Cribbing!!! Help

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michaelakc

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Hi all
I need help!!
I have three horses that are all have picked up cribbing from my oldest horse Monty who is 15 years old. We had recues him over a year ago now, he was cribbing when we first got him but it was minimal we put the cribbing down to him being starved and very underweight. He did at some point stop when obviously he put on weight and being excised. But started again once winter hit also when he damage his shoulder muscle, we do not have a sand school and with all the awful weather and bad shoulder his excising can to a halt.
We have to 2 other horses which are 11 months old and of course what babies do best, are copying the behaviour so now all three are chewing the fencing and now the stable!!! Great
Monty being 18hands now believes chewing the support bean to the stable is a good idea.!
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I do not know what to do!! I have tried using a cribbing collar on him but that doesn’t work and he can’t wear it out in the field because of the babies. I have used Tabasco sauce, cod liver oil, Ja's and soap but none have worked and his cribbing is getting out of control.
I have gone to extreme measures now because of Monty eating the support bean to use creosote
that seams have worked but I am afraid of what damage it could do to them. Has anyone got any other suggestion of what I can use?? For advice purposes I thought I mention that the cribbing has got worse
since taking them off haylage so we are putting them back on it this week, they get fed twice a day,
the feeds we use are: baileys stud mix and honey chop garlic and get and 11 hours of forage a day to, and come in everynight. We are thinking of putting licks in the stable but because of the high sugar we don’t want it to damage the babies teeth.
Thanks in advance.
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First you need to know why the older horse is cribbing- consider getting him scoped for ulcers. If you dont want to scope then put him on an anti-acid supplement like crib-stop/ crib-eze and see if that improves things. Have you tried a miracle collar?
Next, it doesnt sound like the babies are cribbing, just wood chewing and that's quite common if they dont have sufficient forage- do they have ad-lib hay at the moment?
 
You don't say that they are also windsucking, so they are not doing this to relieve pain, they are doing it because they are bored and require more space, activity or distractions - and because, for young horses, chewing is natural.

give them all salt licks and as much turnout as possible, with electric fencing lining any wooden posts - they won't bite that more than once!
 
As Boss says above, wood chewing and cribbing are two different things, but both can be indicative of a lack of fibre in the diet.
I'd try to feed ad lib forage. In an ideal world a combination of hay/haylage and different forages is best, but I understand that has more economical implications.
Secondly, I'd cut down on the hard feed, as it causes the stomach contents to become more acidic, causing ulcers. The horse then swallows saliva to buffer the acidity (or so they think). I would agree regarding getting the adult horse scoped for ulcers, and possibly try him on a medication to reduce stomach acidity.
As far as the youngsters go - they don't 'copy' cribbing, so are probably needing fibre (ad lib hay), and may be teething (check their teeth regularly).
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I agree with all the above, also if you have a proper cribber then you should not be feeding mixes or cereals as this also makes them crib more. Perhaps put your older boy on a cube/nut instead.

For the babies, it does sound like they are just chewing rather than cribbing so as the others have said, perhaps put some salt licks in the field and maybe some mineral licks in the stable - thse shouldn't cause any problems with sugar as there isn't any in there.

My older boy is exactly the same but he cribs for england - he has ruined the fence, chewed the stable etc. As I know it is not his fault I make sure that he has somewhere to actually do it - he has a manger in his stable so he does it on that or the door and so now doesn't look for other places to crib on, in the stable. Obviously out in the field it is difficult as they have to go looking.

My younger boy has started chewing the stable perhaps he thinks of it as a game but he is definitely not cribbing.

One other thing you could you is start hanging things from the beams, toys, swedes etc, he will either not be able to get to the beam to chew or he will be too busy with his games.
 
We moved yards in dec and had post and rail for the first time.Both my horses started cribbing yo told me to creasote my fences and it stopped overnight .The smell seems to put them off.The horse next door started and owner did the same thing and it has worked for him as well.
 
I havent got my oldest checked for ulcers so I will get the vet down first thing. They are not on ad lib hay at the moment,

They are so used to haylage, the only reason we changed is because it kept going off so quickly and also cutting cost as it was expensive but now we got them on normal hay which they are all refusing to eat it, thats another reason why they are going back onto haylage. I forgot to mention that they are getting over 11 hours of forage a day, and the baby are teething so I’m glad to hear they are doing it because they may think its a game. they chew the wood very badly in the field, especially when its dinner time and waiting to come it the two youngster start chewing the wood then like they are getting inpatient
 
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