Some horses seem to be genetically predisposed to crib biting or the closely related windsucking. Any horse can fence chew. Cribbing tends to show when a horse is in a time of stress and it is often associated with stomach ulcers. You can reduce cribbing by reducing stress, treating ulcers, change of diet, more turnout etc... but if you do reduce it right down they will sometimes still crib in certain circumstances and a big upheaval such as moving home can bring it out again.
My old TB cribbed and the youngsters that she nannied are not cribbers.
i had a 5 year old connemara who had never crib bited whether in or out. He was nippy though, and would fiddle with the lead rope when tied up. I took him to a livery yard where he was stabled opposite a crib biter. Within a week Id noticed him crib biting on his door and although I moved him to another yard from then on he never stopped doiing it, even on fence posts when turned out.
So I think that if horses have an innate tendency to crib, being near a crib biter encourages them to try and copy it.
Yes, as Faracat said any horse can fence chew. The horses here will leave the fences alone, but if one starts the others join in and bite great chunks off like mindless idiots. They tend to do it if a horse in one field has a hard feed or hay and the others are watching in my experience.
Hooligan cribs and I did notice my welshie attempt to copy him for a short period of time, but he clearly had no idea what hooligan was doing and just sort of chewed the door for a few days until he decided he was getting nothing remotely back from this weird habit and stopped. Diva hasn't never copied, but she's far too superior to follow suit!
I've owned the worst cribber and windsucker I've ever known for 7/8 years now. During that time he's been with many other horses including youngsters and nothing else has ever ended up doing either. So no I don't believe they do. I'd be happy to keep my horses alongside one, in fact obviously I always do ��
I've got a cribber who is kept on a livery yard which has 9 other stables. In the 6 years he has been there he has been stabled next to (and opposite) the wound up and anxious as well as the laid back and chilled out and not one of the various horses who have come and gone over the years has tried to copy him or started cribbing. I think there have been studies done about stereotypic behaviour such as cribbing, and if I remember rightly there was no evidence supporting the theory that horses copy these sorts of behaviours. I have also been (un)fortunate enough to own a chronic weaver who was also stabled with other horses and none of the others copied her either. Not a scientific study I know, but it does say something about my choice of horse!