| English term or phrase: crib-biting and wind sucking | Crib biting is where horses use their teeth to grasp onto objects, such as the top of their stable door, their manger, then arch their necks and swallow air.
Crib-biting or wood-chewing occurs in both grass-kept and stable-kept horses. It tends to be a habit, copied by other horses. Although a nutritional deficiency may be an underlying cause, if the horse is being fed a balanced diet and has free access to a mineralised salt block this should not be the case. The problem can be controlled by minimizing the number of surfaces which the horse has available to chew: for example removing the manger, placing a strip of metal over the top of the door or placing a grille on the door. Any surfaces which remain should be painted or covered in a noxious substance. Some horses are helped if they have a companion - a small pony, a sheep or a goat. Others are improved if a solid object, such as a rubber ball, is hung from the ceiling.
It is possible that crib biting is instigated by the need to salivate. The horse salivates only whilst chewing. A chronic crib-biter will develop abnormal wear of the incisor teeth.
Wind sucking is the aspiration of air, done by the horse arching its neck and sucking in air. Some horses do this while holding onto something with their teeth; others do it unaided. It results in a grunting type of noise.
Traditionally wind sucking has been described as a cause of recurrent colic or failure ‘to do well’, but the vast majority of horses that wind suck suffer no adverse effects at all. If the habit is severe the muscles on the underside of the neck, which the horse contracts when it arches its neck to suck in air, may get bigger and this might be regarded as unsightly.
In the majority of horses the habit can be effectively controlled by placing a tight leather strap around the top of the neck; this seems to prevent the horse from arching its neck.
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3
