Wind sucking may occur without the horse grasping anything with its teeth. Individual horses tend to have their own manner of wind sucking. Most horses nod their head and neck several times, jerk their head upward while flexing their neck, and gulp in air. A wind-sucking sound is made by some horses as they swallow the air and by others as they expel some of the air.

Some horses engage in these vices only when alone; some won’t do them if they know they are being watched. However, most do them without regard to the presence or absence of other horses or people. Most, but not all, do them only when stabled.

Cribbing is a fairly common behavioral problem, constituting 27% of referrals to one equine behavior clinic. It’s reported that nervous hyperactive horses kept in a stall most of the time and exercised and groomed little are most likely to crib or wind suck, whereas these vices are rarely practiced by placid draft horses or ponies. It has also been found that the incidence is as high as 30% in some families of Thoroughbreds as compared to 2.5% in all Thorough breds in the study. Imitation of mares by their foals was excluded as the reason for the higher incidence. Thus, inheritance of the vice, or the temperament leading to its occurrence, appears to be an increased risk factor in some cases.

The cause for cribbing and wind sucking isn’t known. It is thought to usually start in confined horses due to frustration, boredom, and/or imitation, but once established to commonly persist even when the horse is on pasture. Some believe that cribbing and filling the stomach with air are substitute actions for the natural grazing activity of cropping with the front teeth and filling the stomach with grazed forage. Young idle horses may develop these vices when they are with confirmed cases. These vices have also been observed to increase when a highly palatable high-grain diet is fed. It has been suggested that these vices may also begin as a response to abdominal discomfort or colic. Conversely, wind sucking is commonly believed to be a cause of colic and passing excess gas because horses can swallow enough air to interfere with stomach and intestinal function.

Cribbing, when continued over a long period, may cause wear and erosion of the upper incisors and pronounced increases in the size of the neck muscles (Fig. 20–1). In severe longstanding cases, tooth wear may progress to such an extent that the incisors no longer meet when the mouth is shut and, therefore, the horse can no longer graze. A few horses may spend so much time cribbing that feed consumption and, as a result, body condition and weight are decreased. However, most horses have no problems as a result of either cribbing or wind sucking; mostly it just annoys those around the horse. Because of this, some have recommended that if the horse is in good condition, ignoring it may be best. However, most people prefer to try to prevent it, and other horses may mimic cribbers and wind suckers. Because of this, cribbers and wind suckers should be kept separate from other horses. But they should be provided with companionship, such as another animal. Solitary confinement will likely worsen the problem or cause others.

Numerous methods have been tried to prevent cribbing and wind sucking. None is universally successful, but some methods may work in some cases. The most common method is fastening a several-inch-wide (5 to 7 cm) leather strap snugly around the throatlatch (Fig. 20–2). When the horse tries to arch its neck to crib or wind suck, pressure from the strap causes pain. To enhance this effect, some cribbing straps have points on the inside or a metal “gullet-piece,” which has a recess for the trachea but may put more pressure on the throatlatch when the horse tries to arch its neck (Fig. 20–2B). Some straps have a heart-shaped piece of thick leather that sits between the angles of the jaws with the pointed end protruding back into the pharyngeal area. This may cause additional discomfort when the horse tries to flex its neck to crib or suck wind. Cribbing or wind sucking straps generally decrease or prevent these vices at least initially. However, some horses will resume or continue the vices in spite of the strap and may eventually develop pressure sores from the strap, requiring their removal. Although cribbing straps must be snug to be effective, they shouldn’t be so tight that they interfere with breathing, and they may need to be removed or loosened during feeding, although generally they don’t need to be.

Another preventive device is a hollow, cylindrical perforated bit, which prevents the horse from making its mouth airtight. A thick rubber or wooden bit that prevents the jaws from closing is sometimes successful but causes acute discomfort and is not recommended. A different approach is to keep the horse in a bare-walled stall without a feed trough, waterer, or anything on which to place its incisors. It’s reported that cribbing will stop when this is done. It is likely to recur however, if the horse is returned to the environment in which the vice developed.

Various surgical procedures have also been used to try to prevent cribbing and wind sucking. None is recommended. The procedures are either ineffective, disfiguring, or associated with secondary complications.

Fig.20–2(A,B). Cribbing straps: some horses that crib or wind suck will stop doing so when a strap is fastened snugly around their throatlatch. A metal piece at the gullet, as shown in Figure B, with or without points on the inside, may improve the strap’s efficacy in preventing these vices in some horses.

