Welfare science of preventing and managing stereotypies in horses, covering the causes of crib-biting, weaving, and box walking, and how housing and management changes can prevent and reduce these behaviors.
Equine stereotypies are behavioral indicators of chronic welfare compromise that serve as sensitive markers of inadequate management. They develop when horses' fundamental behavioral needs — continuous forage access, social contact, and freedom of movement — are chronically unmet. The welfare lesson from decades of stereotypy research is clear: prevention through appropriate management in the first year of life is the only effective strategy. Once established, stereotypies are permanent neural pathways that persist even when management is improved. Attempting to prevent stereotypies through physical devices like crib-biting collars addresses the symptom without the cause and adds an additional welfare compromise. The welfare imperative is to provide the forage, social contact, and turnout that prevent stereotypies from developing in the first place.