A horse can exhibit many behaviors that are deemed undesirable (also known as vice). Some of these actions are repetitive and seem pointless. These are called stereotypical behaviors. Other behaviors are associated with sexual hormones, feeding, or aggression.
Unwanted horse behavior is often caused by environmental stresses and other issues, and can be frustrating for the owner. Veterinarians can diagnose these behaviors based on commonly seen signs and help horse owners understand the underlying causes in order to resolve or change the behavior.
Key takeout
- It is important to investigate horse behavioral issues as they can be a sign of greater health problems.
- Always work with your veterinarian, trainer, and barn manager when dealing with unwanted behavior.
Horse stereotype behavior problems
Stereotypic behavior means that the horse is a repetitive action, does it repeatedly and does not have an obvious purpose. These are often stress-inducing, and even if stressful stimuli are removed, it is very difficult to suppress if the horse makes them a habit. Actions include:
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Turning/pacing: Walk narrow circles in one or both directions, or walk straight lines often along fence lines or food stalls
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Cheating: Biting an object secured by a horse’s incisors, pulling and sucking with the neck and throat
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Weave:Sway left and right while standing in place
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Step in: Kick on the floor, usually with the fore legs
Horse sexual behavior problems
Sexual behavior problems are often due to hormonal imbalances. These include:
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Stud’s poor sexual desire: Low testosterone can cause a reduced motivation for breeding stallions.
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Ninfamania of the Mares: High sexual impulses or mares that behave like stallions are often symptoms of mare hormonal imbalance and sometimes secondary to ovarian tumors.
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Silent heat of a mare: There are no strong mares It is a sign of fever, but this is usually a desirable trait except for chick mares.
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Gelding behaves like a stallion: Leave can result in a gelding like an offensive stud. In rare cases, unidentified encryption (if it has never been kept in the cell membrane) can also cause these symptoms.
Eating disorders in horses
Sometimes horses may eat anything other than food, which can lead to secondary gastrointestinal problems and complications. Like some of the other unwanted behaviors mentioned above, these can also be secondary to stress.
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Pika: Eat ingredients other than food such as dirt, shavings, fertilizers, and wood.
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Loss of appetite: Horse may likely stop eating secondary Coli pain, illness, or other stress
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obesity: Horse do not understand the need to maintain a balanced diet. In an environment with abundant food, their natural instinct is still to eat continuously, which can lead to weight gain
Horse attack
Aggression is one of the most problematic behaviours of horses and one of the most difficult behaviours to deal with.
Horse attacks are often behaviors that may have been seeped into at a younger age. The newborn foal observed the mother’s behavior. In foal mares, this can be a protective mechanism to protect the foal, but it can make it difficult to provide the foal with the necessary care.
In stallions, aggression is often hormonally driven.
The horse can also become aggressive after abuse due to previous ownership or poor management situations.
Aggression is usually shown as ear pinning, biting, nipping, and kicking. These actions can be made not only against humans but also against other horses, putting the horse at risk.
How do you fix bad horse behavior?
Breaking evil mainly relies on understanding what is causing it in the first place.
If the cause is stress, it eliminates stressful stimuli from the environment.
Aggressive stallions may require castration to control their behavior. In mares with unwanted behaviors related to thermal cycling, I’ll register It may be prescribed to equalize hormones.
As attacks are often based on fear, discovering what the horse fears and building trust and respect is the key to solving these actions.
It is important to work with your veterinarian, trainer, and barn manager when tackling unwanted behavior. Not all actions can be completely eliminated, but if the care team is working together, there is a much greater chance of improving horse behavior.
