Horses, like humans, have unique personalities and behaviors. It’s important to know that these animals are not naturally vicious or difficult to handle. Many negative habits or traits can be attributed to a horse’s past experiences or inherited temperament. By identifying the root of the problem and adopting proper handling techniques, we can overcome these challenges and maintain a positive relationship with our equine companions.
Causes of Vices and Bad Habits
Many factors can contribute to unhappiness or uncooperative behavior in horses. The most common are:
- Rough or unsympathetic handling by a trainer or caregiver
- Poor stable management and living conditions
- Teasing or intimidation from humans or other horses
- Fear caused by inexperienced or unconfident handlers
- Direct ill-treatment or abuse
Additionally, some horses are more susceptible to developing negative behaviors due to nervousness or an unstable temperament. These traits can be inherited and may cause the horse to be more prone to developing vices or bad habits.
Addressing Horse Behavior Issues
To improve a horse’s behavior, it’s important to take a measured and empathetic approach. A few simple methods to address common issues include:
- Good Stable Management: Ensuring that the horse’s living conditions are clean, comfortable, and properly maintained can help alleviate stress and prevent the development of negative behaviors.
- Identifying the Cause: Take the time to observe the horse and understand the root cause of the behavior. This can help in tailoring a specific solution to resolve the issue.
- Empathetic but Firm Handling: Handle the horse with a calm, confident, and consistent demeanor. This reassures the animal and allows them to trust you as their handler.
- Seek Professional Help: If necessary, consider consulting with an equine behavior specialist or experienced horse trainer. They can offer valuable advice and help implement effective strategies to correct the behavior.
By addressing the underlying issues and using common sense methods, horse owners can often resolve their horse’s vices and bad habits without resorting to drastic or harsh measures. In turn, this nurturing approach supports a trusting and harmonious partnership between human and horse.
Managing Horse Biting Behavior
Biting is not a very common vice in horses, but when it occurs, it’s essential to address the issue to prevent it from developing into a more serious problem. Understanding the causes and appropriate responses can help manage and resolve this behavior.
Playful Bites and Nips
Many horses will engage in occasional playful snatches and nips. While these actions are not usually a cause for concern, it’s important to avoid teasing or aggravating the behavior. Be aware of the horse’s ticklish spots and handle them gently but firmly to discourage nipping.
Ponies and Nipping
Ponies have a greater tendency towards nipping, which can be exacerbated by feeding them treats or “tit-bits.” This issue can be particularly pronounced when tit-bits are given to only one animal among a group grazing together. To discourage nipping, stop giving treats when a pony shows signs of the behavior, or avoid tit-bits altogether for grazing animals.
Stallions and Biting
Stallions are known to be natural biters, and care should be taken while walking past their stalls. Bars are sometimes placed across the top half of the stall door as a safety measure to limit access and discourage biting.
Handling Vicious Biters
If you encounter a horse that is a vicious biter, demonstrating aggressive signs such as laying back its ears or showing the whites of its eyes, firm treatment alone may not be enough. Here are a few methods to deal with such animals:
- Restrictive Tying: Tie the horse up short while grooming to limit its ability to reach you.
- Use a Muzzle or Side-Stick: The muzzle can prevent biting, and a side-stick attached to the noseband of the headcollar and the pad of a surcingle can limit the horse’s movement. Ensure the muzzle and side-stick are removed during feeding and when not needed.
- Snaffle Bit: A thick wood or hard rubber snaffle bit used during grooming can cause the horse some discomfort if they try to bite, potentially deterring the behavior in the long run.
By understanding the different causes of biting and employing appropriate methods to address the behavior, horse owners can effectively manage this vice and promote a healthier and safer environment for their animals.
Addressing Crib Biting and Windsucking in Horses
Crib biting and windsucking are two related vices in horses that often occur together. Managing these behaviors can be challenging, but understanding their causes and implementing effective strategies can help control them and maintain the horse’s wellbeing.
Understanding Crib Biting and Windsucking
The crib biter grips any available object (such as a manger) with its teeth while gulping down air, whereas the windsucker swallows air without gripping a fixed object. Attempting to cure crib-biting by merely removing all fittings may lead to windsucking. No permanent cure is guaranteed for either behavior, but they can often be controlled to varying degrees through mechanical means or, in severe cases, surgical operations.
