UNDERSTANDING EQUINE BEHAVIOR

Instructor:  Dr. Jennifer Williams

 

 

Lesson Seven

 

The Use of the Senses and Stereotypies

 

 

          This lesson covers two topics: the horse’s use of his senses and stereotypies.

 

          Understanding how horses perceive the world through the use of their senses is important because it explains how they sense and interpret things around them.  This can help you understand why they act the way they do.  Stereotypies are repetitive behaviors that serve no apparent purpose:  things like weaving, cribbing, pacing, etc.  Such behaviors are often performed by stressed horses who are trying to cope with their surroundings.

 

 

Previous Lesson Summary

          We discussed foal training in our previous lesson.  Foal training is important because the training a foal receives sets him up for success or failure throughout his life.  There are many methods of handling and training foals, and each one has its strengths and weaknesses.

 

Imprint training is the most regimented foal handling procedure, and begins shortly after birth, exposing the foal to things he’ll encounter throughout life.  Each item on the Imprint Training protocol is perform until the foal stops resisting and accepts.

 

Example:  The trainer will pick up a foal’s leg and tap on the hoof, to mimic having a shoe nailed onto the hoof.  If the foal tries to jerk his leg away, kick, or move, the trainer continues tapping on the hoof.  Once the foal stands quietly, the trainer stops.

 

Imprint Training is hotly debated amongst horse owners:  some believe it creates foals which are easier to handle throughout life because they were first exposed to things during an “imprinting period”.  However, there’s no scientific backing for the idea of an imprinting period in mammalian animals.        

 

Opponents of Imprint Training believe that it creates spoiled foals or foals which become dull and lifeless.  Research that I conducted while at Texas A&M University supports neither assertion:  foals in our study were not dull or spoiled, but they also were not significantly easier to handle or train than foals who had not received Imprint Training.

 

Some horse owners and trainers decide to skip the formal Imprint Training procedure, but begin handling foals at an early age.  This is my preferred method and I used it with foals born at my place.  Foals are not repeatedly exposed to a number of items until they submit, but they are handled frequently and misbehavior is not tolerated.

 

They begin halter training, leading and grooming while still very young in brief training sessions.

 

Some people prefer to raise the foals on pasture and don’t handle them at all until they’re weanlings or yearlings.  These slightly older foals often have better attention spans and can tolerate longer training sessions, but they are bigger and stronger, and you cannot physically restrain them as you can a newborn.  Because they’re bigger, people are less likely to spoil them and encourage bad behaviors.

 

Regardless of the type of handling and training session you use with foals, you need to remember to always require proper behavior.  This means not allowing a foal to nibble, suckle on your fingers, chase you, kick at you, etc.  It also means you must discipline him when he attempts to treat you like a horse.  When you encourage bad behavior in young foals, someone will eventually have to retrain the horse.  It’s confusing for a horse to be allowed to behave poorly for the first few years of his life and then be punished for doing the same behavior that was previously rewarded.

 

We also discussed orphaned foals in the previous lesson. Foals are orphaned when their dam dies during or shortly after foaling, when their dam rejects them or when they’re removed from their dam so she can go back to showing or racing.  Fortunately, orphans aren’t common.  With orphans, there are a few unique concerns.

 

·         Finding a nurse mare:  A nurse mare is a lactating mare which is willing to nurse a strange foal. 

·         Introducing the foal to the nurse mare:  Some mares must first be restrained while the foal nurses or while they get to know each other, and some potential nurse mares will not tolerate strange foals.

·         Making sure the foal gets colostrum:  The foal normally gets this nutrient-rich milk from its dam during its first 24 hours of life.  The colostrum gives the foal immunity to disease until his own immune system is up and running.  If his dam doesn’t produce colostrum or dies before he is able to nurse, he’ll need colostrum from a donor mare or will need an IV transfusion to give him immunity.

·         Finding a surrogate parent:  It isn’t always possible to find a nurse mare, but foals do best when raised by other horses.  Sometimes a nursing mare will let a strange foal hang out with her and her foal (even if she won’t let him nurse).  A former broodmare or a foal-loving gelding may be a candidate to become a surrogate parent and teach the foal the things a horse needs to know.

·         Encouraging good behavior:  Many people feel sorry for orphan foals and have a hard time disciplining them.  But it is just as important to discipline an orphan; he will grow into a large horse capable of hurting humans.  He needs to know how to behave and safely interact with people.

