Cribbing Help!

[Heelsdown]

At a dead end...

How do I stop a liveries horse cribbing on our fence posts?! He's wrecking the top of the posts as well as loosening them and it's driving me crazy!

We've put offsets on each post as well as electric wire and he still manages it.

Help!

 

[madlady]

Other than pasting the fence posts with something like crib-ox then I don't think you can stop him.

Is he doing it because he's hungry or is it when he wants to come in? If it's one of those reasons then you should be able to work with the livery to come to a solution.

We have one lodging with us who cribs on his stable door when eating - we can stop him but we have protected the door by cutting some drainpipe in half and putting it over the top of the door - owner has also changed the hinges and locks (at her expense) to make sure that the stable door doesn't twist in the frame. We haven't stopped him doing it but he's not damaging the door or his teeth any more.

Were you aware of the cribbing before you took them on as a livery? Did you discuss them paying for damage caused by their horse as a result of the cribbing? I've never heard/known of a horse being 'cured' of cribbing and TBH some of the methods I've seen to try to stop them can be cruel and cause even more distress to the horse as cribbing is an addiction for them.

If you do manage to stop him cribbing on the posts the chances are he will go and crib on something else. What does the owner say?

 

[Heelsdown]

Other than pasting the fence posts with something like crib-ox then I don't think you can stop him.

Is he doing it because he's hungry or is it when he wants to come in? If it's one of those reasons then you should be able to work with the livery to come to a solution.

We have one lodging with us who cribs on his stable door when eating - we can stop him but we have protected the door by cutting some drainpipe in half and putting it over the top of the door - owner has also changed the hinges and locks (at her expense) to make sure that the stable door doesn't twist in the frame. We haven't stopped him doing it but he's not damaging the door or his teeth any more.

Were you aware of the cribbing before you took them on as a livery? Did you discuss them paying for damage caused by their horse as a result of the cribbing? I've never heard/known of a horse being 'cured' of cribbing and TBH some of the methods I've seen to try to stop them can be cruel and cause even more distress to the horse as cribbing is an addiction for them.

If you do manage to stop him cribbing on the posts the chances are he will go and crib on something else. What does the owner say?

He does it randomly throughout the day. We have dry mud-free large fields with plenty of grass so he's not going hungry and he's not lonely as he has a few field mates too.

Luckily the top of our stable doors are metal so he can't damage them but it doesn't half make a racket!

She did not tell me he was a cribber before she arrived. She said she'd be happy to pay for the damages, but so far she hasn't replaced any of the loose posts and has only paid for a handful of offsets as I bought around 300 of them + electric tape.

 

[madlady]

In that case I'd sit down and have a chat with the livery as she really should have warned you that he was a cribber - does he do it all year? Is he worse in certain circumstances? Your livery should be able to give you some more information at least.

Is there any way that you can isolate his cribbing to just one post and make the livery responsible for costs then associated with that post? With regard to the amount you've already spent I'd add it to her bill if she's offered to pay. I'd be very reluctant to ask them to do something like put a cribbing collar on as I personally think they are cruel and that's without the risk of it getting caught on something.

I do understand your frustration though as fence posts aint cheap and it's a pain in the whotsit when you have to keep going and knocking them back in when they are loose.

 

[Heelsdown]

In that case I'd sit down and have a chat with the livery as she really should have warned you that he was a cribber - does he do it all year? Is he worse in certain circumstances? Your livery should be able to give you some more information at least.

Is there any way that you can isolate his cribbing to just one post and make the livery responsible for costs then associated with that post? With regard to the amount you've already spent I'd add it to her bill if she's offered to pay. I'd be very reluctant to ask them to do something like put a cribbing collar on as I personally think they are cruel and that's without the risk of it getting caught on something.

I do understand your frustration though as fence posts aint cheap and it's a pain in the whotsit when you have to keep going and knocking them back in when they are loose.

He does it all year round. She's not really 'into' talking about it and quickly goes on the defensive. She says that he's always done it so he's not going to stop - Which I do understand, but she's not open to any type of management for it.

Due to the fields being so large he has 5+ posts in various locations

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Has the horse been treated for ulcers? Many improve a lot after treatment.

