sucking his tongue?

[mtviewminis]

I have recently purchased a stallion. Sometimes I will find him with his head dropped and seeming like he is sucking his tongue. He will do it when I go to put his halter on and also when he thinks he will "go to see the girls". I once saw him in the middle of the round pen all by himself doing this. He has his head almost to the ground. Does anyone know why he does this? Is he bored?

 

[Miniequine]

My filly does it when I give her a sugar cube

and occasionally I catch her doing it in her stall.

She does it to the point of foaming !!! bad habit.

I have no clue how to stop it!

Sandy

 

[horsefeather]

We owned a horse who started sucking his tongue when he was about 6 or 7. He got bored in halter class. Had no idea how to stop him. But I agree, it is a terrible habit!

Pam

 

[CharmedMinis]

Well I think it's adorable! I have a 19 year old mare who does it any time she eats something yummy, a treat, her salt block, grain.

I read an article last year in Equus magazine I think it was. It talked about the condition and likened it to being similar to cribbing or wind sucking, only not bad for their health.

 

[minih]

I have a mare that will do this after she is finished eating with her head still down in the empty bucket. I think she is content and that is her way of relaxing.... it doesn't seem to be a bother of any kind. She will even stand there with her head in the bucket sucking on her tongue and her foal will be nursing away. :bgrin

 

[MBennettp]

One of our yearling fillies does this too. We thought it was because she lost her mother when she was so young. She doesn't do it all the time but when she does we can usually stop her by talking to her and sctatching her. If you give her any kind of mint she will suck her tongue until you either give her something to get the taste out of her mouth or she finally sucks all the taste away. Mints seem to be the only thing that makes her do it for a long time. She dearly loves Tic Tacs but we follow it with a carrot to stop her from sucking.

 

[virginia]

I have a mare that does it too. I liken it to a child sucking his thumb. It relaxes them. She started doing it as 3 month old. She was an orphan and started doing it and I never tried to stop her. She gets this faraway look in her eyes and seems to be enjoying it. It doesn't hurt and I think it even helps them. JMHO

Ginny STP

 

[Relic]

Our 2 year old filly an orphan at a month old sucks her's to. We show her and it's a pain as she'll stand there just fine and then all of a sudden the tip will come out between her teeth and she goes at it. Like a baby with a soother though now she's also started to make loud sucking noises which she didn't before. We hope she'll grow up in the head but so far doesn't look like like thats anytime soon as it seems to be getting worse not better. Our vet told us when they do that they also take in a certain amount of air and can cause an air belly meaning a bloated look though we haven't seen that yet so don't know if thats true. We think this is my fault for bottle feeding and thinking it was so cute when she was younger and it just carried on as a habit because if l'm around she'll do it non stop and can keep it up for hours some days. She isn't as bad with others though it still happens when you least expect it. A 2 year old 29" baby sucking to beat the band. :no: l'm not impressed with that but she looks very relaxed while she's doing it.