Stereotypic behaviors in horses - cribbing, weaving, stall walking - are indicators of chronic stress from housing and management practices that fail to meet horses' behavioral needs for movement, forage, and social contact.
Stereotypies represent the behavioral legacy of welfare failures - they develop when management chronically frustrates fundamental behavioral needs and persist as coping mechanisms even after conditions improve. The presence of stereotypies indicates past and potentially ongoing welfare compromise. Welfare-centered horse management provides continuous access to forage (hay ad libitum), social contact with compatible horses, daily turnout for free movement, and appropriate species-typical social groupings. Devices that physically prevent stereotypy expression (cribbing collars) address the symptom while the underlying welfare deficit persists and may emerge in other forms.