diet. She is on chalk soil, and I was adding limestone to her feed. However, although this reduced her windsucking, it didn't cure it. Making sure that her field and stable were fully surrounded by electric fencing has stopped her though, possibly in combination with everything else! At her previous home, without the antacid measures, she used her front legs to crib, now she doesn't bother... Something had to change cos she's got about 5mm of front teeth left at the top, and kept getting colic from trapped wind - and her saddle didn't fit when she inflated herself like a balloon!! If I tie her to a gate, or by a stable door, she will try to do it again - but it takes her about 20 minutes to remember that she likes doing it. Amusing moment when her foal was born - she stood to suckle, Pebble started licking her, then tried to grab her withers and have a suck... Foal nearly fell over, luckily she didn't try it again!!
There are interesting stats re racehorses and gastric ulcers though - a good lesson in how not to keep a grazing animal who should be fed little and often methinks!