Also known as bear tic or anterior train sway, bear sickness is a behavior that owners or keepers of bears usually horses do not know that their animal possesses it. These cases come to us due to other conditions or diseases as a result of the famous rocking on their hands. It is one of the most frequent vices of horses in the stable or box.
On our site we want to talk to you about bear sickness in horses - what is it and how to prevent it? so that you don't have any doubts about time to see this problem and what would be the possible solutions so that your horse is as he althy and happy as possible during his life.
What is bear disease?
This is a stereotyped or involuntary movement of the locomotor type that includes a rocking of the head, which may include the neck and hands (these are the forelimbs) and, in the most advanced cases, we can see that the legs or hind limbs are involved. Bear tic always manifests itself with the horse standing up and, at the beginning of the disease, in the box since they use the door as a point of balance, but in more advanced cases or in young horses we can observe it in the air, without any support for.
This bear dance, as we said before, is one of the most common horse vices in the stables, but not always It is considered as the root of muscular problems due to the constant rocking. Many times, in daily practice we go too fast and do not question everyone who may be in contact with said animal as we should. In the cases of sport animals, perhaps we only find the owner, who rarely sees his horse, and sometimes he is not even aware that this is happening. As veterinarians, we should complete our clinical history with those who have the most daily contact with the horse, in this way we minimize errors and we will not overlook ethological or behavioral behaviors that may be the key to our problems.
Origin of bear disease in horses
The origin is basically social, but we have several subtypes to consider that will give us the key to try to eradicate the bear disease from our equine.
It is normally associated with very nervous horses that spend many hours inside their box or stable and get bored. Since they only go out for 20 minutes a day and then go back to their little asylum, this can cause them a lot of frustration and they start with these types of tics. It can also come from overstimulation in places where the music is on for perhaps 18 hours a day and at too high a volume, which affects anyone.
We must also consider that they may be horses that were changed stables and/or farms, and that is where the problem began. It may be animals that were previously accompanied and now, due to their age or other causes, we think about removing them and placing them in places where they are calmer than in a riding club, thinking about their well-being. Some horses can't stand being alone and as much as we try to give them the best we can and take care of them correctly, they can feel stressed or anxious with the change of habitat and how result we will see this or other stereotyped behaviors. These changes are directly related to ancestral behavior in the herd. Considering that some horses are very sensitive.
How to prevent bear disease in horses?
Stereotyped behaviors in horses, once a long time has passed, are very difficult to eliminate But if they are detected prematurely, we must act quickly as the consequences can be worse. As consequences of the evil of the bear we can see:
- energy wasting
- weightloss
- uneven wear of the hooves
- asymmetric development of neck and hand muscles
- joint overload
Both when the behavior is already present in our equine to prevent it from appearing and we fear a change in habitat or activity that may affect it, we list below some solutions for the evil of the bear in horses (collecting own experiences as well as those of other colleagues):
- incorporar a sheep to the box: Ridiculous as it may seem, they get along very well and have fun together, and in many equestrian centers around the world this Is the best solution.
- Change it from the box, stable, paddock or club: I am aware that sometimes it is not possible, but perhaps increasing the hours in a paddock outdoors we achieve the same relief effect.
- increase the hours of walks and/or games with toys such as giant balls.
When we find a bear disease in horses we always ask the veterinarian or the ethologist what may be the best solution for our horse, since that they will give their professional vision and with a plus, that they know the equine.
