Horse Cribbing

Why Do Horses Crib?

Why Do Horses Crib?

“Cribbing” is the act of a horse gripping an edge such as a wooden fence,
grain bin, metal round pen, stable door, etc. with his front teeth, arching
his neck, and swallowing air. In turn, the act of swallowing air creates a grunting
or belching sound. But do note that cribbing and wood chewing are not the same.
There are times when some horses will chew on wood without arching their neck
or sucking in air.

By nature, horses are grazing animals. When forced to remain within a stall for long
periods of time without hay to graze on, they will become stressed. This stress leaves
them open to picking up a vice to distract their idle mind. So the easiest way to prevent
this vice from taking root to take is to ensure that your horse does not stand idle all day
and become bored.

So what should a horse owner do about a cribbing horse?

Dr. Jonathan Magid, Ph. D., an equine veterinarian of the College of Veterinary Medicine
of the University of Illinois, provides the following recommendations:

1. Have your horse thoroughly examined by your veterinarian to determine if there
   is a medical cause;
2. If possible, change the horse’s environment to make cribbing inconvenient and to
   provide some entertainment;
3. A horse would have a difficult time cribbing on objects below knee level, so equipment
   and items such as feed bunks can be lowered. You could also try installing metal strips
   on stall doors and electrical fencing to prevent any damage to the woodwork;
4. Some horses enjoy rattling a plastic container with gravel hung in their stall or have some
   large beach balls in their pasture;
5. Sometimes providing a companion or buddy, such as a kitten or a goat, will keep a
   horse content;
6. Try adding some hay to the diet which should keep your horse busy eating; and
7. Try putting your horse to work. A hardworking horse doesn’t have time for cribbing.

How Do Cribbing Collars Work?

How Do Cribbing Collars Work?

Stable owners and people who love and own horses have many ways of dealing with a horse that cribs. Unfortunately, most of these methods in dealing with horse cribbing have produced mixed results.

What exactly is “cribbing”? Cribbing is when a horse swallows air, also often referred to as “wind sucking”. Some horses crib by grasping an object, such as a fence post or board with their upper teeth, then arching their necks and pulling usually making a gasping sound or grunting noise. Cribbing or wind sucking is a vice and it can be a very hard habit to break.

There are many reasons for horses to crib: boredom, stress, and a lack of exercise are the most common reasons to date. Horses that are kept in a stall for any length of time are more likely to pick up this habit than horses raised in a pasture.

As much as possible, let your horse out to pasture with as much acreage as you can afford. If you have just one horse, you may want to consider getting another horse for a companion. Goats often make great companions and are less expensive.

Another popular method is to use a “cribbing collar” or strap. You can find these at your local feed store or where you buy gear for your horses. The cribbing collar is a leather strap that fits around your horse’s neck with a Y shaped metal plate, which covers the bottom of his neck. The cribbing collar constrains the neck muscles each time your horse attempts to crib. Several stable owners have reported that it actually deters the cribbing behavior in most of their horses.

A cribbing collar works in preventing your horse from expanding his neck muscles, which he needs for cribbing. It also restrains your horse from breathing in very deeply, so he can no longer get the pleasure-producing effect he seeks whenever he cribs. When he finds that there’s no way to get “high” (an effect produced from the release of endorphins), he’ll stop chewing.

Unfortunately, it is doubtful whether it will also work for “wood chewing”, which is another undesirable behavior of horses. Horses don’t have to expand their muscles to chew wood. So it’s doubtful whether you’ll have much success with a cribbing collar.

Do Cribbing Collars Work?

Do Cribbing Collars Work?

“Cribbing” and “wind sucking” are different terms used to describe a particular annoying habit that’s unique to horses.

Typically when a horse cribs, he sets his upper teeth on an object (usually about his chest level), presses down, opens his mouth, arches his neck, and pulls back while making a belching sound. Horses may or may not lick the object. They also may or may not swallow air during this process. Normally they don’t chew, but they often crush what they set their teeth on.