 

Working with foals and young horses can be a lot of fun, but it is also a major responsibility.  You need to be sure you stay on top of their behavior and handle them consistently to give them the best chance at growing up to be the kind of horses other horsemen will want to handle and train.

 

 

The Use of the Senses

 

          Horses, like all animals, use their senses to get information about the world, and help them decide how to behave in different situations.

 

          Horses have the same basic five senses as humans (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell), but they also have an additional component to their ability to smell that’s controlled by the vomeronasal organ.  Additionally, their senses function in a slightly different way than ours do.  When you understand how equines use their senses and how they work, you’ll have a better understanding of why they behave the way they do.  You can then start looking at the world from a horse’s perspective and predicting their behavior.

 

          The horse’s sight may be his most important and most often used sense, rivaled only by his sense of hearing.  Together these two senses function to help a horse locate and avoid predators.

 

          The way the horse views the world is very different from the way we view the world, but that’s not surprising since he is a prey animal and we’re predators.

 

          While our eyes are set pretty close together on our face, horses’ eyes are set far apart and on the side of their head.

 

          Our close-set eyes are what give us binocular vision, or vision that requires both eyes.  Our binocular vision allows us to have good depth perception (the ability to judge how far away something is).

 

          Horses only have binocular vision in an approximately 60 degree field in front of them.  However, horses’ wide-set eyes give them monocular vision, or vision requiring just one eye, on either side of their heads in an approximately 215 degree field.  Between his binocular field of vision and his monocular field of vision, a horse can see almost all the way around himself!  He has two blind spots:  one directly in front of his face and one directly behind his tail.

 

          Because horses have a small field of binocular vision, they don’t have great depth perception, and their vision also doesn’t appear to be as sharp as ours.  Scientists use to believe that horses had something called “ramp retina”:  a retina that was angled, so that the horse had to raise or lower his head to focus an image on his retina.  However we now know that is not the case:  we believe a horse raises his head to see things that are far away and lowers his head to see nearby things because his vertical field of detailed vision is not very wide. 

 

          In addition to being placed in a different location than a human’s eyes, the internal make up of a horse’s eyes are different.

 

          In both humans and horses, rods and cones make up part of the retina.  The rods are light sensitive, while cones provide us with color vision.  Horses have a greater number of rods in their retinas, allowing them to see in less light than humans.  They also have a reflective surface called the tapetum lucidum which reflects limited light around the eyeball, enabling a horse to see in less light.

 

          If you’ve ever walked into the barn or pasture at night with a flashlight and noticed your horse’s eyes glow, you are actually seeing the reflection of light off of his tapetum lucidum.  The horse has one disadvantage to his more sensitive night vision:  it takes his eyes longer to adjust to changes in light than it takes our eyes (so it takes his eyes longer to adjust than it takes your eyes if the two of you walk from a dimly lit barn into a bright, sunny day).

 

          Horses have fewer cones, the part of the retina that enables color vision, than humans.  And the cones appear to be only two types (as opposed to our three).

 

          There’s a common misconception that horses are color blind, but that doesn’t seem to be true.  It appears that horses may have trouble differentiating between reds and greens, although it does appear that they can easily distinguish between light and dark hues of various colors.

 

          Horses, like humans, can have vision problems.  Cataracts, glaucoma, eye injuries, and other diseases can cause them to develop low vision or lose vision completely in one or both eyes.  Some horses adjust well to vision loss, while others become scared, agitated and panicked.  It seems that complete vision loss is often less scary than decreased vision, and quiet, more well-trained horses tend to do best when their vision is limited.

 

          If you are dealing with a horse with vision loss, be sure to talk to him to let him know where you are and what you are doing and keep your hand on him when you are working around him.  If he has lost vision on one side only, be careful when leading him through doorways, gates and other tight openings as he may have a hard time judging the width.

 

          Finally, don’t make any decisions on whether or not to retire him from his career until you see how well he adjusts to his vision loss.  One of the most talented horses I ever rode was completely blind:  he had adjusted to blindness well and trusted his rider and handler to take care of him.  Some horses, however, become so spooky once they lose their vision that they cannot be safely ridden or even handled.

 

          What does the horse’s sense of sight tell us about his behavior? 

 

·         In a horse with healthy eyesight, spooking can be caused by something suddenly appearing in his field of vision:  a bird swooping down from above or a cat suddenly jumping up onto the stall wall.  Since the horse can see so much of his environment at once, it is unnerving for him when something suddenly appears. 

·         If you are working with a horse which raises his head, especially if his ears are pointed straight ahead, he may be trying to see something in the distance and determine whether it is a threat or something he can safely ignore.

