Windsucking

Windsucking ( for the benefit of any non-horsey uninitiateds dropping by here) is NOT an new Extreme Sport, nor a racy party game, nor any kind of expletive deleted. It is, though, a very irritating, and occasionally dangerous, bad habit picked up by bored horses.

It involves the horse grabbing hold of almost anything sold – stable door, manger, fence posts, gates, wooden bars or sparring, even metal bars – and then arching his neck and gulping down air with a big grunt. This action forces the air down the gullet into the stomach, instead of into the lungs. There are two direct effects. Firstly, the air in the stomach impedes good digestion. Over a period of time, this makes the horse unthrifty – a ‘bad doer’ – because much of the food taken in is in effect going to waste. Sometimes, the horse can ‘binge’on the gulps of air and actually give himself colic.

Secondly, the grabbing hold with the teeth ( called ‘crib-biting’, for obvious reasons, though by no means limited to mangers ) gradually wears down the teeth in an unnatural way. This can be easily seen by checking the teeth – one reason why it really is a good idea to ‘look (even) a gift horse in the mouth’; at least you’d know what you were getting. The uneven teeth mean that food may not be chewed properly, leading to increased digestive and thriftiness problems. And all that chewing can wreck your stable, fencing and gates !

The primary cause of windsucking, as I said, is boredom, but ( like so many bad habits, equine and human) it can also be sparked off by nerviness and fretting. Some people say it is ‘infectious’, in that other horses in a stable yard, especially youngsters, will copy the windsucker/crib-biter. ( Just as ‘weaving’, that other nervous/boredom habit, will be copied by others.) I have never actually seen other horses copying windsucking myself – it isn’t, in my experience, as ‘infectious’ as weaving. But if a had a valuable youngster I dare say I wouldn’t want to risk it by letting him hob-nob with any horse with these habits.

Sadly, the ‘cure’ isn’t as simple as giving the windsucker more work and mental stimulation – though this will certainly help. Giving up your regular gulps must be like trying to quit cigarettes. Not easy. Traditionally, people have fitted ‘cribbing collars’ –basically a stiff leather strap that is fitted around the horse’s throat, with a heart-shaped piece ( of leather or metal) fitted close by the gullet, to prevent the sucking in of air. Bright horses suss this out quite quickly, and wriggle their way round it.

There is also the surgical approach – by piercing two holes, either side of the mouth. This makes it impossible for a vacuum to be created in the mouth to force down the air. But surgery is surgery – expensive and only to be considered in consultation with your vet, for sound medical reasons.

Unless your windsucking horse is really suffering , you may well decide to settle for removing as many chewable items as possible in the stable ( or at least the ones you want to keep !) and daubing Cribbox , or even something like Jeyes Fluid, on the rest. You can feed your horse off the floor ( more natural anyway) and then keep him as physically and mentally occupied as you can, with work, companionship, regular turnout-and-play sessions, and maybe even stable toys. ( I’ve never yet seen a horse able to crib-bite one of those huge footballs.) Windsucking is manageable – but it can be a darned nuisance.

Not surprisingly, windsucking ( along with crib-biting, and weaving) is officially a stable vice and technical unsoundness. It must be declared up-front by the vendor of any horse with the habit ( however slight or infrequent) – or else the hapless purchaser, on making the discovery, has every right in law to return the horse and demand a full refund.

Not that there was any hint of doubt where Count was concerned. Not only was it right up there in his catalogue entry (‘Has been seen to windsuck’), and announced by the auctioneer as he entered the ring, but Di pointed it out to me personally in the stable, even as she was extolling Count’s many virtues. “He does windsuck – but not all the time. Only a bit. He doesn’t do it when he’s turned out.” Di had a very winsome, winning smile. “And he’s such a sweet horse, he really is.” Hmmn… I had a look at his teeth. Not too bad, actually. And after all, there’s no such thing as the perfect horse…..Sometimes you just have to chose what you are prepared to compromise on.

In fact, Di was totally accurate. He doesn’t do it when he’s turned out – so all fence posts and gates are safe at our place ! But that’s not all. During the few weeks at the end of the summer that Count was able to be out 24/7 ( between winding-down from full training and then coming back inside for autumn nights) he didn’t windsuck at all, neither outside nor in the stable. Even when brought in for saddling-up etc, and for feeding and handling, he never even thought about grabbing and sucking during the weeks he was living out in the field full-time. Now it’s winter, though, he comes in for the night and gets straight in to windsucking for Britain .

This all makes me think it’s partly an anxiety-thing, related to his racing days, and that daily stable routine reminds him of this and triggers the habit. Which then makes me think that, with time and relaxation, together with interesting new work, he may well grow out of it. Certainly hope so; he’s doing terrible things to the stable door !