Sorry another thread by me… I couldn’t start this thread earlier because I didn’t know right word for that behaviour…
My poor boy is also a windsucker. He has done it for years. I have treated his belly and otherwise he is managing well but this damn windsucking… Is there anything that can be done with this? Anything that could help?
The DARE miracle collar helped my gelding who did this. I tried every collar and its the only one that really made a difference. Lots and lots of turnout helps too, less time standing around.
My gelding lives in open barn so he is always outside… He has horse friends there and almost free grass, right now he is on pasture. Still windsucking…
We use leather collar also because otherwise he destroys the wooden fences.
Um-
The definition I know for “windsucking” only applies to MARES. And only when they are galloping.
Do you mean he is cribbing?
[QUOTE=Janet;8279430]
Um-
The definition I know for “windsucking” only applies to MARES. And only when they are galloping.
Do you mean he is cribbing?[/QUOTE]
there is cribbing, windsucking and mare windsucking.
Get him outside, when he has to be in a stall NO hanging buckets, give him ground feeders and a rubbermaid tub or other safe container on the ground for water…just make everything too low to suck on and give him all the hay he will eat. Lots of exercise and routine usually help too. OOppps just saw your post he lives outside…try exercise and a nice daily ritual, I find if I massaged my guy he would keep his mouth off stuff for a little while after. I really believe it boils down to their brain chemistry and anything else that may get the happy juice flowing might help reduce the wind sucking.
Windsucking/ cribbing – all the same. I had one for 21 years. It was irritating and when he was stalled in his younger years it was destructive. Quite honestly, if he is in good weight and has no health issues from it ( like my guy) I would let him be.
We did have electric wire at the level of our corner posts in the pasture so he couldn’t crib on those and I left him a spot he could safely crib on when he felt like it. Tried a collar once, never again.
[QUOTE=Janet;8279430]
Um-
The definition I know for “windsucking” only applies to MARES. And only when they are galloping.
Do you mean he is cribbing?[/QUOTE]
Some horses, like pre teen boys learn to do swallow air. Where boys do it in order to burp loudly, horses just do it, and get “windy”. It is a form of cribbing only no teeth grab. The sound is just as annoying.
The mare thing is why among other things so many mares end up with Caslick’s.
Windsucking and cribbing are a bit different. Yes, they both suck in air but the difference is that a cribber requires something to grab on to, to suck in air (feeder, board, top of fence post etc) a windsucker is able to just stand there and suck in air. Windsuckers don’t need things removed as they don’t use things like cribbers do.
“The term cribbing is used to describe the behavior of a horse who rests his top teeth on a relatively stationary object and sucks air into his throat. …”
" … when wind-sucking, a horse doesn’t steady himself on a stationary object before drawing air into the back of his throat."
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/horse-behavior/cribbing
Oh sorry so much, I misunderstood the terms totally… So my gelding is CRIBBING, he needs something to push his teeth against and then he sucks air.
I designed a collar for my cribber mare. It is non-evasive as in: not tightly worn, doesn’t twist around, absolutely no rub marks and it works for her. You would have to have it made. If interested send me your email in a PM and I’ll send you pics with the info. It is all leather so you just have to keep it clean.
While we are on this subject, my gelding likes to crib 2-3 times right after grain, always in the exact same spot, and then he walks away and doesnt do it again. If I spray something on that spot, he doesn’t do it. If I am there and spray No Chew it works, but it doesn’t work the second day. Does anyone know of a spray or gel of some sort I can put on that area that has a lasting deterrent?
Smear on some Vick’s V Rub and then sprinkle on some Cayenne Pepper,
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