Horses Flashcards
Domestication consequence:
➢ restriction of many aspects of natural horse behavior
➢ restriction of free movement (stable), feed choice, stable, companions
Risk factors influencing horse´s stereotypic behavior development
➢ Genetics, Feeding, Stable/stall, Socialisation, Putting aside
Behavior disorders
➢ stable vices , stereotypies , aggression, fear, phobias
➢ the most often cause of vice: boredom, frustration
➢ getting used to vice: dificult removal (addiction)
➢ vices are very transmissible, horses like to imitate : especially young horses
➢ as a consequence of genetic/innate factors : stallion suffering from cribbing/weaving is better not to mate
➢ very often: influence of surroundings/training/environment
➢ horses are naturally active animals
➢ in natural conditions: permanent movement, pasture, plays, running, social communication, protection against predator
Stereotype behavior
Repetitive locomotory behavior
- weaving
- stall-walking
- nodding and throwing head
- kicking and pawing
Stereotype behavior
Repetitive oral behavior
- crib-biting, windsucking, cribbing
- wood-chewing (lignophagia)
- soil-, tricho-, coprophagia
- object licking
Stereotype behavior
Weaving
➢ fore-limbs widely apart
➢ stereotype hovering at one site
➢ body weight from one to other side (left to right and vice versa)
➢ less often from forwards to backwards
➢ nodding head and neck, in some horses only at excitement/change in environment
➢ tearing legs: carpal joints, fetlocks, hooves
➢ tearing horsehoes
➢ isolation in box
➢ working off energy
➢ substitution behavior (substitution for „doing nothing“)
➢ can be learned from other horses in stable
➢ low prevalence in arabian horse, null prevalence in ponies
➢ less often in horses with tactile/visual contact with other horses or on straw bedding
Therapy:
Weaving
➢ stall with open contact to surrounding
➢ increased social contact = decreased weaving
➢ mirrors study: weaving terminated till 24 hrs in horse which have been weaving for 15 – 20 years
➢ increased motoric activities opioids don´t help
➢ special bars at box door
cut-out (slit) in the middle of bar, narrow enough so that the horse does not nod its head
➢ if vice is revealed in time: treatment is possible
Stall-walking + theraphy
➢ permanent movement along stall walls
➢ typical circle movement, in larger space 8-shaped
➢ high prevalence in arabians (7.3 %), null prevalence in ponies
Therapy:
➢ mirror (the best)
➢ strategic placement of feed in box : stall-walking can be changed for „pastoral“ behavior
Head nodding
➢ repetitive nodding head up and down
➢ stabled horse: often in connection with weaving
➢ riding horse: reaction to lameness of fore-/hind-limb
Head shaking
➢ periodical, sudden movement ➢ heterogenic ethiology ➢ probably no stereotypic behavior ➢ nasofacial irritation of nose (pain) ➢ allergic rhinitis ➢ irritation of n. trigeminus : inervation of large portion of mouth and oral cavity ➢ primarily in riding horses ➢ accompanied by sneezing and snorting, attempts to scrub nose against floor/fore-limb/surfaces; occures in calm/in trot
Therapy:
Nodding shaking
➢ herbs : Echinacea for support of respiration and immunity
➢ vinegar/oil
➢ carbamazepine
➢ „nose muzzle/net“: for air filtration or for decrease in air turbulence in nostrils, decrease in nose nerves stimulation
Kicking and pawing
➢ kicking walls, doors, bars
➢ pawing by hooves
➢ with fore-limbs: impatience
➢ in nervous horses: waiting for feeding, demanding treat/attention
➢ in young horses: during getting used to care/saddling
➢ horse injured
➢ box equipment destroyed
Kicking and pawing
Causes:
➢ boredom, frustration
➢ demanding attention
➢ release of energy
Attention!
➢ sudden kicking and pawing: colic symptom
➢ acute abdomen pain, no care to surrounding: horse can hurt by hooves
➢ sweating, tachycardia, looking back to abdomen, attempts to roll on the floor
Crib-biting
➢ horse „swallows“ air
➢ audible sound („burping/grunting“)
➢ stretched neck muscles and swallowing/sucking wind into open proximal part of gullet (esophagus)
➢ crib-biting with support
➢ crib-biting without support
➢ horse „bitten” e.g. to fence pale, tree branch, manger, drinking basin
➢ learning by: immitating crib-biters, „self-training“ if boredom in box/stable
➢ often with other vices (e.g. gnawing)
➢ problems with digestion, damage of teeth (upper incisivi), inflated abdomen, hyperthophy of abdominal muscles, loss of back muscles
➢ flex of neck muscles = strenghtened neck (overdeveloped pharynx)
➢ air colic : even nonproved air swallowing
➢ at purchase: no mark of crib-biting: after transport to new stable: new crib-biting after a few days pressure sore of anti-cribbing collar
➢ more often in racehorses and dressage horses than in endurance horses: much intensive, but shorter training = much time for vices
➢ feeding concentrates:
➢ increase in GIT acidity + decreased saliva amout = GIT acidosis
➢ at cribbing: saliva production = buffering of GIT acidity
➢ administration of antacids: decrease in cribbing
➢ foals: crib-biter´s stomach more often inflammed/ulcerated
➢ cribbing = release of endorphins
➢ therapy: antagonists of opioid receptors (e.g. dextromethorphan)
➢ decrease in cribbing by 84 %
➢ ? sedative effect?: calming of horse
Therapy of cribbing
➢ anti-cribbing collar/strap
➢ cribbing impossible (in early stage), shaped for esophagus and trachea
➢ tied closely round horse neck , horse can´t expand neck
➢ sheet metal/special paint on surfaces
➢ removal of cribbing objects in box
➢ cut and removal of muscles controling larynx
➢ radical possibility to get rid of cribbing
➢ no 100% success, no solution of behavior problem