Both vices can cause indigestion and colic, and crib biting can lead to rapid and excessive wearing down of the teeth and subsequent loss of condition.
Addressing the Behaviors
The primary causes of crib biting and windsucking are usually idleness and boredom or imitation of another horse. Consider the following steps to address these behaviors:
- Keep the Horse Active: Provide regular work or keep the horse outside the stable as much as possible. Provide a net of hay to occupy the horse when they must remain indoors for extended periods. Avoid using a salt lick as a substitute because it may encourage the behavior or even cause it in the first place.
- Prevent Imitation: Ensure the horse has no opportunity to pass the habit on to others.
- Remove Fittings and Apply Anti-Cribbing Ointment: Remove all fittings the horse can grasp, and apply unpleasant-tasting anti-cribbing ointment to any items that cannot be removed. Muzzling may be necessary, except during feeding times.
For determined crib biters or windsuckers, more intensive measures may be needed to prevent the horse from sucking in air or arching its neck:
- Gullet Plate and Cribbing Strap: A saddler can provide these items to hinder the horse’s ability to suck in air.
- Flute Bit: Available from a saddler, this perforated hollow mouthpiece effectively prevents air from being sucked in.
Crib biting and windsucking may develop from a habit of licking walls, which is often due to boredom. In these cases, regular work is the remedy. However, if the behavior is caused by inadequate nutrition, lack of bulk (fiber), or insufficient minerals, the horse’s diet should be reassessed and adjusted accordingly.
Addressing Kicking in Horses
Kicking is a common issue in horses that is often overlooked. It is crucial to identify the cause of this behavior and take appropriate steps to modify it, instead of resorting to aggressive measures like using a whip. By understanding the root of the problem, long-lasting solutions can be implemented.
Causes of Kicking and Effective Solutions
Kicking in Mares: It is widely recognized that mares are more likely to kick than geldings, especially during their oestrus period. Gentle handling during these sensitive times can help reduce and eventually eliminate this behavior.
Lack of Work and Boredom: Horses that aren’t engaged in regular work or activities can become bored and resort to kicking.
Harvest Mites: In some instances, small red spiders or harvest mites can become trapped in a horse’s bedding, causing irritation around the fetlocks. The horse may kick in response. Changing the bedding and treating the legs with an anti-parasitic wash can help resolve this issue.
Fear of Handling: Young horses may be afraid of being handled and kick as a result. It’s important to handle them regularly and gently so they can become more comfortable with human interaction. If necessary, using a padded long pole to stroke the hindquarters can help desensitize the horse.
Vermin in the Stable: Vermin scurrying around the stable at night can be responsible for nighttime kicking. Keeping a stable cat can help manage this problem.
Fear of the Dark: Some horses express their dislike for the dark by kicking. Installing a dim night light can alleviate this issue. Alternatively, a low-powered car light connected to a car battery can be temporarily used to see if it helps.
Unfamiliar Horses: Kicking can sometimes occur when a horse encounters unfamiliar neighbors. This issue usually resolves as the horses grow accustomed to each other, and taking steps to speed up this process is essential to prevent kicking from becoming a habit.
Sensitivity While Grooming: Ticklishness or sensitivity in some horses, especially thin-skinned ones, can lead to kicking during grooming. Extra care should be taken with these areas. If the issue persists, holding or strapping up one foreleg during grooming might help. Be sure to give the horse sufficient rest and ensure a thick bedding is in place for stability.
Mischievousness: Kicking can stem from playfulness but may eventually become a vice if not addressed. A firm but fair reminder of stable manners, like a sharp tap on the leg preparing to kick, can be effective in curbing this behavior. Additionally, using voice commands with an appropriate tone can help.
Preventative Measures and Safe Practices
Padding Surfaces: If a horse continues to kick at partitions or posts, padding these surfaces with coarse matting can prevent injury and mute the noise. Some stables use prickly materials to discourage kicking, but this method can have mixed results, so monitor the outcome carefully.
Understanding Warning Signs: Tail swishing can be an indication that a horse is about to kick when there are no flies around. When grooming the hind legs, holding the hamstring with one hand can help sense any tension and allow for preventive action by putting weight on the hamstring and hock.
Avoiding Rough Treatment: Using forceful or rough treatment on a horse that kicks may backfire, leading to worse kicking behavior. A gentle approach will yield better results and build trust between the horse and its handler.
