Horse Vices

A Horse Vice is in fact just another name for a bad habit. Some vices can seriously affect your horse’s wellbeing but fortunately most are harmless if not annoying. Many of these bad habits can be ignored, while others need to be dealt with and stopped. While horses appear to develop vices for a number of reasons, the majority appears to develop the vice due to boredom and this is something you can fix.

Out of all the vices, here are three that you are likely to encounter.

Cribbing or Wind Sucking is possibly more common than you think. Some horse you will hardly recognize the behavior and yet in others it can be lethal.
Cribbing is characterized by the horse biting onto something hard like a stall door or fence post and then sucking in and swallowing air. This air can then enter the gut where it can cause air pockets which may result in severe gas colic if the horse is unable to release the gas. The air sucked in during cribbing can also hinder digestion. This is not to say this will happen to all horses that crib, some horses live their entire lives cribbing and with no colic but it is a big possibility.
It is thought that horses wind suck because it produces a release of endorphin that makes the horse feel good. In a lot of cases the horse can be treated by wearing an external cribbing collar, which sit around the neck and prevents the sucking motion. In severe cases the horse may require drugs or surgery though the collar will often work.

Weaving is where your horse will move from side to side on its front legs in a swaying like motion – it looks quite disturbing. You will generally spot this vice when the horse is tethered or standing in its stall. It seems to occur because the horse becomes bored though it may also occur due to stress. Once again it is thought that the weaving somehow release endorphins. We have a weaver and she is an excellent eventer. We just never lock her in a stall, she wanders the yard and this keeps her happy and prevents her from weaving. You will find this the case with many weavers. If you keep them occupied eating in the paddock or munching on hay then the weaving stops.

Door and Wall Kicking can be most annoying but it can also be dangerous. Whilst most common at feeding time in a stall, I had a horse that did it when been traveled. He must have liked the motion of traveling because he only did it when we stopped, so re-fuelling was always very quick and we always got him off straight away when we arrived. If we did not, he would kick so hard as to destroy the truck. This kind of kicking seems to be triggered by boredom and some horses that are stalled for long periods may begin kicking for amusement. Whilst it is annoying it can become dangerous, some horses can actually kick hard enough that they break the bones in their ankles. While this is an extreme case, wall kickers may obviously be a high risk for lameness and leg issues.

Hope this assists with your horse’s vice.

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Read more from Jo about horse related gifts and breyer horses.

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