·         When you lead a horse from darkness into light (such as when you are leading a horse from a dark barn into a sunny day) or light into the dark (leading a horse from inside a well-lit barn into the night), he may be slow to move forward or sluggish in responding to you as he needs more time for his eyes to adjust to the change in light.

·         Once your horse’s eyes have had time to adjust to the night, he is probably better able to see his surroundings on a moonlit night than you are.

·         If a normally quiet horse suddenly begins spooking, he may have developed vision problems and you should have him examined by a veterinarian.

 

          A horse’s sense of hearing is his second most important sense, although it hasn’t had much study.

 

          The pinna is the large, cup or funnel-like part of the ear, the part you can see.  It is made mostly of cartilage and is controlled by more than 10 muscles that allow it to rotate more than 180 degrees.   This ability to rotate his ears allows the horse to detect where sound is coming from, no matter what direction it is coming from.  Horses may have trouble determining what’s causing the sound they hear, and that can make them spooky.  

 

          Horses and humans have a hearing range that overlaps, but humans appear to be able to hear at lower frequencies than horses while horses can hear at higher frequencies than we can.

 

          Horses probably hear better than we do, so they’re very sensitive to tone of voice and volume.  That’s why a sharp and loud ‘no’ can be a good correction, and why many horses respond positively to soft, deep voices.

 

          Just like humans, horses can suffer from hearing loss.  It can be caused by a birth defect, damage to the auditory nerve that conveys messages from the ear to the brain, different diseases, or damage to the internal structures of the ear.  It isn’t uncommon for older horses to suffer some sort of hearing loss, and hearing loss most often affects the ability to hear higher frequencies.

 

          If your horse isn’t responding to your voice cues and doesn’t seem to know when you call him, you can stand behind him (at a safe distance that’s well out of kicking range) and call his name, snap your fingers, or make a hissing noise. Watch his ears while you do this:  if they flick backward toward you, he’s probably able to hear, but is ignoring you.  If they don’t move, he may have some hearing loss.

 

          If you suspect your horse is suffering from hearing loss, talk to your veterinarian about getting a BAER test for your horse.  During this test, headphones are placed inside the horse’s ears and sensors are placed right under his skin.  The earphones play a series of clicks at various frequencies, and the sensors record the electrical activity of the inner ear.  Little or no electrical activity tells the veterinarian at which frequencies your horse has hearing difficulty.

 

          How is your horse’s sense of hearing tied to his behavior? 

 

·         If your horse suddenly stops moving, turns his head and neck, and stares into the distance, he may have heard a disturbing sound and be trying to locate its source.  This may be a precursor to a spook or bolt.

·         You can watch your horse’s ears to tell what he’s paying attention to:  they’ll be pointing at whatever it is your horse hears.

·         If your horse suddenly begins spooking at things, it may be because he’s suffered a hearing loss.  Because he couldn’t hear anything, it appeared to him like things just suddenly appeared.

·         If your horse suddenly begins kicking at you when you are behind him, he may have suffered hearing loss.  He couldn’t hear you back there and kicked when you came into his field of vision.

 

The horse’s senses of taste, touch, and smell have been studied much less than either sight or hearing.

 

Your horse’s sense of taste might not seem important on the surface, but it is what helps him avoid toxic weeds.  Scientists have studied horses’ taste preferences in tests where they measured which feed a horse ate first and how much of various types of feed horses ate.  Most horses seem to prefer sweet and salty flavors and avoid bitter and sour tastes.  This is important because many weeds that are toxic to horses are very bitter, so horses naturally tend to avoid them. (However if a horse is hungry and doesn’t have access to sufficient food, he will probably still eat the toxic plant even though he doesn’t like the taste).

 

You can use your horse’s preference for sweet tastes to your advantage:  if you have to give your horse a medication or supplement he doesn’t like, you can often disguise it by mixing it with molasses, applesauce or something else sweet. 

 

Your horse’s sense of taste is related to two interesting concepts:  nutritional wisdom and conditioned taste aversion.  Nutritional wisdom is the idea that animals will seek out food that has vitamins, minerals, and other substances that they need.  This means that your horse would seek out plants rich in a certain vitamin if he was deficient in that vitamin.  Unfortunately the only substance a horse may experience nutritional wisdom for is salt, and that’s not 100% accurate.  The concept of nutritional wisdom in horses has been examined by scientists by monitoring how much of various mineral- or vitamin-rich supplements horses ate when given free choice supplementation.  In those studies, what the horses ate was not correlated with the horse’s actual nutritional state.