Electric shock collars have also been tried. However, a horse will quickly learn that a shock collar works only when it is on and, for those that are remote controlled, when someone is around to activate it. To prevent the horse’s associating a shock with the collar, it should be worn for several days before a shock is administered and the operator should be hidden. To be most effective, initially a shock must be applied immediately and consistently each time the incisors are placed and as the horse begins to arch its neck, preparing to gulp air. It is best to start with quite long treatment sessions, with every occurrence being shocked, followed by a change to short, randomly spaced sessions. The treatment, if effective, will take 4 weeks and, therefore, should not last longer than this. Remote-control shock collars available for training dogs and which depend on a person to activate the shock may be used. The signal for most won’t transmit through a wire fence. There are also self-operating collars available with a contact switch under the horse’s chin. However, with these there is the risk that the switch may stick and drive the horse into a frenzy by a continuous series of electric shocks.

Punishment or discipline procedures, such as cribbing straps and bits, surgery, and shock collars, however, do nothing to suppress the horse’s motivation for cribbing and wind sucking; as a result, when they are used alone other behavioral problems may occur. In addition, even if these disciplinary measures are effective at first, they may lose their efficacy after a time. Thus, it is best to first try to alleviate the cause, and to use cause-alleviation procedures in conjunction with disciplinary efforts only if cause-alleviation procedures by themselves aren’t successful. Cause-alleviation procedures include providing a companion animal, decreasing confinement, increasing use and activity, putting metal mirrors in the stall, feeding less or no grain or pellets, and feeding increased hay and/or pasture forage. These may alleviate cribbing and wind sucking without disciplinary procedures in some cases.

Administering narcotic antagonists, as described at the end of the introduction of this chapter, has been shown to be effective in preventing cribbing as well as other vices, but their use, at least currently, isn’t practical.

Tail or Mane Chewing

Chewing on the tail, less commonly the mane, and rarely the body hair of other horses, is done primarily by young horses, particularly when they are closely confined in a group and when they are fed a low-forage diet. However, it may also less commonly occur in horses on pasture and in those with free access to hay. The reason horses do it isn’t known, but in young horses it may be a part of their play activity and in some cases has been due to a lack of adequate forage. It has been associated with mineral deficiencies but usually occurs in horses receiving a diet providing adequate minerals.

It is primarily a cosmetic problem and not a health problem. However, occasionally sufficient hair may be consumed to cause intestinal obstruction.

Treatment involves decreasing confinement and ideally putting the horse on pasture if possible. Ensure that it’s diet is nutritionally adequate, that it consists of 50 to 100% long-stem hay or pasture forage, and that trace-mineralized salt is freely available or 0.5% is added to the diet. Noxious compounds may also be repeatedly and frequently applied to the tail or mane, such as a mineral or plant oil mixed with a spicy compound such as a tobasco or hot pepper sauce.

Eating Feces or Bedding

Ingestion of feces, or coprophagia, is common and fairly normal for young horses, particularly foals up to a couple months of age. It is often thought to be a normal step in the foal’s development of feeding and diet selection, and as a way of establishing a normal bacterial population in their intestinal tract. These bacteria allow the foal to switch from milk to a forage diet, because the bacteria are necessary for digestion of forage fiber. Foals usually eat only fresh feces and usually their dam’s. As a result, they don’t obtain intestinal parasites from this practice because, as described in Chapter 9, these parasites require an incubation period in the feces to become infective.

Mature horses, unlike foals, don’t normally eat feces; nor do they eat feed, pasture forage, or bedding contaminated with feces. If feces are placed in areas where they normally graze, they frequently will stop grazing there. However, mature horses will eat feces when on a high-grain diet or on a protein-deficient diet, and will stop when less grain and more forage, or when an adequate protein diet is fed. Mature bored horses confined to a stall with inadequate activity may eat feces, particularly if they have gone from regular exercise to no exercise, or from a regular routine to a neglected routine. These horses may consume from a little to nearly all of their own feces. In addition, most mature horses confined to a stall will occasionally eat their soiled bedding, but with some it may become a habit. Although this may occur in horses that are well fed, imbalanced diets, feeding at the wrong time of day, and heavy intestinal parasitism have all been found to contribute to the increased consumption of soiled bedding.

Treatment for eating either feces or bedding is to alleviate causes or factors associated with it. This includes decreasing confinement and the amount of grain fed, allowing free access to clean hay or pasture forage and salt, feeding on a regular schedule, ensuring there is adequate protein in the diet (as described in Chapter 6), and checking for intestinal parasites and treating accordingly (as described in Chapter 9).

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