Windsucking is a behavior in horses where they arch their necks, open their mouths, and swallow air, often making a loud gulping sound. In the research cribbing and windsucking are differentiated between grasping a surface with their teeth or not, but most horse owners would use these terms interchangeably, and we’ll use them interchangeably in this article.
Windsucking can be triggered by:
Stress: Horses may start windsucking in response to stressful situations or environments.
Boredom: Lack of mental stimulation or social interaction can lead to windsucking.
Diet: Poor diet or feeding practices can contribute to this behavior.
Pain: Physical discomfort or gastrointestinal issues can also be a cause (ulcers).
Confinement. Windsucking is almost exclusively exhibited in horses that have been confined (stabled).
Windsucking is more common in horses that had a very stressful weaning (i.e, removed from the mare and never seeing her again), as opposed to a more natural weaning. And/or are fed small, grain-based meals rather than accessing forage.
Windsucking and cribbing is not observed in wild horse populations.
All of this would suggest that horses that are housed outside in herds and exercise, with access to forage are much less likely to crib than horses stabled, fed concentrated diets with short periods of exercise, and is therefore much more prevalent in racing thoroughbreds. But we all already knew that from observation.
Why is Windsucking a problem?
Weight loss, or difficulty maintaining weight.
Windsuckers are at higher risk of colic.
Windsucking is associated with a much higher incidence of gastric ulcers, but it’s a chicken and egg situation. Or alternatively, husbandry that is more likely to result in windsucking is also more likely to result in ulcers.
Damage to teeth.
Damage to fences and stables.
Research on Windsucking
There’s quite a lot of research on windsucking, cribbing and ‘aerophagia’, where they actually swallow the air. We would point you to Professor Paul McGreevy from Sydney University School of Veterinary Science - basically anything from McGreevy is gold. He’s done a lot of studies on racehorses, including controversial whip studies. He’s also studied brachycephalic dog breeds (that’s dogs with shortened noses).
A few research papers from McGreevy specifically on windsucking worth a read are:
Prevention of crib-biting: a review from 1998
This one is a great overview and concludes that despite acupuncture, drugs, environmental enrichment, feeds and surgery, no one treatment works for all horses and that the focus of research should be on understanding why horses start cribbing in the first place.
This one found that horses cribbed more after they had been prevented by a windsucking collar. Ie, the collars don’t really work.
This study from 2023 looks at starchy diets versus fibre-based diets. If you’ve been reading these emails for a while you know we recommend supplying 1 - 2% of your horse’s bodyweight in forage per day.
"Treatments"
Aside from using a windsucking collar, which McGreevy’s research shows may actually create more stress, there are several other methods that are suggested to manage and reduce this behavior:
Environmental Enrichment: Providing toys, mirrors, and other forms of mental stimulation can help reduce boredom.
Increased Turnout Time: Allowing the horse more time outside of the stall can reduce stress and boredom.
Companion Animals: Having other animals around can provide social interaction and reduce stress.
Dietary Changes: Ensuring a balanced diet with adequate fibre and multiple small meals throughout the day can help.
Behavior Modification Training: Working with a veterinarian or equine behaviorist to develop a plan to address the behavior. Also unlikely to work long-term.
Aversion therapy. There are shock-collars out there. In my opinion, given how entrenched and persistent this behaviour is - that’s abuse.
Several surgical operations have been developed to remove parts of the muscles and/or nerves in the horse’s throat so they can no longer windsuck. These procedures include buccostomy, myectomy, and neurectomy. Many horses return to windsucking after the surgery. Aside from the risks associated with surgeries and scarring, it is rarely successful.
There is one study that shows acupuncture as a successful strategy. Given that this was from 1983, it’s interesting that there has been no follow up given how prevalent windsucking is.
In short - this is a persistent behaviour, once established, almost impossible to resolve, even after the triggers that started it are resolved. Wild horses don’t windsuck. Horses that are kept in a natural way don’t windsuck. This is an us problem.
The best product that we have for gastric health is our prebiotic/probiotic bundle. This is a bestseller for us for over 10 years, and of late we have SOLD OUT quicker than we can restock.
It's working for horses, and incredibly affordable, at only 10g per day. Clearly you are telling each other, word-of-mouth, about this gut bundle. We feed it to our own horses too. It's in stock now. Get on it.
If you don't like this behaviour, don’t buy a windsucker. If you go to look at a horse and every hard surface is electrified, ask if the horse windsucks.
If you do buy a windsucker, or already own one, provide them with adequate fibrous forage, turn them out as much as possible in a herd, give them a job so that they exercise and have active minds, and manage their stomach ulcers.
More importantly, if you breed or have young horses, allow them to wean more naturally and avoid confinement as much as possible, avoid feeding concentrates, and supply 1 - 2% of their bodyweight per day in fibrous forage.
Check out the links below for more information on rehabbing OTTBs and managing ulcers.
Comments