 

Unlike nutritional wisdom, conditioned taste aversion does occur with horses.  Horses, and other animals, experience conditioned taste aversion when something they ate makes them ill or uncomfortable.  They then tend to avoid that flavor in the future.

 

It also occurs if the horse, or other animal, associates the taste with illness, pain or fear.  For instance, if your mom fed you chicken noodle soup each time you were sick as a child, you may come to associate the taste of chicken noodle soup with the experience of being ill and as an adult, you may now avoid chicken noodle soup.   If your horse chokes the first time he has a new kind of treat, he may associate the fear and discomfort of choke with the taste of the treat and avoid it in the future.

 

How is your horse’s sense of taste tied to his behavior? 

 

·         If your horse refuses to eat something he used to eat, it may be because he has come to associate it with fear, pain or illness.

·         If your horse refuses to eat a specific type of plant in your pasture, you may discover that that plant is toxic.

·         If you need to feed your horse medication, you may be able to get him to eat it if you disguise it with something sweet like sweet feed, molasses or applesauce.

         

 

While the senses of hearing and sight are the senses that are most important to your horse’s ability to survive, the sense of touch is probably the most important sense in horse training.

 

Anyone who has been around horses long enough knows that horses can be very sensitive to the lightest touch:  they can feel a fly land on their skin, feel you lightly trail your fingertips across their sides, and they can respond to the lightest touch of your leg against their side.

 

Horses use their sense of touch to communicate with each other.  They nuzzle each other to communicate friendship and build bonds.  Mares nuzzle and lick newborn foals not only to clean them, but also to establish a bond and comfort and encourage them.  Stallions often nuzzle mares while courting and breeding.  When horses groom each other, they use their teeth to scratch and their lips to touch the other horse, and this not only provides comfort, but it helps establish and secure bonds between horses.

 

Horses also use their sense of touch to explore the world.

 

Newborns use their lips to feel their way around and to help find their dam’s teats so they can nurse.

 

All horses use the sensitive whiskers around their eyes and muzzles to feel for sharp or prickly objects they need to move away from.

 

Because horses are so sensitive to touch and because they use touch to communicate comfort and protection, touch is one of the most important senses used when establishing trust between horses and humans.  We use touch to comfort or reward horses:  stroking their neck, scratching their itchy spots, rubbing their heads, etc.  This helps us develop a relationship with them and helps the horses see us as something good and safe.

 

We also use touch in training:  we teach horses to move away from pressure, we teach them to turn when they feel a rein against their neck (neck reining), to move forward when we touch their sides with our legs, etc.  We should never forget how important the horse’s sense of touch is and how often we use their sense of touch when we interact with them.

 

How is your horse’s sense of touch tied to his behavior? 

 

·         Horses learn to move away from the rider’s leg.

·         Horses learn to slow down, move their head, turn, and collect through the touch of the bit against parts of their mouth.

·         Horses are comforted by their handler stroking their neck or rubbing their head.

·         Some horses are very sensitive to touch and ticklish.  These horses may kick out or run away from a very firm touch, and they may nip or move away from the feel of a brush on their sensitive areas.

 

          Finally, we need to study the horse’s sense of smell.  The horse’s sense of smell probably isn’t as advanced or sensitive as many prey animals such as canines and felines.  While wolves and mountain lions use their sense of smell to track food, horses don’t need that ability.  However, horses do use their sense of smell to recognize and identify each other, to recognize humans and to locate predators.

 

          In addition to the olfactory nerves in the horse’s nose that sends information on what a horse smells to his brain, horses have an additional scent organ, the vomeronasal organ (called the VMO).  Most mammals have VMOs like the horse, but humans are one of the few mammals that don’t have this extra olfactory organ.  The VMO is located in the roof of the horse’s mouth, and its main job is to detect and analyze pheromones. 

 

Pheromones are chemicals given off by animals that allow them to communicate with other animals of the same species.  For instance, mares which are in heat give off pheromones that signal that it is time to breed.  Stallions can detect these pheromones in mare’s urine using their VMO.  This gives the stallion another signal that the mare should be receptive for breeding.

 

In order to get scent molecules into the VMO, horses perform the flehmen response.  When a horse encounters a strong scent or chemical he wants to analyze with his VMO, he breathes in, raises his head, curls his upper lip, and breathes out.  You’ve probably seen a horse make this funny face when he’s stuck his nose into something that smelled strong!  Flehmen helps transfer those scent molecules to the VMO so the horse can analyze them and then decide whether or not to act.

