NEWS
Stable vices: From annoying to dangerous
Posted: Saturday, December 28, 1996
Here are some tips on how to control or correct some common bad habitsA former client who boarded many out-of-state mares every breeding season would send an information sheet to the owner of any mare that was coming to him for the first time. On this sheet, he asked for such routine information as age, pedigree, last breeding date, and similar data. He also asked a few less common questions, such as: Does she tease? Does she trailer? Any vices?
He received mostly honest, truthful replies except to that last one. Apparently the mare owners thought he was asking if they smoked or had an alcohol problem, because the answer was invariably No. That answer was accurate in most cases, but it was amazing to see what some owners did not consider to be vices.
I do not know what percentage of horses have a vice. Maybe it is as high as one in ten. Vices range from minor things that only serve to irritate the people who must deal with the horse to things that are potentially life-threatening.
Minor vices
Several vices are totally innocuous, and some can be stopped or controlled. But most cannot.
I once owned a mare who would situate herself so that she would defecate in her feed tub when she was kept in a stall. It did not matter where the tub was located; she would back up to the tub and do her business all night. Of course, her stall was rather easy to clean, so maybe this is something that should be encouraged. If you do want it stopped, remove the feed tub after the meal is completed.
Others use their water bucket as a toilet. Often this is accidental but too many do it too often for it to be considered an accident. It can be stopped by hanging the bucket higher, but if the stall contains a mare and foal, the foal will not be able to reach the bucket.
Then there are the ones that bang their water buckets, spilling the contents. This can be prevented by immobilizing the buckets or installing automatic waterers (immobilization being considerably less expensive), but a good sloshing will still waste a lot of water, create a mess in the stall, and cause the animal to go several hours without water.
Of more concern is the horse that flings its feed or bangs its feed tub. Feed is wasted and the animal does not get enough to eat. Immobilizing the tub helps, as do the various types of tub rings, making the feed more difficult to fling. Placing large rocks or bricks in the tub is also helpful.
Eating the straw bedding can be solved: bed with something else, if possible. I do not think eating the straw is particularly bad for the horse, unless the straw is dusty or the horse is in race training.
Masturbation is obviously a vice of colts and stallions. It can be a problem if a stallion masturbates during the breeding season, but for the life of me I cannot see what harm it does at other times. People want it stopped, however, and stallion rings, cages, and brushes are effective. Rings, however, are very risky; there must be scrupulous attention to cleanliness and placement and they should be checked at least every other day, if not daily.
Kicking the walls is a vice that can be expensive due to repeated repair of stall walls and can be dangerous, because a wall kicker will sometimes put his foot through a broken board, damaging his heels or coronet. I once tended a mare who fractured a coffin bone while kicking a concrete-block wall. It also seems to be contagious; one wall-kicker in a barn will often be imitated by other horses. A suggested remedy is to tie heavy knotted ropes from the kickers tail. Eventually, he will kick until he tires himself out.
Tail rubbing is generally considered to be a sign of some other problem, such as pin worms, ticks, or fungus. But I believe some horses do it because it feels good or otherwise fills some need. A tailboard as used for Saddlebreds will stop it, but, other than a rubbed tail, I do not know what harm it does unless the horse encounters a nail that has become exposed.
Digging is mainly harmful to the stall and your farrier bill, and it is aggravating to the person who must attend to the holes thus created. I have seen a couple of horses so persistent that they dug through asphalt. Rubber mats will usually control the problem.
More serious vices
Then there are vices which are of more concern. Some of these I consider to be more serious only because they bug me. Weaving and stall-walking drive me crazy, but I also do not think a horse can remain in good physical condition if it weaves or walks all the time he is in a stall. I knew one mare who was such an extreme stall-walker that every night she ground her bedding into an unidentifiable pulp, even when she had a foal on her. The little guys were probably uncommonly fit just from trying to avoid being trod upon by Mom.
Suggested ways to stop weaving and walking include hanging things such as milk jugs in several places in the stall or placing tires or beach balls on the stall floor as a sort of entertainment center/obstacle course. Neither ever worked for me. Giving a horse a pet or mascot (goat, sheep) occasionally helps, but some horses will abuse or even kill their companions, so it is neither a humane nor a lasting cure. Leaving a radio turned on while the horse is in the stall is said to help, and it is also said to help control other vices, but I am unconvinced.
What has worked in a couple of cases is allowing the horse to see the horse in the adjacent stall. If the walls are solid, cut a hole maybe 6 x 12 in the wall so the walker can see he is not alone in the world. I think weaving and walking are less of a problem in barns where the walls are only solid up to four feet and slatted above that level.
Eating manure (coprophagy), dirt, or both is probably a sign of a dietary deficiency, and both substances can be harmful to the animals. (Eating manure is normal and accepted behavior in foals for the first few weeks of life.) Parasite ova ingestion and the accumulation of dirt in the gastrointestinal tract are the problems. A review of the feed ration is indicated, and make certain the horse has access to free-choice salt and trace mineral salt.
Self-mutilation, where a horse will chew on itself (usually a leg), may be the most serious vice of them all. A bib or grazing muzzle will stop it.
Wood chewing is a real pain. It destroys the barn or fence and ingested splinters cannot be good for a digestive system, even one geared for roughage. And there is the chance that a nail could be swallowed, and that could be fatal, but this may be one of the easier vices to control. Applying creosote or other treatment to all chewable surfaces works well. Hardwood should be used in fence and barn construction; pine will be devoured in no time.
And, finally, the biggie: cribbing. A cribber has to be so noted in sales catalogs or the horse may be returned after the hammer falls. People say the word as if it is a social disease.
A cribber grabs an inanimate, fixed objectfence, feed tub, or stall door, for instancewith its upper teeth and sucks in air, which is called aerophagia, a word not likely to become an integral part of your vocabulary. The part most people find most objectionable is the belching sound made when the air is swallowed. As with most vices, the cause is uncertain. Many people attribute it to boredom, but I have observed that the foals of cribbing mares often become cribbers, too, so it may also be a learned or even an inherited trait.
A serious cribber prefers gulping in air to eating and often will not carry sufficient weight. But, contrary to popular belief, cribbing does not predispose a horse to colic. Also, many believe that a wood-chewer is likely to become a cribber, but that is not necessarily the case.
Myotomies and neurectomies have been used in attempts to correct cribbing, but they have been only moderately successful. Cribbing straps are less expensive, easier, and in most cases equally or more effective. Grazing muzzles also work well.
Vices are usually created by management. Horses are social, grazing animals not intended to be isolated and pent up, and the stress thus caused is manifested in behavior we find objectionable.
Fortunately, most vices are more offensive to us than they are harmful to the horses, and most of the time we will not alter the horses behavior. With that in mind, try the corrective measures outlined here. And good luck.
Brent Kelley, D.V.M., is a practicing veterinarian living in Paris, Kentucky.
