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from Cherry Hill
from Cherry Hill
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Vices
in Horses | |||
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. |