 

          Horses can gather a great deal of information about the world through their five senses.  I think it is important that you understand how these senses work and how you influence the horse.  This gives you a glimpse into how your horse perceives the world and can allow you to better predict and understand his behavior.

 

 

Stereotypies

 

What exactly is an equine stereotypy?

 

It is a repetitive behavior that serves no apparent purpose.  Many theories exist about how stereotypies develop and most equine scientists agree that these repetitive behaviors allow horses to cope with stress.

 

Although you may not have heard the term stereotypy before, you are probably familiar with these behaviors:  a cribber who wears down the boards in his stall, a wood chewer who eats the corral boards or a weaver who slings his head and neck from side to side as he stands inside his stall. 

 

          The sound a cribber makes when sucking in air and the mess a pacing horse leaves in his stall can be frustrating and annoying for his owners, trainers and caretakers.

 

          To make matters worse, these horses cost money.  Cribbers and wood chewers destroy any wood surfaces that they can get their teeth on.  Horses which pace or paw tear holes in their stalls and waste bedding.

 

          Even more troubling to horse owners is the increased health risks that horses with stereotypies face.

 

          Cribbing horses may be at a higher risk of some types of colic and can prematurely wear down their teeth while horses who pace, paw and weave may damage their joints and suffer from arthritis.

 

The first step to understanding stereotypies is to identify some of the most common ones.

 

·         Cribbing: 

          A cribbing horse bites down on a hard surface, normally wood, pulls back, and quickly inhales with a grunting noise.  Cribbing horses wear down the wooden surfaces that they crib on, may pull fence boards and stall walls lose, and often wear down or chip their teeth.

A study conducted at the University of Liverpool in 2004 also discovered a correlation between cribbing and colic due to entrapment of the small intestine in the epiploic foramen.  However no correlation has been established between other forms of colic and cribbing.   In extreme cases, cribbers will ignore food to crib and will lose weight.

 

·         Wind sucking: 

          Wind sucking and cribbing are often lumped together because both include a characteristic grunt.  However a wind sucker does not bite down on anything when they suck in air so they do not wear down their teeth or destroy wooden surfaces.

 

·         Pacing:

           Also called stall walking or pen walking, pacing occurs when a horse repeatedly walks over the same path.  Generally the path follows the outlines of the stall or pen, so in a stall the horse continually walks in a small circle.  While stall walkers may wear down their hooves or shoes, there are no known health problems associated with stall walking.  However stall walkers often wear ruts in their stalls and grind manure into their bedding.  Most horses stop stall walking when given access to a larger paddock or pasture.

 

·         Pawing: 

          When pawing, the horse raises a front hoof and digs it into the ground in a sweeping motion although some horses may paw without actually striking the ground.  Wild horses may paw to uncover food and water, horses in pasture may paw before lying down, and horses of all ages may paw at a new object as they try to figure out what it is.  Horses also paw when in pain - often when colicking.

            Pawing becomes a stereotypy when it is repetitively performed for no obvious reason.  Horses confined to a stall or small pen may paw, especially near feeding time and a tied horse may also paw.  Although there are no known health risks associated with pawing, horses which paw wear down their hooves and tear holes in their stall flooring. 

 

·         Weaving: 

          A weaving horse sways from side to side, often swinging his head and neck.  Some veterinarians feel that weaving puts undue stress on joints in the legs which can result in arthritis or lameness problems.  Like horses who pace and paw, those who weave often wear down the footing in their stalls.  While weaving the horse almost seems to be in a trace and may hit his head against objects in his way – including his handler. 

 

·         Self-mutilation:

          Although self-mutilation is not common, it is a serious stereotypy that scares horse owners and can cause serious damage.  A horse who self-mutilates bites at his stomach and flanks and may kick himself.  He can take off hair and skin, and in severe cases he may leave bleeding sores.  Although self-mutilation appears in mares and geldings, stallions seem to be effected more often.

 

     There are several theories about why horses perform stereotypies.  While the specifics of the theories vary, many researchers agree that horses develop stereotypies to help them cope with stress. 

 

     Stress may come from:

 

·         Being confined to a stall.  Horses by nature are herd animals which walk several miles a day.  Being confined to a stall where the drive to walk and eat throughout the day is thwarted can cause enough stress that some horses begin pacing (because they cannot walk) or chewing wood/cribbing (because they cannot eat).  A study published in 2006 in the Canadian Veterinary Journal examined 292 non-racing horses and found that as the number of hours per day spent in pasture decreased, cribbing and wood sucking increased.

