To those of you with cribbers...

I

Irishbabygirl

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...do you let them crib?

I've had my 23 year old WB for twelve years now. During this time, I've had him at a couple of different yards ranging from electric along the top rail so he can't crib, to having a post allocated for cribbing. He behaves no differently whether he can crib or not.

So, he's been at our new farm livery since August - he has always had the option to crib there but chose not to, I guess because he had tones of grass to keep him busy! There is still a lot of grass but obviously there is not as much in it at this time of year and I've noticed he is spending a lot of time at his cribbing post lately!

Should I crack on and leave him to it or take it away? What do others do?

Just to add...I don't let him crib in his stable as I quite like his door the way it is! :rolleyes:

Also, I used to be an equine nurse so was lucky enough to have him scoped for ulcers regularly (all clear), although not for a few years now.
 
Hi my tb cribs , have also had full work up done as colics and hard to keep weight on , all clear from ulcers , to be honest I just let mine do it as he is 18 and has always done it and gets more stressed if doesn't do it!! If he was young then maybe try
Collars ect , I did try cribox
On door but he ate it!! X
 
I find a watered down poo painted on the top of the door works well - and its free! :D
I think I'll let him crack on, he's an old man now, he's allowed to indulge!
 
I think it is mean to stop them unless it affects them internally. I let my old loan horse crib, but discouraged him from doing it on the fence rails! I didn't mind on the posts as they didn't fall apart so easily :-)

Also I think if you try to stop them with collars etc then as soon as they get the chance they go crazy for it which can't be good with such a sudden intake of air in the gut!
 
yup i just leave my boy to it. i used to put a collar on him, but he would just try to do it anyway and always ended up with sores around his neck, and whenever the collar came off he'd crib so much more as if to make up for lost time.

he's alot happier now i dont try and stop his dirty habit hehe :rolleyes:
 
Ours really only does it while eating. My son, if feeding her in the field, even puts her feed bowl by a fence post to make it easier for her to crib And eat!
 
My cribber (point -to- pointer) - ate my stables to pieces, and in the two years that I had him, had mild colic once. As a smoker, why would I deny him his fun, and he always had great condition, and no ulcers that I knew of - but I was glad to eventually sell him on (for the sake of my stables) - he was such a nice horse - that his vice did not put off any of the eventual buyers, and I could have sold him 5 times over!
 
i let both my cribbers get on with it. my old boy ended up sporting a collar, just purely to take some of the strength out of his habit, as he had a stable door and door frame out of the wall and we ended up pinning a wooden stable wall back in as he loosened it to the extent it fell off the brick wall foundations. Fortuatly current horse has a different style to her habit.
 
Are you able to feed him Lucerne Hay? It contains a high level of Calcium which if he has ulcers will help settle them down.

Adding Calcium flour can help too.

Otherwise if he's not intent on devouring the whole fence let him do it.
 
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