Cribbing

[Leanne_20]

to cut a long story short, my horsey cribs and has done for years so its a well rooted habit now. i have been reading a few previous posts on here about feeds containing alot of starch can aggreviate a cribber?
horse currently has topspec super conditiong flakes as part of her feed as i found it works the best for keeping her in good condition, however, these are very high in starch (only fed very little at mo due to lack of exercise)
i have never really thought or looked into her cribbing as i just excepted she does it, but could this high starch feed be contributing to the cribbing? its abit confusing once you actually look into these things!

 

[Sarax]

Hi my loan horse cribs very badly, best sollutuon u can suggest is feed as much fibre as poss, ie hay / chaff / alfa a ect. Also try not too feed oats / barley ect as these won't help. My boy lost alot of condition agee moving yards to where we have limited / no turn out. I feed him on sugar beet, top line conditioning cubes and hifi and he has really improved with his weight, I also try and limit how much he can wind suck by removing objects he cribs on. Hope that helps a bit

 

[joeanne]

Dont for one minute thinks its a bad habit that cannot be stopped.
Its a sign of discomfort. I have an 25 yr old on loan, who has cribbed for years. Stress triggers his (he lives out 24/7) and the biggest cause was being bullied by another pony.
Remove said pony, and cribbing stops.
I also know when to "up" his fibre intake as again he will start to crib.
Cribbing has been linked to gastric ulcers, which is something you should also be aware.
Aloe Vera juice is good at soothing a tum, and you cant OD on the stuff either, with the added benefit of being good for the coat, and its cheap! £2.99 a litre of 100% pure aloe juice at Holland and Barrett!

 

[welshies]

Hi connifer,
I am having the same dilema ATM except mine only started it about 6 months ago. After research it's apparently cereal and sugar that causes but i suppose anything that is hard to digest making the gut work harder and so produce more acid, they basically think its like us burping due to acid. I googled it and can up with information over load! found simplesystem.co.uk useful, not just there product but the info on there website and case studies etc
google: 'cause of crib biting in horses' comes up with some good vet reports and also ' non-cereal low sugar diet'

 

[pearcider]

Ive got 2 cribbers and did lots of research in to feeds last season as one is a sensitive soul too and I also wanted to make sure they were as happy as possible as some suggest cribbing is due to stress.

Yes high fibre feeds are better if the cribbing is stomach related. High fibre such as hay also stops a horse getting bored in there stable or out at grass. They also suggest not using hay nets for cribbers as this can annoyed them and again cause cribbing.

Cribbing can also be a learnt habbit. One of mine used to play with his rope as a youngster and then this progressed in to cribbing on his rope. His stomach is fine (no GA) and if he wears a collar he does not even bother to crib. He is on mix as does better on this and adlib hay.

The other horse had a poor start to life involving a very stressfull race yard that did not suit him. When they brought his as a 2yr he cribbed and wind sucked.
When I brought him as a 6yr they could not get him to eat as he would crib so much.
He now is eventing and up to weight but is a very fussy eater (but we cope!!). He will eat hi fibre nuts but picks at hay or haylage. He likes his feed made a certain way and loves routine.
He is worse if he wears a collar as he wont eat, so never wears one. He also cribs more in the field than in his stable, but he hardly cribs at all now compared to his previous race life and Ive never seen him wind suck.

I rung a lot of feed companies and that is how one of mine ended up on baileys no 17 mix as it was suggested. But as I said earlier his is a habbit.

The other horse who is sensitive is very sharp so low protein was our first mission. Then low starch to help in as many ways as possible.

I think you need to take in to account your horses temperment, condition and rountine as a whole to why he cribs.

On a plus side cribbers are supposed to be brighter than other horses, I dont know how true this is!!

 

[helen75]

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Dont for one minute thinks its a bad habit that cannot be stopped

[/ QUOTE ]

There are many of us on here that would totally disagree! Every horse is different!! It may be a sign of discomfort in some horses but not all. My boy does it for the hell of it! I've spent 100's of £'s on products to sooth the digestive system and my horse still does it sporadically. Yes I agree high fibre diets help an awful lot but I cannot stop him completely.

I most definatly believe that once the habit is installed it is extremely difficult to erradicate even when the initial trigger is removed.