Cribbing/Wind Sucking

[AnnaJ]

Help

My 7 year old TBX bare cribbs and wind sucks.

She's wearing a collar which is supposed to be 100% effective, however she's still doing it! We've tried the Cribbing Gels and nothing seems to stop her!

She's ruing her stable.

Can anyone give me any other suggestions on stopping this?????

 

[AmyMay]

How much turnout does she get??

 

[Heidi1]

Coligone - www.coligone.co.uk take a look it really does work or PM H's Mum...... I have an ex racer who windsucked, had her on coligone for 5 weeks and she has stopped, apart from when in a stressful situation or her routine is changed. She is turned out everyday for atleast 8 hours. Please please speak to H's Mum, I really didn't want to put a collar on my girl and haven't....... Good Luck..

 

[pottamus]

You need to look at why she is cribbing and windsucking and her management...does she get plenty of turnout (like at least 6 hours), is she kept in a stable on her own with no other horses around, does she have access to ad lib hay at all times, how much hard feed to roughage is she fed...to name but a few.
You also need to look at her diet as she may well have acid problems in her stomach and if this can be sorted, then the cribbing will be reduced dramatically.
I have heard good reports about coligone but have not used it myself, but it really is about treating the cause rather than trying to stop it from happening by using collars etc.

 

[AnnaJ]

Shes out all of the time apart from when I tack her up to go riding.

She was stabled for a while before I had her due to her damaging her hock. So I think that's where is stems from!

 

[AnnaJ]

Thanks for this info - I feel really cruel when I have to put her collar on!

 

[AmyMay]

So does she crib in the field as well, or just the stable???

 

[AnnaJ]

She gets loads of turnout - at least 10hrs a day and she's aways with my aunt's mare, so she's never on her own. In fact, they hate being separated! There is always hay available to her and she's on cool mix and mollicop to name but a few.

I do know that she tends to do this more after she's had apples or carrots so whether it's something to do with the sweetness in these I don't know.

 

[AnnaJ]

Yes she does crib when she's in the field - she's attacked all the fence posts!!!!

 

[jumpingkanga]

Hi, what kind of collar have you got? The usual single straps one are useless and didnt stop my horse cribing. So I got a double strap leather one, called a Miracle Collar I think, and it works brill! If you have got one of these and she is still crib biting, try creasote and leave the collar on when she goes in the field. I leave my horses on all the time so that he doesnt ever think about cribing, except when travelling or riding of course! My horse didnt use to crib bite but he started doing it when he was very ill withgrass sickness and coulnt eat anything. The vets think that it could be related to enzymes that are released in the stomach and gut when they eat. This would make sense as was always worse afetr he had eaten his feed.
Hope this helps.

 

[virtual]

Just to add to the useful advice you've already got, you have to do the miricle collars up fairly tightly for them to be effective - I padded mine out with sheapskin to make it more comfortable for my horse.

 

[air78]

I would agree with the earlier posts about management

I would never use a collar, IMO they are cruel, and can only cause more stress to the horse.
I've heard good things about 'coligone' and am thinking of getting some for my boy who crib bites.

 

[emmilou]

Hi, about coligone......
just had a look, and is it the liquid or syringe? which works best?
i have a windsucker who has no excuse for doing it (although he is a rescue so...)
just to add also, i didnt like the mirical collars! it left a dent in his neck (no it wasnt too tight at all!) plus he went compleatly bald all around the collar area!
anyway, everyones different x

 

[MagicMelon]

Sure, turn her out permanently! Honestly, this should help so much. Stabling a cribber/windsucker makes their habit far worse. Chuck her out 24/7 if possible or at least give her as much turnout as possible. And also give her lots of hay/haylage so she always has something to do. If you must stable her sometimes, maybe get some of those stable toys (the ones which roll around the floor dropping cubes are good).

You cannot stop it. Collars dont work, I tried a Miracle Collar which only worked if really tight which she hated so I took it off. I also tried all kinds of stuff on the fencing to stop her doing it - nothing worked which would stay on!

Try to keep her diet full of fibre rather than cereals. You could try some of the antacid type supplements but to be honest I think they only work in some cases. You'll never be able to stop it completely, its a permanent habit!

 

[AnnaJ]

She's got one of the Miracle Collar's but even that's not working. Whether or not it's not tight enough I don't know.

Some one has told me to try Coligone so I may give it a go!

Many thanks

 

[pennypots]

I have an ex racehorse who cribs. But only after her feed and only for about 3-4 mins. then she seems happy to carry on eating her hay. I have had her turned out all summer 24/7 but now that winter is here have her in by night. In the field she does not attempt to crib, that is until i just moved her into a field where there is a post and rail fence, and then she only does it in the morning again after her breakfast when she has just been turned out. I feel that it is rather a habbit than an acid problem, because she doesn't keep it up, but i am prepared to try an ant-acid. Does anyone think this will help?

 

[watcherathome]

AnnaBoo, I would cut out the apples and carrots and up the fibre rations and maybe introduce speedibeet, the cereals in the mix might also be contributing to the problem so maybe look for a balancer that is cereal free to add to the fibre.

 

[Tia]

I agree with Watcher and the others who say to cut out all cereals and vastly up the fibre in her diet. If she doesn't improve then I would ask the vet to come and run some tests to check for ulcers etc.

I had a livery horse on my yard in England - he was a very nervous horse, was not a known cribber and then one night he almost ate the whole stable!

No idea why, owner had vet in to check him, found no cause. He was being fed a high fibre diet, always had hay in the stable and he had a huge stable so plenty of room for him. We never did find out why he did it, but what we did to remedy it was put a large log from an edible tree in his stable and this worked perfectly. It was odd because he never ever did it in the field and he also never did it in the purchased stables, only the beautiful custom built ones. Perhaps he liked the taste of the wood they were built out of??