Stereotypic behaviors in horses including cribbing, weaving, and box walking indicate chronic welfare compromise and persist once established, making prevention critical.
Stereotypic behaviors in horses represent the behavioral signature of chronic welfare compromise - the equine nervous system's response to environments that deny fundamental behavioral needs for movement, social contact, and continuous forage access. The tragedy of stereotypies is that they are largely preventable through appropriate management in the critical early period of a horse's life, but once established, persist even when conditions improve. Prevention requires providing young horses with adequate turnout, social contact, and continuous forage from the beginning of stable management.