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Discussion on Is this windsucking?
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Member:
Melis
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Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - 11:59 am:
Hi, we just "aquired" a 10 yo mare. She's doing an odd thing. She puts her neck over the fence or gate and presses down until she produces a horrible burp sound. Is this a form of windsucking? We're transitioning her onto pasture 24/7. We currently have two older geldings whom are out continously and seem content. Will my boys pick up this habit? Is there anything else I can do (besides the turnout)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Melissa
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - 12:32 pm:
Yes, Melissa, it is wind sucking.
There's not much you can do (if anything at all) to fix it. As far as I know you can only put a collar on, which will prevent her from doing it as long as the collar is on, but it will not correct the habit.
I have not seen horses picking this up from stall or pasture mates.
Were you aware that this mare had this fault before purchase?
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - 12:44 pm:
There's an article about this:
Horse Training >> Behavioural Problems >> Stable Vices
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Member:
Liliana
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Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - 1:05 pm:
Hi Melissa,
Mmm this is the kind of thing that people will forget to tell you when you are viewing a horse. Windsucking is normally from boredom, like smoking kind of, if you are going to have her at grass 24/7 out of the frustration of being locked up in a stable, I think you will find that she will gradually lose the habit, I have seen it happen in confirmed windsuckers,
Best of luck
Liliana
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - 3:25 pm:
Even if the seller forgets to mention this habit, you may see a distinct line, or step, on the horse's flanks, about where the last rib is, where the muscles used for winsucking are built up (I guess).
I do not know if this applies to all winsuckers and gribbers, but it was definitely obvious in two horses I knew and my trainer was swearing it was from the windsucking.
Unfortunately I can not recall where exactly this line was so to draw it for you. But one of these horses is still in the area, and though his owner is not exactly friendly I think I'll manage to take a peek to refresh my memory.
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Member:
Melis
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 8:15 am:
Thanks for the info. I did read the article. I just wasn't 100% sure. I didn't buy her (Imy). She belongs to my sister-in-law. They're going through some tough times so I volunteered to take Imy in until they can get back on their feet.
Her history does include being a show horse which involved being stabled most of the time. I don't know if my sister was aware of her windsucking behavior when she bought her. She says that Imy will do less sucking once she's out more. She does seem to have a more pronounced indentation after her last rib. Our boys are a little fleshy so I wasn't sure if that indentation was just because she's thinner. 
Thanks again,
Melissa
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 12:46 pm:
This line I am talking about is not an indentation after the last rib, Melissa. On the contrary, the only thing I remember for sure is that it is a step up as you move backwards/downwards on the horse's side.
Just give me a few days, I'll try to bribe the stall boy into letting me take a picture when his boss is not there, then we have can all comment on it.
Don't take this "windsucking line" for granted, it may prove to be a conformation characteristic irrelevant to windsucking.
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Member:
Liliana
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 2:53 pm:
I seem to remember that the mark is on the neck as they arch to windsuck?! kind of under the neck or just before the shoulder. You know when the picture of it comes to your mind but you cannot kind of close up on it.
Please do not forget to take a picture of it if you can Christos! it is driving me lulu
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 4:24 pm:
Don't hold your breath, Liliana!
I will take the picture or make a drawing as soon as I can get to see that horse, but I am not very optimistic that we'll be able to connect this line with windsucking in any logic way.
Come to think of it, windsucking does not take any muscular effort around the ribcage. We'll learn something out of this story, but I start to believe that it will be more towards breathing problems and exercise intolerance than about winsucking.
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Member:
Ladera
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 8:30 pm:
Melissa, My first horse was a windsucker. I tried using the miracle collar and the french strap/hinged collar to stop the windsucking. The former had the brow band cut into his ears and the french collar cut his throat. My horse windsucked all day. What worked the best was living in the pasture. The windsucking was reduced. He did roam and used the fence posts and water trough to windsuck .
None of stable mates ever picked up his annoying habit.
He did develop huge thick throat muscles due to the windsucking. I had to deal with several gas colic episodes. Also the equine dentist showed me how he had altered his teeth from his windsucking.
He was a chronic windsucker. I actually parked my car outside his stall one night thinking I could try to get him to stop.
Placing him in the pasture was the best environment. He loved hanging with his buddies . He continued to get his "high" but drastically reduced. I walked the pasture to see how much damage was occuring and if he had broken anything.
