Cribbing help ?

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jmichelle121

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Ok bought a horse recently a 9 year old mare from an auction she basically cribs, what I need to know is can this be stopped ? the reason for asking is since she has been in a field if there has been wood about ie fence posts she did crib all the time but within a week she hardly does it,in fact I haven't seen her do it at all for 6 days now and have spent considerable time in the field with her, we have now moved her electric fencing to another part of the field and there is nothing for her to crib on,so can horses when less stressed stop cribbing or is it something they do less when happier ? has anyone had a similar experience of this ?
 
Yes, horses do crib when they are stressed, they also do it to produce saliva, which buffers stomach acids. You may find that as she has now got access to grazing, and able to continuously eat she does not feel the need to crib and therefore problem solved!! (as the action of eating grass will obviously also produce saliva too)
When shes in , make sure she as as much adlib hay she can eat
Good luck with her!!
 
Cribbing is stressed or bordem, so probably if she DID crib when you first got her probably stress due to being moved etc...
Therefore if she has stopped it means you are doing something right so YEY for you!!!!
It is not something that they cannot stop doing, it depends how you handle it. So sounds like you are a nice owner so she is now happy to not do it!

If she does it in the stable as stated lots of ad lib hay/haylage and often bordem breakers will help!

Well done though if she has stopped! and hope it all goes as well as it sounds
 
i had a gelding ex racer who criped. they do say they pick it up from others. you can get a collar which works great and stuff which looks like tar that you put over the fencing or doors. i used hot curry powder. he never went near the wood or doors again
 
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i had a gelding ex racer who criped. they do say they pick it up from others. you can get a collar which works great and stuff which looks like tar that you put over the fencing or doors. i used hot curry powder. he never went near the wood or doors again

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Horses dont copy cribbing from others. Several horses doing it in the same yard is because they are often on the same management and feed, which are primary causes. Yes, collars do stop cribbing in some cases but you are not helping the cause, just stopping the behaviour. This leaves the horse in pain and unable to help itself. You need to treat the cause not the symptom.
Racehorses are more likely to crib because of the high cereal diet and lack of forage combined with long periods without food that causes the ulcers.
Far better to allow the horse to crib and relieve some of the pain whilst taking steps with management to remove the cause.
 
My friend has a horse that occassionally cribs when he has something sweet, she rubs chillis on his door and that stops him and the more consistently he works the better he is.
 
My ex racer did it persistently in his stable and on fenceposts - he would get VERY upset if he couldnt (he could do it with a collar on).

He never colicked because of his cribbing, and luckily on the livery yard no one minded (and he had youngsters next to him who didnt copy).

Well done you! You definately must be doing something right (i could never stop mine from doing it!)
 
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