Crib biting

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hairycob

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Friend has bought a yearling at sales who crib bites, in the field as well as in the stable. He has been living out but has just started coming in at night. She is convinced it's because he was probably in a bare paddock before & is giving him huge quantities of food to keep him busy. She has also been putting chilli paste on fences & stable door. I was going to suggest trying coligone but think she will baulk at the price. Might adding bicarbonate of soda to his feed help if gastric acid is the problem? Any other suggestions? The chilli didn't help - he liked it which can't have helped gut ph!
She is elderly & collects poorly horses then overfeeds them. She loves her horses dearly but is convinced that more food is the answer to everything & is suspicious of "new potions & lotions" maintaining they are all a rip off. This is a lovely chap & I am worried he will end up obese at the current rate (I saw his feed bowl last night & it's more than I give my 3). I want to help the owner as well as she is a nice person, just a bit batty in her old age, and was a great support to me when one of mine was ill earlier in the year.
 
I'm working on the amounts of feed but at the moment she thinks he needs to be "kept busy" to stop him crib biting. He was a little bit lean when she bought him so she has convinced herself he has been starved and will chew anything if he hasn't got food to hand.
 
Does he need to live in. I would do all I can to alleviate boredom. As a yearling I expect he'll have a low boredom level so would advise as much turnout as possible with others.
Lots of hay/haylage to keep him occupied rather than hard feeds..
I personally don't like the collars as I feel cribbing is a stress thing and not being allowed to do it will make them more stressed. Obviously, as long as its not causing any problems ie colic..
 
As HP says, crib biting is a stereotypical behaviour in response to stress, usually due to the horse not being able to fulfil the lifestyle that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have hard wired into him. Current thinking is that the stereotypical activity releases endorphins which help the horse live with the unnatural lifestyle so to remove the only comfort he has (collar) is cruel. I'd urgently try to get your friend to (a) let ned live out 24/7 if poss, (b) stop cramming him with hard feed before she kills him and instead make sure ned has 24/7 access to either grazing or hay and (c) give him a short course of Coligone to see if it makes a difference.

My understanding is that crib biting often arises in youngsters weaned too early or too traumatically so this may never be "cured".
 
Please don't use cribbing collar's . . . they only mask the problem, cause tenfold mental distress and have been proved to cause immense physical discomfort to horses.

Instead suggest plenty of turn-out, stimulation from his surroundings and adlib good quality but low energy fibre (if prone to weight gain). Apart from vits & mins avoid hard feed if ulcers are suspected and have a vet check him over.

Colligone or similar may well help and could be cost effective in the long run as this 'vice' may now never go away.

What a shame such a young horse is crib biting - very very sad.
 
She has had him about 4 months & he has only been coming in at night for about 2 weeks. He has cribbed all the time she has had him so I don't think turnout is the solution for this horse. I strongly suspect that he was weaned early and/or abruptly & this is most likely the cause of his behaviour. I want to suggest an antacid as I have read that traumatic weaning can cause gut acidity & so that could be a good a route to try. If this works she will reduce the feed as the main reason she is feeding him so much is to try & keep him occupied so that he doesn't crib bite. I suggested ways to reduce the calories in his feed last night when I saw how much she was giving him. I had just prepared my feeds & she realised just how many calories he is having compared to my 2 who are in work. She is going to buy hi fi lite today as a start & I have suggested soaking his hay & using hi fibre cubes instead of mix (I know he doesn't need anything other than hay & maybe a vit mix but I'm going one step at a time). She will still overfeed him but no way near as much as she is now. She is a kind hearted lady who takes in all sorts of waifs & strays & has rescued more than one who many would have had PTS that has gone on to be a good horse but does equate food & care a bit too much. She is very anti the collars so there is no question of that.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Please don't use cribbing collar's . . . they only mask the problem, cause tenfold mental distress and have been proved to cause immense physical discomfort to horses.

Instead suggest plenty of turn-out, stimulation from his surroundings and adlib good quality but low energy fibre (if prone to weight gain). Apart from vits & mins avoid hard feed if ulcers are suspected and have a vet check him over.

Colligone or similar may well help and could be cost effective in the long run as this 'vice' may now never go away.

What a shame such a young horse is crib biting - very very sad.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto this, just what I was going to say!

I think it is unlikely she will stop him cribbing now & she will just have to accept that this is something he does..we have an ongoing joke that my horses cribbing is like his after dinner fag...its just part of who he is.

Providing she does all she can to ensure he has a stimulating lifestyle, has plenty of fibre & as little hard feed as possible, then she is doing enough. Obviously if she feels there is an underlying condition she should ask the vet to scope it to check all is well in the tummy area.
 
I look after a cribber. Had him a year, he was really poor when we got him and cribbed a lot

We do not feed any concentrates, it makes them worse (he's a competition horse and poor doer and he copes just fine). We feed ad lib haylage and Winergy Growth and not only does he look fab and put on loads of muscle, he cribs a lot less than he used to.
 
it will take him a while but he will stop when out if given other things to occupy him, friends, food etc. She may be feeding him hard feed for the cold weather and plenty of hay which never runs out is a must. One of mine cribs and you just have to accept it, she is sensitive and started when she was a youngster going through a difficult time. I would never use a collar...they crib for a reason and causing them pain because if it, to me, is cruel.
 
Echo not using a collar - its a case of trying and treat the symptoms not the cause. And on removing of the collar they will crib bite much more than before, so thats not exactly constructive.

Research has shown that for whatever reason the horse start crib biting , as the habit develops, it gives a horse a 'feel good feeling' by release of certain chemicals within the brain so it becomes a fun and rewarding habit . Removing the opportunity to crib takes away the rewarding aspect and increases stress, hence why they will crib bite more once the collar is removed.
This is why even when you think a horse is 'happy' I.e. in the field, lots of forage, friends around, they often will still crib as the they remember the feel good feeling and want some more of it!

Best thing you can do is let him carry on, adapt his life to being as natural and routined and lots of forage as possible and sometimes they do settle down and do it less.
 
Thanks for all the advice. She has swapped field around so now he is in with one that can stay out 24/7 with him & swapped the mix for high fibre nuggets. Fingers crossed now. She is considering coligone.
 
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