Windsucking

nihicib2

Hi all

Im looking after a friend's horse that is constantly windsucking, even with the collar on, I have her out in the field with other horses and most of the time she stands by the posts sucking away, I have painted the posts with a liquid (cant remember the name) especially to stop the crib biting but to no avail.

She has been prone to colic recently as well and I know this is contributing to it, she has always been like this but it seems to be getting worse, any ideas?

B

missloulou

Hi there,

I don't have any experience of windsuckers but would you consider putting the electrical tape (maybe with the electric current) around the boundary of the fence, maybe 3 ft inside the posts, then the horse wouldn't be able to reach to the posts?

My horse respects the tape and you don't need to electrify it but it could be different with your friends horse.

later12

A problem I have with the tape is that it only relieves the symptom, the underlying cause of the windsucking is still there and may manifest itself in another way. We used to have a few crib biters, we plated the doors, and suddenly after a while we had some weavers. Go figure.

OP you say this is your friend's horse. Has the horse been moved to your land away from where it was originally stabled and kept? How old is this horse?

nihicib2

Hi all

Yeah I dont want to use the tape as its a big field and it kind of defeats the purpose of spending a fortune to actually fence it properly.:pac:

As later12 pointed out, she will still windsuck regardless, she's a ISH about 12 years old, I have been looking after her for about 5 years now so she's always been with my other 2, she's always been a wind sucker but recently it seems to be getting worse and as I previously mentioned she's become prone to colic, especially during the winter months when she's out of the field. I stopped using the collar because to be honest she was still able to suck even with it on correctly. I recently moved them to new pasture with stone walls as fencing and she seemed happier there but yesterday I found her connected to a tree stump sucking away :cool:

I kind of know that she's going to be like this always, my friend works in London and only sees her a few times a year, so really the horse is more like my own now (although she wouldn't be my choice, too highly strung), its just the colic I'm worried about, but I cant really see any ways around it, as I mentioned she's been like this for ages and I can see her stopping the habit, its just a matter of trying as much as I can to prevent it

:rolleyes:

convert

Have you tried contacting your vet about this, even just for a chat rather than examining the mare, and see what they have to say re the windsucking and colic link?

Have you talked to your friend about the colic? If not, it would probably be a good idea; let her know it's happened a few times, and discuss with her what should be done in a case of emergency - i.e. vet hospital, operating, etc.

nihicib2

Hi Convert, yes my friend knows, I keep her updated all the time, in winter we keep them in the arena during the day and in the stable at night, we have the arena fenced with electric fence to try and stop her biting the rails but she still manages to get her neck and head twisted to an angle where she can grab one of the rails without getting a shock :rolleyes:

I have taken her to an equine vet (2 hrs away) and she gave me some sachets of bute to give her if she has a particularly bad bout of colic. She had a serious one last year when we had really bad snow and ice and we couldn't take her out of the stable to walk her around let alone to the vet.

There's not much more I can do to be honest, like I said she's not my kinda mare but Im stuck with her (I dont mean that in a bad way its just she can be a hassle sometimes, she aint the sanest horsey sometimes :rolleyes:) but as I've, thankfully, never had to deal with colic until recently, I just wanted to know if there's anything more I could be doing

Thanks