Addressing Weaving in Horses
Weaving, a habitual, neurotic behavior observed in horses, involves the horse consistently swinging its head, neck, and forehand from side to side. More than a simple behavioral quirk, it’s a sign of underlying issues that need addressing in order to ensure the health and well-being of the animal.
Identifying Weaving Behavior
A horse that weaves would typically swing its body parts rhythmically over the bottom half of the stable door. Some horses might only move their head and neck back and forth, resembling a spectator watching a tennis match. In extreme cases, a horse may rock its body, often lifting or crossing one forefoot after another.
It’s generally agreed that weaving is a neurotic habit born out of boredom, idleness, and confinement. The behavior is most commonly observed among captive wild animals, indicating the underlying issue is discomfort arising from limited movement.
While it is less common, a nervous horse may weave temporarily when it is relocated to a new environment or facility and stop once it has settled in. The primary concern from the horsekeeper’s perspective is that weaving consumes unnecessary energy, leading to a reduction in the horse’s overall efficiency. It’s worth noting that weaving is considered ailment in horses and could potentially decrease the value at horse auctions. It is advisable to avoid buying horses that exhibit weaving or other similar vices where possible.
Addressing and Managing Weaving
Breaking a horse of a weaving habit can be challenging. Horse owners could potentially exacerbate the situation if they own several horses as these animals tend to imitate each other. Common preventative measures often involve a “weaving” grille attached to the stable door that limits the horse’s lateral head movement. Restrictions can also be imposed within the box itself by tying the animal up to short pillar reins. It’s important to note that, while these practices might control the symptoms, they don’t address the root cause.
The primary strategy against weaving is to keep horses regularly active with sufficient work or exercise, minimizing their idle time in the stable. Owners should leverage available grazing lands whenever the weather is conducive, as it could improve the horse’s well-being. A horse that weaves often feeds poorly in the stable but improves notably when allowed to feed in the open.
Providing mental stimulation for the horse during stable periods, such as offering a hay-net or a salt lick, can help curb weaving behavior. Though a reasonable concern, the fear of other horses imitating a weaver may be overstated. Still, it’s important to monitor the horses and promptly remove any that start showing signs of the habit.
Despite the best efforts, it’s difficult to guarantee a permanent cure for weaving. Horses that have spent extended periods in grasslands have been known to revert to weaving once back in the stable. However, it’s noteworthy that many horses, despite being confirmed weavers, maintain good health and don’t necessarily show any notable loss of condition.
Understanding Box-Walking in Horses
Box-walking is an action performed by horses where they follow an endlessly repeated path around the perimeter of their stall or box. Like weaving, it’s indicative of underlying stress factors that affect both the health and behavior of the horse.
Identifying Box-Walking Horses
Nervous horses often indulge in box-walking in a way quite similar to how zoo animals pace their cages. These horses are commonly referred to as “poor doers” for two main reasons. First, they tend to expend an excess amount of energy through constant motion, which can deplete their overall vigor. Second, these horses don’t rest enough, further compromising their well-being.
A related setback seen in nervous horses is their failure to eat properly – these horses are known as “shy feeders”. Addressing these issues is crucial not just for their physical health, but also because shy feeders often present challenges in handling. For instance, if they’re subjected to intense exercise or work, they don’t consume enough nutrients to maintain an optimum body condition, causing them to lose weight significantly.
Managing Box-Walking and Shy Feeding
Dealing with box-walking and shy feeding requires careful, empathetic, and creative strategies. One proven method is the introduction of a companion. If a suitable horse, pony, or donkey isn’t available to share the stable, a variety of other animals can serve as buddy options. Goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, or even cats have been successfully employed as companions to help alleviate these behavioral issues in horses.
Interestingly, fostering a sense of competition at feeding times can stimulate a shy feeder’s appetite. The presence of a stable-mate at the feed manger has often persuaded many hesitant eaters to consume their food, which can significantly improve their body condition. The process may also indirectly help to reduce box-walking by creating a calming influence and reducing the need for constant activity.
Providing an appropriate solution for these behavioral issues helps ensure the horse is healthier, more at ease, and ultimately happier in its surroundings. It is beneficial for both the horse and its human caretaker, promoting a more harmonious relationship between them.
