Windsucking

[dizzybee]

How do you stop windsucking

[carthorse]

If the habit is formed I'm afraid you won't :(. You may, however, reduce it with careful management.

Some windsuckers have stomach problems such as gastric ulcers so it may be worth trying a supplement aimed at this to see if it helps. From experience I must warn you that you may try a lot before you find one that works for your horse - I did & had just about given up when my vet suggested Equine America U-Gard Plus which seems to help my lad. It may also be worth asking your vet about testing him for ulcers, mine was reluctant to as the horse is a stress head who colics when too stressed out.

Diet is also very important. Cereals make a lot of cribbers worse so try to keep him on a high fibre, cereal free diet. Luckily there's a general move towards this type of feeding so it's not terribly difficult to do even for performance horses. Try very hard to avoid leaving him without food for more than a couple of hours.

Generally try to keep him in a routine & in an enviroment that he's happy with. Lots of horses windsuck less when they get plenty of turnout & are kept in a way that they find relaxing.

Ultimately it's something you'll have to learn to live with I'm afraid.

[Debbi G]

Can stay a habit but yes they normally have ulcers. I have racehorses that one of them started windsucking. Put him on Gastro Plus and it was down to gastric ulcers and after 3 days of being on this he stopped windsucking. This is so effective and different from anything else due to the Nitric Oxide created in the body. check out www.equinescience.co.uk