With my own mare, she ended up only cribbing after hard feed or if you hand fed a treat. I electric taped the top of the fencing and made a 'cribbing station' that could easily be replaced with a new rail. So basically there was only ever one rail that she could damage and the youngster ended up doing the most damage to it by chewing it when he was teething. Oh well, at least it was easy to fix!

 

[leflynn]

I have a cribber and have always been open about it and have always offered to pay for any damages (not that there have been any). She needs to be open to management as its your yard and I have not moved to yards previously as they requested I put a collar on him (which I refuse to do), that or pay for damages or move!

 

[Heelsdown]

No he's not been treated or examined for ulcers as she says it's too invasive and that he's not losing weight anyway.

 

[_HP_]

Is the electric on?

For my cribber, I gave him a cribbing post....one big fat post that he could use and electrified the rest

 

[AmyMay]

Is the electric on?

For my cribber, I gave him a cribbing post....one big fat post that he could use and electrified the rest

I love the idea of a dedicated cribbing post.

Op, I'd run electric fencing a meter in from the fence line to prevent him from getting to the posts. If you feel you can't do that at your expense tell the livery she needs to buy the equipment for you to erect.

 

[be positive]

No he's not been treated or examined for ulcers as she says it's too invasive and that he's not losing weight anyway.

Scoping is not really invasive, they do not have to have all the symptoms to be suffering from them, it is far worse if he has them to leave him in constant pain than to starve for a night for scoping, it is funny how peoples brains work, to keep a horse that may be easily treated, albeit expensive to do, rather than do right by them and the livery yard who have to deal with the damage.

 

[Luci07]

I would also ask her what she has done to try to identify the cause. I know that there is no definitive answer to this, but what has she done to alleviate it? There are horses who just have a minor crib after eating so changing feed/cribbing posts can make them comfortable. There are some at the other end of the scale who crib constantly and are in real danger of surgical colic. These DO need a collar. I ended up using a miracle collar which I padded with sheepskin. I was loathe to do this but we exhausted every avenue and 2 of his siblings were carted off with colic (also cribbed - different yards). In my case, I noted that he cribbed very little when out so he ended up living out full time with 1 post and that worked. In the stable, even with a constant (and I mean constant) supply of hay, he would do it.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I did wonder if the cost of gastrogard had some bearing on their stance. However I'm feeling very cynical at the moment due to recent experiences.

 

[Heelsdown]

I have tried to explain all of this to her, but she is very guarded and defensive. I'm running out of ideas and I don't want to spend anymore of my money on her problem horse. Apparently he's cribbed since he was in racing 12+ years ago!

Edit: I have given her some ulcer powder months ago and she hasn't used a scoop

 

[be positive]

I have tried to explain all of this to her, but she is very guarded and defensive. I'm running out of ideas and I don't want to spend anymore of my money on her problem horse. Apparently he's cribbed since he was in racing 12+ years ago!

Edit: I have given her some ulcer powder months ago and she hasn't used a scoop

She sounds as if she is in denial and probably doesn't want to spend, or hasn't got, the money to look into it, to not even try the powder you gave her would be enough to make me consider giving her notice, you can only do so much for other peoples horses and it is going to become more of an issue as time goes on, been there with liveries and the only answer is to let it become someone else's problem before it winds you up even more, it is not the fault of the horse but it is having an impact on you and your yard.

 

[saskiahorsey]

My boy is much better now hes living out and only windsucks after a hardfeed or treat ... He has one post that he can suck on after meals i dont think he will ever stop completely but when he was stabled he did it constantly .... i found high fbre diet and pro biotic has helped with him also

 

[Heelsdown]

He's turned out for 12hrs daily in winter 24/7 in summer.

I'm reluctant to put a singular post in the field as I don't want a churned up patch, plus when he's at the other end of the 8 acre field he goes to whichever post is closest.

 

[sunshine100*]

Hi I would def try QUITT its a supp for cribbers,the horse is missing something from his feed/supp-this has something in it that horses need that do crib/windsuck-def worth a try- takes a few weeks to kick in--thanks by the way for trying to help this person out as it is not the horses fault