Vices affect a horse's usefulness, dependability and health. These bad habits may be due to a variety of causes including fear, nervousness, excessive energy, viciousness, nutritional deficiencies or boredom. Once established, vices are difficult to eliminate. Some vices lead to physiological problems, while others may be dangerous to the horse and handler, destructive to property, or just a nuisance. For these reasons, it is important to be able to identify and avoid situations leading to the development of vices. Learn to identify the problems described in this publication. When purchasing a horse, have a veterinarian and an experienced horseman evaluate it. Have an experienced horseman help you when you attempt to treat most vices.

Aggressive Vices

Aggressive vices of horses are particularly dangerous because they can lead to injuries of the horse, its handler, and other horses. The best way to cure aggressive vices is to eliminate the cause of aggression, whether it is improper training, fear, or contact with other horses. For the bad tempered horse, aggression is usually treated with some form of punishment, which should immediately follow the aggressive action. Aggression is a vice that must be handled by an experienced horseman. In most cases youth or inexperienced owners should not keep an aggressive horse.

Vices Due to Fear

Vices caused by fear may be the result of bad experiences in the past or insufficient training and experience are often overcome by conditioning the horse to the frightening stimulus. Rewarding the horse for appropriate behavior usually is enough to eliminate the vice. In other cases, the horse will overcome its fear as it matures.

Performance-Related Vices

Vices that occur when the horse is performing may be due to a variety of conditions. Once again, eliminating the stimulus is the best way to eliminate the vice. It is important to diagnose the cause of the vices immediately because they may be caused by medical problems, lameness, or ill-fitting equipment. On the other hand, some performance vices are due to excitement and general disobedience. In these cases, proper training is essential to overcome the vice. Many of these vices can lead to serious injury of the rider. Retraining by a professional or obtaining a new horse are often the best options.

Metabolic Vices

Many vices are caused by improper nutrition and subsequently lead to loss of condition and poor performance. It is important to cure the horse of metabolic vices as soon as possible. Often this can be done by providing more roughage in the diet and offering free-choice minerals and salt. Parasite infestations may also predispose metabolic vices, so regular deworming programs are essential. Feeding the horse small meals will reduce boredom and improve digestive function. Feeding the daily ration in three or more feedings may be advantageous. This approach requires the horse to spend more time obtaining food, which leaves less time for displaying metabolic vices. Exercise and turn-out time in paddocks and on pastures will help many horses avoid developing vices.

Stall Vices

Stall vices are most frequently due to boredom of confined horses and often develop into annoying habits. These vices can be eliminated in a number of ways: providing companions, hanging stall toys such as an empty milk jug or tether ball, or installing metal mirrors at eye level. Another method is to increase the number of feedings per day. The best solution is to turn the horse out in a paddock or exercise it more often.

Miscellaneous Vices