I have had better success with the muzzle.
I believe my horse is a severe case.
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Member:
Hwood
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005 - 10:58 pm:
Last year I watched a video that was given to a friend who attended a Horse Expo in Denver. The video was promoting a type of "shock collar" device for horses, and it seems to me that it guaranteed to train them not to crib, windsuck . . . etc.
Has anyone else seen such a thing or used it, and did you find it successful?
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Member:
Gwen
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - 7:57 am:
From what I have learned and observed about windsucking, it seems to me that certain horses are predisposed to it because of their personality type. I think that it is their way of coping with stress/boredom. Although someone mentioned a gassy horse, many vets say that it really hasn't been proven to cause any major health issues. I also have read that to prevent them from doing it may even cause them more internal stress (causing colic maybe). I used to put a miracle collar on my horse, and it stopped him. However, now he is in/out as he pleases without a collar and only cribs when he eats or when clearly stressed. From what I have observed about the muscles, is that he does have an "upside down"neck and a line of muscle on the bottom of his belly that is actually parallel to the ground. Some say that it resembles a really fit horse who carries their bellies up. Just my two cents!
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Member:
Canderso
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005 - 8:03 am:
Christos, I think I know what line you are talking about - it runs parallel to the ground across the last few ribs - usually about 2-3 hand widths long, right? If a rider's leg is the right dressage length for the horse, the line is directly behind the spur.
Gotta admit, though, I always thought this line was a general sign of COPD. I thought cribbers and windsuckers could have stronger undernecks (just below throatlatch) and sometimes what looks like a hay belly...
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Sunday, Oct 14, 2007 - 5:19 pm:
i have a yearling filly that is wind sucking. she has a yearling filly with her at all times, but they have been moved to different facilities 3x. where she is now is a riding therapy center, where she can see all of the classes. she has a 6 ft gate that seperates her from the arena.she seems to only do it at that gate while in. she is only hayed and grained 2x a day and we give an extra flake at night.her run is about 40 x 40 that she shares with her buddy. we have only noticed this for 3 months IS IT TO LATE TO REVERSE...? we can send her to a friend that has a huge amount of roaming area. she is also a major show prospect that we were planning to show in the spring. if in january we started to bring her in the barn again during the day will that make her get worse? thank you for your help
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Monday, Oct 15, 2007 - 12:30 am:
Follow up - The above was posted by a good friend who is visiting us from out of town. She is worried about her yearling filly. I logged on to this site and she read info on wind-sucking. (I think she may well join the list!)I know very little about this. At dinner she mentioned that the stable where they board gives the filly one flake of hay in the morning and one flake at night (with some grain). She is concerned that the fact that the yearling has nothing in her stall to "graze" on much of the time might be a contributing factor. They are bringing her extra hay when they visit the barn. Because of the breeding and quality of the filly, they are highly motivated to turn this around. Unfortunately we don't have any more "baby safe" paddocks at this time, but a mutual friend does. In your experience can this be reversed rapidly by turn out with other youngsters? Any other suggestions?
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Monday, Oct 15, 2007 - 1:29 am:
My trainer tells me that when she started feeding loose minerals free choice, the horses in her barn that "wind sucked" and cribbed, stopped doing it. It might be worth a try.
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Member:
melis1
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Posted on Monday, Oct 15, 2007 - 9:11 am:
The horse I was wrote about in 2005 had access to good grass 24/7 and had both free choice minerals and a white salt block but she continued to wind suck. My other horses did NOT start imitating her behavior (thankfully). They were all turned out together for about a year.
We did notice that when the mare was stressed she would wind suck more and she always did it after eating her small amount of pellets (<l lb) with her supplements added.
I often wondered if she had ulcers and that maybe that was triggering some of her wind sucking behavior. I spoke with her owner about it but she declined exploring any treatment options.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Monday, Oct 15, 2007 - 3:09 pm:
Ulcers would be worth looking at, imo. The only horse I have that does this from time to time is Maarissa, who had knee surgery years ago and now has arthritis quite badly. I notice she sucks on the pipe panels of her run at times at that these times seems to be when there are changes in weather or when she's over done on the field and is sort and achy. I give her some bute and she usually quits sucking. So in her case I think she does it due to pain; the sucking released endorphines (sp?) which make her feel better. At least that's the way it appears from just observing her.
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