Vices
in Horses
This chart is an excerpt
from Horse
For Sale ©
2006 Cherry Hill |
VICE | DESCRIPTION |
CAUSES | TREATMENT |
| Cribbing | Colic, poor keeper (prefers
mind drugs over food).
Anchoring of incisors on edge (post, stall ledge),
arching neck, gulping air. | Theory: endorphins are released during the
behavior; horse is addicted to endorphins which stimulate pleasure center of brain. |
Incurable.
Cribbing strap prevents contraction of neck muscles; also available
with clamps, spikes, electric shock.
Possible future pharmacological treatment.
Surgery possibleMuzzle can be used in some situations. |
| Pawing | Digs holes; tips over feeders & waterers; gets leg caught
in fence; wears hooves away, loses shoes; most often young horses. | Confinement,
boredom, excess feed. | Curable.
Provide exercise, diversion, don't
use ground feeders and waterers, use rubber mats, don't reinforce by feeding.
Formal restraint lessons. |
| Self Mutilation
| Bite flanks, front legs, chest, scrotal area with squealing, pawing,
and kicking out. | Onset 2 yrs, primarily stallions.
Can be endorphin
addiction similar to cribbing; can be triggered by confinement, lack of exercise,
or sexual frustration. | Manageable/might be curable.
Geld non-breeding
stallions; increase exercise, reduce confinement, stall companion or toy, neck
cradle, muzzle, possible future pharmacological treatment |
| Stall Kicking | Smashing stall walls & doors with hind hooves resulting
in facilities damage and hoof and leg injuries. | Confinement; doesn't like
neighbor; gets attention. | Can be curable depending on how long-standing
the habit.
Increase exercise, change neighbors, pad stall walls or hooves,
use kicking chains or kicking shoe, don't reinforce by feeding. |
| Tail Rubbing | Rhythmically swaying the rear against a fence or stall
wall. | Initially dirty udder, sheath or tail; shedding HQ, pinworms, ticks
& other external parasites or skin conditions. Later, just habit. | Manageable
with grooming, cleaning sheath and udder, deworming, other medical treatments.
For chronic habit, use electric fence. |
| Weaving/Pacing | Swaying back and forth often by stall door or pen gate/Repeatedly
walking a path back and forth. | Confinement, boredom, excess feed, high
strung or stressed horse. | Manageable.
Turn out where he can see
other horses.
Use specially fitted stall door for weaver. |
| Wood Chewing | Gnawing of wood fences, feeders, stall walls, up to
three pounds of wood per day. | Lack of course roughage in diet, boredom,
teething. | Manageable.
Increase roughage in diet.
Decrease palatability
of wood.
Increase exercise & activity.
More time out on pasture. |
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