The Problem:

I am writing about a situation which I have never seen before in my life as a horse owner and trainer. An owner brought me a well-bred young stallion to break and train. This colt is somewhat mature for his age and particularly nervous. He gets upset every time a horse is led by his stall and becomes really upset when another stallion is around. Yet, this colt has never been bred!

Now for the problem: When this horse gets upset - he mutilates himself. He reaches around and bites at his side - actually ripping his own hide. His self- inflicted wounds keep us from riding him and we are continuously doctoring the damage.

Have you ever heard of or experienced this kind of behavior? Is there some kind of explanation? And is it possible to hope for a cure for this horse? Stressed Out in Georgia

The Answer:

The first question is the easiest to answer. This stallion is not the first horse to inflict wounds upon himself. This abnormal behavior has been reported in the literature for centuries . Fortunately, it is very rare!

In the recent past, Round Table, one of the first Thoroughbreds to win a million dollars, was known to viciously savage himself during his career at stud. Between 1966 and 1996, we have stood over three hundred stallions and have had one stud inflicted with this phenomena.

Clyde Williams was also a Thoroughbred with an impressive racing career who would savage himself and upon occasion, the person trying to halter him. The sire line of this horse traces back to To Market - a completely different sire line from Round Table - but it is interesting to note that Clyde Williams' sire ,Art Market, was also known to beat his head against the wall.

Why horses do this is difficult to answer. It is always hard to explain why any animal would intentionally inflict such pain and suffering upon itself. It appears on the surface that the horse doing this stereotypic behavior has rage or anger which he cannot take out on another individual - so he displaces it and attacks himself. Of course, this is only a supposition.

Horses displaying this type of behavior do seem to fit a particular profile. They are usually "highly-bred" which often means they are intensively inbred. They are confined in some sort of solitary confinement such as experienced by expensive breeding stallions. They are likely to be very athletic and/or full of energy and are male.

Each question this trainer asks gets harder to answer. "A cure?" While we are not sure about a cure we do know of a few treatments which might help the problem. Our standard approach is to apply the mildest remedy first and work through the possible solutions in order of increasing severity. In the end if all treatments fail, we simply try to prevent the savaging from taking place.

Considering the profile for this stereotypic behavior, perhaps the easiest, quickest and safest way to initiate a cure is to make the stallion a gelding. At the very least, if the surgery doesn't cause a cure, it will prevent the perpetuation of the genetic material that allowed the behavior to be expressed.

Having said the obvious, our first approach to eliminating the behavior is to modify the environment. This "treatment" worked for Clyde Williams. Before this horse came to our farm, he had been in virtual isolation and allowed very little exercise. Understandably, no one wanted to handle the crazy horse who, on occasion, would savage people instead of himself. Obviously, this limited the desire of the farm to book mares to him.

Upon arriving at our farm, we placed the horse in a stallion stall with direct access to a large paddock. This facility was located in such a way that Clyde could follow the ebb and flow of a great number of horses on the farm. Quickly his interest centered on a large field off to the north of his paddock which housed about twenty broodmares. Within weeks he began to worry more about the location and breeding status of those mares than biting himself. At the same time, the stallion was being bred quite heavily - another activity which used up a great deal of his extra energy. His abhorrent ways disappeared and did not reappear at the end of breeding season.

Another "treatment" often recommended for horses with stereotypic behaviors is a daily dose of a mild tranquilizer - the equine equivalent of prozak. In an age of mind altering substances, our view on this approach is bound to be outdated. We would only consider this treatment as a last ditch effort. Yes, it has been shown to be effective in many cases but the condition usually returns when the drug is discontinued. Like most mind altering substances, the drug doesn't solve the problem - it just makes it go away.

A horse in a tranquilized state is not himself. The life seems to have left his eyes. Before we personally gave up on a horse and resorted to this treatment we would try and live with the solution used on Round Table. Put a muzzle on him so he can not physically bite himself or you.

NOTE: This information is based upon our experience of dealing with self- mutilation in stallions. References to this condition in the past have also involved only stallions. We would be interested in receiving any information about the occurrence of this phenomena in mares. If you have any experiences to share with mares that mutilate themselves, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it