Horse vices are undesirable behavior in horses, and often are determined to be ways of coping with stress. In horses that are often stabled, cribbing (biting down on wood and sucking in air) and weaving are considered ways in which these bored or stressed horses cope with the stress. And studies have shown that horses that do not crib, but are known to crib, have higher coritsol levels when they don’t crib then horses that are known to crib and do. (1)
This is something I’ve been thinking about. My heart horse’s filly is a cribber and I am very much at a loss as to the reason why. She’s kept in a pasture; we don’t even have stalls here. She is confined for approximately 2 hours a day with her mother to eat breakfast and dinner in a very large shed in their pasture and then immediately turned back out. She’s not ridden; she’s a pasture pet. She’s fed, loved on, and never wants for a thing.
And yet, she still cribs. If I had to guess I would say that it is boredom and I am working on ways to alleviate that since her pasture mates are the rest of the herd, all older horses by at least six to seven years, but mostly more like a decade older. She’s eleven now, which makes her the youngest of the herd.
But something that her cribbing has caused me to think about is neurodivergent stimming. Like equine vices, stimming such as hand flapping, bouncing a leg or pen, listening to a single song repeatedly, etc. is considered “undesirable behavior” by neurotypicals and “professionals”. In fact, repetitive behavior and thought patterns is one of the criteria for autism, and stimming is a natural part of autism and neurodivergence because it helps us cope with stressful environments. I remember coming home from school and listening to music loudly and dancing around my room. I was bullied for it by the student who babysat at the neighbor’s house, but now I realize it was a stim, a way to let off steam in a relatively safe way. (A lot of emotional eating also falls under using eating, such as crunchy foods like chips, as a stim or sensory seeking to calm the nervous system, and the way our society treats overweight individuals falls into this territory as well, but that’s another post.)
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I think this is where we need to rely on horse wisdom. Horses know what they need to do in order to regulate their nervous system. We see this even in other behaviors like shaking or yawning. And while it is important to accept this behavior and understand the cause of it, it’s also just as important to look around the environment and see what might be causing the stress to begin with. How can we make their lives less stressful, more comfortable for them? One way is not to stop them from doing their chosen behavior.
Yes, cribbing can be destructive, and it can cause issues that need to be carefully managed. But studies have also shown that stopping them, such as with cribbing collars (or ABA in humans) causes more stress, more pain, and more emotional distress.
Listen to what your body is telling you. See how you can regulate your nervous system. And when you need to stim, whether that’s dancing, singing, flapping your hands or bouncing your leg? Allow yourself when possible. Stims are not vices, no matter what anyone calls them.
(1) https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=physio
