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CONTROLLING THE WIND SUCKER by John O'Leary Wind Sucking is a vice and it is also a legal trigger for a Veterinary Surgeon to reject a horse during an inspection for sale. The wind sucker is often under weight and I have even seen them so bad that they have died of mal nutrition because of their incessant desire to be carrying on their habit.
Wind Sucking becomes a drug addiction with horses. They are addicts. Each time they suck and gulp air they receive a hit of endorphins which is similar to a drug, hence it's addiction. The habit is generally caused by boredom in the stables environment and/or copying other horses that do it. Such boredom can be increased by the lack of opportunity for the horse to graze, which they do for around 16 hours in their paddock environment. The feeding of lot's of hay keeps horses occupied whereas in the Racing Industry where small hard feeds are fed, the chances of boredom and eventual wind sucking is drastically increased and in real life this is where I meet most of them. To carry out this nasty habit, they usually need to be able to grab on to a door, log, wooden rail or whatever else with their front teeth and then to gulp air down into their gut. Some do not however. When purchasing a horse, you should take a look at it's front teeth to see if they have any unusual wear from wind sucking. Their front teeth gradually get worn down on an angle because of the horse grabbing on to wooden rails, tree stumps, doors or whatever else they can find to achieve their addiction. I have even seen a horse wind suck on it's own front leg. So you own one and what do you do to manage it? They rarely give it up. We have found that using electric fencing to the point where the horse cannot get hold of an object with it's teeth, does stop them in the stable environment. We paint any other target points with creosote and are ever vigilant. If we see a new location being invented by the horse, we will immediately paint that too. It does not pay to allow a wind sucker to be in the company of your other good horses, unless it cannot do it. The Saddlery Shops sell a collar that is called either a 'wind sucking collar' or a 'Miracle Collar' as they are sometimes called. These have some success but not on all horses so do not just fit one and not observe your horse after. It works on the basis of stopping the esophagus from radically expanding so the horse cannot get the large volume of air down the throat at once. One scientific investigation suggested that the horse does not take the air down into either it's lungs or the gut. It found that the air is merely taken into the mouth and throat area. Never buy a Wind Sucker and always ask the question and check the incisor teeth for wear. NEW RESEARCH There have been recent studies in Britain which tend to point toward the problem being digestion related and a product has been manufactured by Feedmark.com Similarly, some Vets' in Australia link stomach ulcers with the problem. There is a wormer for the elimination of ulcers. Recent Advances in the Treatment of Equine Stereotypic Behaviour, University of Lincoln, Caythorpe Campus, UK) In a joint project between the University of Lincoln and Feedmark horses fed an antacid supplement did not exhibit crib biting and windsucking as often. Feedmark have launched an antacid supplement for horses - Settlelex. Lately, I have been observing this product in use on a bad wind sucker here.
I was referred to a debate on the Tashorse Forum about windsucking and a poster had this to say. Nearly every book you read will tell you that wind sucking is a behavioural problem that no one has been able to cure; and certain mythologies abound - such as that if there is one wind sucker in the stable it will 'teach' its habit to the other stable residents. "The habit is generally caused by boredom in the stables environment and/or copying other horses that do it." From Controlling The Wind Sucker by John O'Leary, Horseman © 2003. This particular myth has been debunked in recent years. "While it is often said that other horses will learn a stereotypy such as Cribbing from a horse performing the behavior, Mills said evidence for this is at best poor and in general absent.
To date most of the research into this new area has been
conducted in the UK. Researchers suspected that horses
were Cribbing to try and relieve high stomach acid
levels caused by the feeding of high concentrate feeds
(oats, barley and other grains). At pasture and in the
wild horses spend around 16 hours a day foraging for
food, often of a high fibre, low concentrate type.. The
result is that their digestive tract is "trickle fed"
and constantly processing food as it passes through the
gut. When confined indoors, or even in a yard, and
reliant on their keepers for their source of feed, the
stomach of the horse goes empty for long periods of time
- much longer than it was actually designed to do. To
add to this, they are then feed high concentrate feeds.
In Recent Advances in the Treatment of Equine
Stereotypic Behaviour Daniel Mills says "Both McGreevy
and colleagues (1995a) and Redbo and colleagues (1998)
have also reported that Cribbing
appears to be
associated with the feeding of concentrates, which
supports the observation of Fitzwygram (1911) who
reported that the condition "most commonly . arises from
some form of acidity .of the stomach"." Research
conducted at Auburn University's Department Of Animal
Sciences (Alabama, USA) supports this. "Results clearly
indicate that cribbers have a more acidic gastric
environment than normal horses supporting the theory
that gastrointestinal irritation
may be a
motivating cause for Cribbing." Being the analitical type and always interested in what the horses have to say rather than reading books or Forums, I recommended the owner buy the gadget that you see around the neck of this bad windsucker. Now this is the horse that features in one of my latest videos, 'Wind sucking School' http://www.horseproblems.com.au/Video/Wind%20Suck%20School.avi I and 15 other people have been observing the horse for a week now, since he has had his new collar and he has stopped wind sucking. The thing that interests me however is the question of whether the horse may be in fact penalized and put in further pain should the assertions above be fact. Prior to a week ago, this horse was a depressed, anti social type who never interacted with other horses in the paddock. Rather than being in more pain or any pain, he has a new attitude on life, is happy and is suddenly joining in the fun and games of the day paddock, like a normal horse, not standing around like a zombie. So where the Scientists always use the words 'may be and 'appears to be', I can tell you that this particular horse 'is' not in pain and 'is' happier. Whether their research is correct or not, I don't know but this particular horse has proven the worth of that collar and without any exhibited detrimental affects. Only positive ones. GO LOOK AT THIS VIDEO. WIND SUCKING SCHOOL http://www.horseproblems.com.au/Video/Wind%20Suck%20School.avi I know two things for sure. No human is certain and horses can't talk. What a shame.
The electric wind sucking collar pictured above did work but then I found it malfunctioning in as much as it was giving electric charges to the horse due to owner adjustment. The product idea is good but the design can never take into account the stupidity of people. It is for that reason that I withdraw my recommendation for it.
Mail: horseproblems@horseproblems.com.au
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