I thought that also about PW, Tayjack.
Windsucking or Cribbing.
Windsucking or Cribbing is when a horse bears down on a fence post or in his stable with his front teeth, tenses his muscles and draws in huge gulps of air.
This is usually accompanied by licking the post or rail and can vary from moderate to constantly doing it.
This habit is particularly rife in racehorses which are stabled most of the time.
Trainers tend to put on a restrictive collar which limits the airway, but this is not addressing the root of the problem nor the causes.
This is a terrible thing for horses, it causes their teeth to wear down prematurely, usually resulting in their inability to chew at all and they have to be put down. It also causes ulcers in their stomach and bouts of colic.
Quite a few horses have to be put down after more than one bout of colic.
Most trainers and horse owners don't know the reason for windsucking and simply put a collar on the horse, which temporarily stops it. It causes a lot of anxiety for the horse and is very difficult to address.
There has been much debate over the reasons for windsucking, but it is never learned behaviour from other horses, nor boredom as many speculate.
In very mild cases, the horse merely licks or chews on the lead rope or reins when it can.
Windsucking can be cured!
The reasons that horses start to windsuck are:
a) the horse is in pain and windsucking helps.
b) the horse is vitamin deficient.
The reason that horses continue windsucking when not vitamin deficient nor in pain, is that endorphens are released when they do it, so it becomes a habit that is very hard to break.
These are the steps to curing windsucking.
Take the horse's temperature and make sure it is not elevated.
Do a thorough blood test for vitamin deficiency.
(I suspect a lot of it is to do with lack of vitamin D and required salt levels)
Take the horse's resting heart rate and respiration rates.
Take the horse outside in the sun without a blanket or rug and let it graze for half an hour. (Note if there are flies concentrated in one place only on the horse, flies are attracted to inflammation and infection).
Check the horse's gait, if it is choppy or favours one side or one leg.
Check the eyes are not dull or milky.
Look at the coat to see if it's a bit dull.
Have a horse osteopath check the horse for joint or muscle pain.
Change the horse's feeding frequency, instead of feeding two or three meals a day, make the servings smaller and more frequent.
(horses are grazing animals that produce acid in their stomach, when there is no frequent food, this can lead to stomach ulcers).
When all the above has thoroughly been ruled out, then it is a habit, and addiction, that needs to be addressed by natural horsemanship techniques.
From a breeding and training perspective, windsuckers have a very poor future. They are expensive to own and usually accompany very high vet bills.
They also damage property and can be hard to handle if wearing a collar (they are very anxious).
From a punting perspective, windsuckers are horrible investments, they rarely win, because they either have stomach ulcers, lack vitamins, or are in hidden pain.
One should particularly look on track or in the gear change list for these items:
Cross over noseband (stops the horse opening it's mouth)
Tail chain (stops the horse drawing air in through it's rear)
Other more obvious gear changes, but very rare are:
Muzzle
Windsucking device.
If on track, go around the stalls and check out the horses wearing windsucking collars.
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