Page 47 - New Mexico Summer 2022

STEREOTYPIES IN HORSES
by Heather Smith Thomas
Domestic horses exhibit a number of behavioral problems that are never seen in wild, free-roaming horses. This is
generally because we keep our horses in an arti- ficial environment and don’t allow them to live ‘normal’ lives. The horse is a herd animal and functions best when living with a group, with room to roam and graze. Emotional stress of confinement and/or isolation from other horses can lead to cribbing, weaving, head bobbing, stall walking, stall kicking, self-biting and other repetitive actions called stereotypies.
These rhythmic actions by a confined or frustrated animal develop in response to stress
- physical or psychological, with physical stress often leading to psychological stress. Examples of stereotypical behavior in other animals include paw-licking in confined dogs, cage pacing in zoo animals, feather plucking in caged birds, etc. In horses, repetitive actions have been called stable vices, but this is an inappropriate term. Vices are undesirable behaviors such as bucking or biting that can generally be corrected through proper
handling
and training.
Stereotypies are
obsessive-compulsive behaviors
that are much more difficult to correct.
When a horse develops a compulsion,
it’s a clue that something is seriously wrong with his environment; his needs for social interaction and security, mobility, or
natural feeding behavior are not being met. Isolation, confinement, insufficient exercise or monotony can lead to compulsive behavior. Once established, however, a stereotypic behavior can become a need in itself and the horse insists on continuing with the behavior.
Underfeeding, restricted feeding or insufficient roughage (feeding concentrated feeds and limited hay or grazing) can be triggers for oral compulsions like cribbing--that later become preferred pastimes no matter how much feed the horse gets. Confinement is the usual trigger for locomotor stereotypies like
weaving or fence pacing.
Most horses can
withstand the frustration
of a single social or physical
deprivation if everything else in
their lives is normal, but when several frustrating factors in the daily routine or stabling conditions converge (such as being kept in a stall and fed concentrated feeds that are eaten quickly, without enough roughage to nibble on through the day), he may go over the edge and begin a stereotypic behavior as a way to cope with the stress.
“Emotional stress of confinement and/or isolation from other horses can lead to cribbing, weaving, head bobbing, stall walking, stall kicking, self-biting and other repetitive actions called stereotypies.”
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When several frustrating factors in
the daily routine or stabling conditions converge, such as being kept in a stall and fed concentrated feeds that are eaten quickly without enough roughage to nibble on through the day, the horse may begin a stereotypic behavior as a way to cope with the stress.