Some horses don’t need to actually set their teeth on an object to achieve the same result. Many horses prefer to crib after they have been stimulated with food, especially a concentrated food such as grain. Each horse will have their own particular style and may exhibit some or all of the above symptoms.

It is believed that during this process, endorphins are released in the horse’s system. “Endorphin” in Latin means “inner morphine”. Endorphins, like morphine, act as a drug on the brain creating a sense of well being or “high”. This would explain the incredible drive a horse has to perform the behavior once he has experienced it. He actually experiences a pleasure-producing sensation and becomes addicted, if left untreated.

It was once believed that during the cribbing process the horse sucked large quantities of air into their stomachs that was forced to pass through their digestive tract. This air made the horse feel full so they would not eat normally and could also lead to colic. Recent studies have shown that little air actually remains in the digestive tract. Experts now feel that the horse’s poor appetite is not from feeling full, but because they would rather be “high” than eat.

Several practice have been tried to stop a horse from cribbing with mixed results. The most common idea is to use a “cribbing collar”. This works by physically causing the horse pain whenever he cribs. Some collars work by bruising the neck muscles as they expand during cribbing, others by poking the horse in the throat as he flexes his neck.

To restrain his cribbing behavior, the horse has to wear the collar whenever he’s in his stall or turned out (if he cribs during turn-out). But the stable owner has to make sure to remove the collar when his horse is exercising. There’s the risk that he could suffocate while wearing the cribbing collar.

All of these collars must be worn very tightly and many aren’t effective at all. Cribbing collars commonly cause sores, hair loss, change in hair color, and permanent scars, which are extremely undesirable.

Are There Any Horse Cribbing Home Remedies?

Are There Any Home Remedies for Horse Cribbing

By nature, horses want to nibble and graze. In the wild, they keep themselves occupied by wandering and grazing. Unfortunately, the domesticated horse may be stabled most of the time, eating and drinking only when he’s fed or watered and exercising only when taken out of the stable. In such situations, the horse’s natural grazing instincts are somewhat satisfied by substitute behaviors, such as “cribbing” or “wind sucking”.

A cribbing horse will anchor his upper front teeth onto the stall door, partition or post. Then he tenses up his neck and facial muscles, retracts his larynx (voice box), and gulps down air. A wind sucker flexes his neck, gulps air, and emits a grunting sound.

According to equine veterinarians, cribbing is a horse’s way of managing his innate desire to nibble, after he’s already eaten his daily allotment of food. These experts contend that putting a horse on pellets, hay cubes or mostly grain can actually aggravate the situation. With this feeding method, the horse will be able to consume his food in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, this doesn’t satisfy his need to nibble.

Once a horse starts to crib or wind suck, he can become addicted to the behavior. This endorphin release is almost like getting a narcotic high and so the horse keeps going back for another dose. While factors such as diet or boredom can get a horse started, the behavior may persist when the horse experiences the endorphin release.

Most stable owners use restraining devices like a cribbing collar or strap to discourage their horses from cribbing or wind sucking. Others have resorted to surgery which produced only mixed results.

Other horse owners have used home remedies to treat cribbers and suckers. Most of these remedies are based on the premise that the horse is suffering from some kind of mineral deficiency. According to them, cribbing, wind sucking as well as wood chewing are symptoms of this mineral deficiency (usually copper).

Here are some of the known home remedies for cribbing and wind sucking:

1. Try giving your horses some salt and minerals in their diet or put a mineral and salt block in their stalls or pasture.
2. Try adding one to two teaspoons of copper sulphate to your horse’s feed each day.
3. Other supplements to give to your horse include: dolomite, seaweed meal, some garlic, a few drops of cod liver oil, some molasses, extra Vitamin A, and a small amount of slightly moist Lucerne chaff.
4. A popular home remedy is to add an ounce of apple cider vinegar to the horse’s grain to discourage cribbing and wind sucking as well as wood chewing.

