Thanks, Dr. Galley, for the recent article about cribbing. I have had a couple of cribbers and they are a pain in the neck. A trainer friend of mine said that stall walking is kind of like cribbing. Could you please do an article about it? Thanks.

Your friend was correct when he told you there are some similarities between cribbing and stall walking. Stall walking and weaving are obsessive behaviors that can become a compulsive habit in some confined horses. This is called stereotypical behavior, whether referring to cribbing, weaving or stall walking. By definition, a stereotypical behavior is a ritualistic and repetitive behavior that serves no apparent purpose. Whenever a horse develops this type of abnormal behavior, it is a sign that something is wrong with the way his needs are being met—in other words he is not happy.

Weaving is described as a horse basically “walking in place,” shifting his weight and swaying his front end, neck and head back and forth from side to side repetitively. The horse with a weaving habit usually remains stationary in the stall, but sways in place, shifting weight from one foreleg to the other, usually standing in the same location in the stall every time he performs this ritual. He may just shift his weight, rocking from side to side on his front feet, or he may lift his whole front end and swing his head, neck, and both front feet back and forth in a dancing motion, almost pivoting in place. With every step he twists and pushes off with one front foot or the other, so a cylindrical hole will result if the floor is dirt. Horses usually weave by the stall door, so they can look out through the door, perhaps in anticipation of getting out.

Stall walkers, on the other hand, either circle their stalls in a constant fashion (usually in the same direction all the time) or walk back and forth across the front of the stall. This usually leaves a deep pathway in the dirt floor of the stall. Their speed in walking around the stall often indicates their mood. If a horse is walking slowly, he probably has an overall dislike of his surroundings or situation; if he is circling quickly, he’s probably stressed out or anxious about something.

A horse can continue with any of these behaviors for hours at a time without stopping to eat or drink. Often they will continue long after they are drenched in sweat. These horses may be tired from constant exertion and begin to lose weight from not eating as they should. In severe cases they can become dehydrated from not drinking properly, which can lead to problems such as colic. All of these “vices” have negative effects on the horse’s performance and may prevent a talented individual from reaching his full potential. It may even keep them sidelined by aggravating existing injuries to the point where they cannot perform at all.

Horses on the racetrack are almost always confined to a stall for a majority of the time. Weaving or stall walking are almost always caused by confinement, lack of interaction with other horses, inability to graze, and anticipation of what might be next in their routine. Much like a cribber, weaving and stall walking are characterized as a stereotypic behavior initiated by confinement stress. The horse is a herd animal as well as a grazing animal and we, as horsemen, often fail to realize just how important this is to the horse.

It has been my experience that the more neurotic and nervous types of horses are more apt to weave or stall walk. I have seen a greater tendency to weave or stall walk in fillies than in colts or geldings. I have also seen a greater tendency in Thoroughbreds than in Quarter Horses.

Many horses might show this “vice” as soon as they are brought to the racetrack, while others might begin weaving or stall walking after they have been at the track for a period of time. This is especially true if the horse is getting a little sore and can detect the changes in its daily routine that are associated with works or races. They learn that when a work or a race is coming up in their routine it is going to cause pain and they begin to get pretty uptight. Work that has been done in England and Italy also shows a congenital tendency toward weaving and stall walking.

Whenever an animal is stressed or engages in a repetitive activity to vent frustration, certain chemicals are released in the brain. When a horse starts a constant repetitive action such as stall walking or weaving in response to environmental factors such as stress, confinement, isolation from other horses, or nervousness, he may keep up the action because he finds that repeating the pattern triggers release of the stress-reducing, morphine-like proteins (also called endorphins) which suppress pain and create a pleasurable sensation. These endorphins reduce the stress level and the horses tend to relax and seem “spaced out” after a weaving session.

Thus, the repetitive motion of stall walking or weaving causes a temporary sedating effect, calming nervousness or frustration, and the horse becomes addicted to his own internal chemicals (like the human distance runner who experiences an exercise-induced feeling of euphoria due to the endorphins released in response to exertion). The weaver or stall walker gets his “fix” by going through his repetitive behavior and craves the endorphins that result.

So, what can we do about a horse that weaves or stall walks? One of the most effective ways to stop these “vices” is the use of a “stable mirror.” This is especially effective for horses that develop this behavior because they are kept separate from other horses (what the “experts” call separation anxiety). The presence of the mirror makes the horse think that another horse is there as its buddy. It is really pretty remarkable how much difference it will make. Do not use a glass mirror for obvious reasons. They market “stable mirrors” that are made of acrylic but these too can be broken. The best mirrors for this purpose are of polished stainless steel. Mirror size should be gauged by the horse’s size, but a mirror approximately 3’ x 4-½’ is standard (see Figure 1). The mirror should be mounted where the horse can see into it at a natural relaxed head height. Avoid hanging the mirror near the feed manger or the water bucket to prevent perceived food competition from the “other horse.” I have seen a couple of horses (both studs) that tried to fight with the horse in the mirror at feeding time until the trainer moved it away from the feed tub.

Another way to manage a horse that weaves or stall walks is to put it with a buddy such as a goat. I have seen a few horses that would not bond with a goat, but the majority will buddy-up with them and most will stop weaving as long as the goat is in the stall with them. One trainer used a chicken as a buddy but the chicken would always go visiting the neighboring stalls and the horse would begin weaving again until the trainer retrieved the chicken. He decided to tie the chicken in the stall to keep it from going visiting but it ended up as a dinner for the barn cats as it couldn’t get away.

Still another “therapy” is to allow the horse to graze as if turned out. One trainer at Ruidoso Downs built a small paddock off of the stall of one of his stakes horses that weaved and just left the stall door open all of the time (he had grooms with the horse constantly.) The horse never offered to weave again until just before the All American Derby when they took down the paddock to prepare for the end of the meet. The owner is still convinced that is the reason the horse got outrun.

In a paper presented to the American Association of Equine Practitioners in 2005 by Dr. Daniel Mills, Professor of Behavioral Medicine at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, he concluded that “Repetitive behaviors are multi-factorial, arising from a combination of environmental and genetic risk factors in a given individual at a given time. Prevention should aim to reduce these risk factors.”

Figure 1

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