·         Being deprived of food or forage.  Horses are driven by instinct to forage for food for hours each day.  When we confine them to stalls or dirt lots and provide them with small portions of forage and concentrated grain rations, horses often develop oral stereotypies such as cribbing, wood chewing and wind sucking.  Several recent studies have demonstrated that as the amount of concentrated grain rations decreased so did stereotypies and that confined horses who are fed several hay meals each day (instead of just one or two) are less likely to display oral stereotypies.  Many neglected horses weave and pace – it almost seems that they’re scared that they’ll miss yet another meal and show their stress by weaving or pacing more frantically as dinnertime draws closer. 

·         Being denied contact with other horses.  Horses are herd animals and contact with other horses is important to their mental health.  Stallions kept in isolation are more likely to begin self-mutilating than those who are able to interact with other horses. 

·         Boredom.  For animals which are driven to eat and spend most of their time moving and alert, being confined to a small area is boring, and boredom is psychologically stressful.

·         Strenuous training regimens.  A study published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal found that as the number of hours per day a horse was ridden increased his tendency to weave also increased. 

·         Health problems.  Researchers discovered that foals may begin cribbing as young as 4 months of age, and cribbers often have stomach ulcers.  These foals cribbed less once their stomach ulcers were treated.

·         Weaning.   Many foals begin performing stereotypies within one month of weaning.  Weaning often combines several of the stressors above:  confinement to a stall, denial of social contacts, and boredom.  Additionally foals are often fed concentrates for the first time at or near weaning, and a 2002 study found that foals which were fed concentrates after weaning were more likely to begin cribbing than those who were kept on pasture.

 

     Since all horses undergo some stress in their lives, but not all start cribbing or weaving, researchers do not yet understand why some horses develop stereotypies and others do not.  Many feel that it may have to do with the horse’s temperament.  Like some people, some horses may be able to let stress roll off their backs and not affect them while other horses fret and worry about stress and develop a stereotypy to cope.

 

     Many horsemen think that horses learn stereotypies from one another, but that’s unlikely since horses can be stalled next to a cribber or weaver for years and never pick up the habit.  When you see a barn with multiple cribbers or weavers, the more plausible answer is that they have been subjected to the same stress and began coping in a similar manner.

 

          Most stereotypies are hard, if not impossible, to cure.  However stereotypies related to health problems (such as ulcers) may be treated by treating the health problem.  Unfortunately if the horse has had the stereotypy long, he may continue performing the behavior out of habit even though the health problem is cured.

 

          Since they are so hard to treat, your best bet is to prevent stereotypies from developing.

 

          How do you do that?

 

          Preventing stress is the key.  Keeping horses out on pasture, feeding them a more natural diet, limiting their grain rations, and giving them contact with other horses is a start.  Keep an eye out for ulcers and other health problems and treat them when they occur.  If your horse has a fragile or sensitive personality, tailor your training schedule to fit his emotional needs.  In other words, don’t push an overly sensitive horse. 

 

There are several “tools” or “gimmicks” designed to prevent horses from performing stereotypies.  Pawing chains dangle from a leather anklet and rap the horse on the foot when he paws.  Since it is uncomfortable, he stops pawing.  Cribbing collars squeeze the horse when he flexes his neck to suck in air and make it uncomfortable to crib.  The owners of weavers put metal bars in the stall or hang chains from the ceiling.  When the horse weaves, he hits the bars or chains and stops.  These items and others will stop horses from performing stereotypies – temporarily.  As soon as you remove the pawing chain or cribbing collar, the horse goes back to pawing or cribbing. 

 

Since stereotypies are a result of some type of stress, try identifying and eliminating the stress before you attempt to prevent the stereotypy – give him more time outside, vary his training routine, or let him hang out with other horses.  Unfortunately once you eliminate the source of stress he will probably continue performing the stereotypy at a lower frequency because it has become a habit.  However if you fail to eliminate his stress, but prevent him from performing a stereotypy, he may develop a new one.  For example, if you use a cribbing collar to prevent a stressed horse from cribbing he may start pawing or weaving in an attempt to cope with the stress.

 

Stereotypies are frustrating for horse owners, trainers, and caretakers – especially since there is often no cure once a stereotypy has started.  However the good news is that you can prevent most stereotypies with good management practices and you may be able to decrease the frequency of established stereotypies with a few changes to your horse’s routine.

 

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