Unfortunately, there are no scientific studies to support the efficacy of these home remedies. Their popularity has solely been based on testimonials posted by stable owners and horse enthusiasts on online forum sites or through word of mouth.

What is the Best Anti-Cribbing Collar?

Which Anti-Cribbing Collar Works Best

Many horse owners have used anti-cribbing collars to prevent their horses from cribbing. An anti-cribbing collar works by fitting tightly around a horse’s throat latch and making it utterly difficult and uncomfortable for the horse to crib.

Generally, there are three kinds of anti-cribbing collars:

• The “Nutcracker” type collars have a shaped metal piece on the bottom;
• The “French” collars are usually just leather straps; and
• The “Miracle Collars” have a strap that goes in front of the ears as well as around the throat latch.

Some stall owners claim that they’ve had some measure of success using an old stirrup leather or even just a piece of baling twine around their horse’s neck. In stark contrast, both the Nutcracker and Miracle Collars tends to rub tightly against the horse’s neck and cause some bruising and excessive neck sweating. Both models are also difficult to remove.

Meanwhile, some owners have reported that they’ve had satisfactory experiences using the French collar. According to them, it is tight enough to discourage cribbing, never rubs against their horse’s neck, and is easy to get on and off.

Another recent variation of the anti-cribbing collars is the “electric shock collar” similar to the ones used to discipline misbehaving dogs. There are two kinds of electric shock collars:

• One model is where the horse owner manually activates the switch like a dog training collar; and
• The other one is where the horse receives an electric shock whenever he tries to bend his neck as if he was going to crib, much like a barking collar.

Pet owners have nothing but praises for the dog training collars for its effectiveness in disciplining their misbehaving pets. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for horses.

You have to remember that you have a 1,200 pound animal that’s under a lot of stress and using an electric shock collar may create more problems for the stall owners. Since cribbing is caused by stress, zapping a horse when it tries to crib may not be such a great idea.

You only have to read some of the recent posts in horse forum sites detailing the nerve racking and hair raising experiences of owners who’ve tried to use electric shock collars to discourage their horses from cribbing but instead end up getting them into a state of panic.

The best approach is to take the “middle ground approach” which involves using an anti-cribbing collar in combination with other preventive measures that discourages cribbing such as:

1. Using a French collar as an anti-cribbing strap;
2. Allowing your horse to graze in open pasture from time to time;
3. Making more hay and forage available;
4. Limiting the intake of feed concentrate as this tends to worsen the horse’s stomach acids; and
5. Providing some form of entertainment or distraction such as toys or a companion animal like a goat.

Is Horse Cribbing the Same as Wood Chewing?

Is Horse Cribbing The Same As Wood Chewing

Wood Chewing

Many times novice horsemen will confuse “wood chewing” with “cribbing”, but fortunately the only thing in common with the two vices is wood. A wood chewer will slowly nibble on wood to keep himself occupied. On the other hand, a cribber isn’t actually chewing wood but rather grabbing it so that he can contract his neck muscles and suck wind.

Both vices can do a number on a barn or fence, but wood chewing is a far easier vice to solve than cribbing since chewing doesn’t release endorphins and provide the horse a temporary high.
Wood chewing can be traced down to two primary causes:

 Mineral deficiency
 Boredom

In the case of mineral deficiency, it’s advisable that you provide suitable quantities of feed and roughage (hay). In addition, if your horse is stabled often or can’t go out to pasture for most of the day, consider adding a salt or mineral lick in his stall. Not only will this help ensure your horse takes in the necessary salts and minerals, it will provide him some entertainment for those times where there’s no hay available.

As for boredom, the solution is about the same as it is for potential mineral deficiencies. A happy horse is a horse that can eat throughout the day, since unlike people; they weren’t built to thrive on three large meals. Horses have small stomachs for their size and, as such, they’re grazing animals that prefer eating many smaller meals several times throughout the day. Salt licks and toys can also alleviate a horse’s boredom when there’s no hay to be had.

Wood chewing is detrimental to your horse because it can cause splinters to be imbedded between his teeth or in his gums. But even worse, splinters can be swallowed and cause havoc within his stomach and intestines, potentially leading to an increased chance of colic.

So if you’ve detected that your horse has picked up this vice you can try the following remedies:

1. First make sure that your horse isn’t chewing to compensate for a mineral deficiency. He should have plenty of roughage (hay or grass) in his diet. But if his current diet seems to be lacking, you should also consider vitamin or mineral supplements to be mixed with their pellets or sweet feed. Salt licks are perfect because they serve as both a supplement and a source of distraction or entertainment.
2. Boredom is a primary cause for vices. So if your horse doesn’t have a few toys such as a Jolly Apple in his stall consider adding some. Oftentimes, these distractions will keep your horse’s idle mind busy, stopping the urge to chew wood in the process.
3. Since wood chewing is not the same as cribbing, metal strips along the wooden edges of doors and stall windows will deter a horse from chewing.
4. If your horse is chewing on a fence in the paddock or field just add some electric fencing along the top. This will prevent your horse from chewing on those surfaces.
5. Non-toxic sprays and paints that can be applied to wood, that gives the wood a foul taste and scent that will turn off horses. These non-toxic sprays and paints have the distinct advantage of being usable on inaccessible portions of wood that can’t be protected with an electric fence or metal strips (i.e., a tree).

Horse wood chewing isn’t a terribly worrisome vice, but it is important that you take steps to cure it immediately once you detect it. You should make sure that your horse is indeed a wood chewer and not a cribber, because cribbing is an entirely different problem that’s far more difficult to combat.

Cribbing (also known as “Crib Biting” and “Wind Sucking”)

Typically when a horse cribs, he sets his upper teeth on an object (usually about chest level), presses down, opens his mouth, arches his neck, and pulls back while making a belching sound. A horse may or may not lick the object. He also may or may not swallow air during this process. Normally they don’t chew, but they often crush what they set their teeth on.

Some horses don’t need to actually set their teeth on a specific object to achieve the same result. Many horses prefer to crib after they have been stimulated with food, especially a concentrated food such as grain. Each horse will have his or her own particular style and may exhibit some or all of the above characteristics.

It is believed that during this process, endorphins are released in the horse’s system. Endorphins, much like morphine, act as a drug on the brain creating a sense of well being or “high”. This would explain the incredible drive a horse has to perform the behavior once he has experienced it. He actually receives a “high” and eventually becomes addicted.

Several devices and methods have been tried to stop a horse from cribbing with little success. The most common idea is some form of restrictive “anti-cribbing collar”. These work by physically causing the horse pain when he cribs. Some work by bruising the neck muscles as they expand during cribbing, others by poking the horse in the throat as he flexes his neck.

All of these collars must be worn very tightly and many aren’t effective. These collars commonly cause sores, hair loss, change in hair color, and permanent scars, which are extremely undesirable.

There have also been surgical techniques developed to stop horses from cribbing. Most of these involve removing a section of neck muscle and nerve tissue that the horse uses during cribbing. Many of these techniques leave a poor cosmetic result and the success rate is not very high.

Cribbing can be detrimental in several ways. These include:

 Weight loss
 Dental problems
 Colic
 Poor performance from decreased energy
 Undesirable appearance
 Expenses incurred from veterinary bills
 Damage to property in the form of crushed panels, worn boards, collapsed posts, and broken wire

There is also the financial consideration of a substantial decrease in the value of the horse. This loss of value may be related to the poor performance but more often it is directly related to the cribbing behavior itself. Many people simply don’t want to own a cribber under any circumstance.

Next Page »