windsucking/cribbing

[stormox]

Can horses start these vices at any age? Or if they havent started before a certain age are they unlikely to ever start?
I had a 5yr old connemara who never did anything then overnight when he was stabled at a livery yard he started and within a month was a manic cribber.
What age did any cribbers you have known start?

 

[GirlFriday]

Doesn't have to be a 'vice' - can be a 'clinical sign' e.g. of ulcers? Which can arrive at any age?

 

[HashRouge]

Ours started at 6 or 7 I think, when he was on box rest as part of his navicular treatment. He later had treatment for ulcers, but by then it was an ingrained habit and he just kept doing it. However, we've solved the problem more or less now - he lives out and I have run a strand of electric tape along the top of their fence posts so he can't get hold of anything to crib on. He's put a lot of weight on and now when he does come into the stable (for the dentist or farrier) he will stand happily without cribbing.

 

[Mari]

Can be caused by stress. I bought a little pony that wind sucked/cribbed on everything - Haynets, lead ropes, rug tail flaps in field, anything in stable he could grip on. American barn & metal grills between all the stables & not one horse copied him. He was a rescue & a very stressy pony.

 

[molar roller]

Horses can start at any age, a lot of TB starts at 2, 3 yo...I agree with Mari, I think stress is another factor. Hard to believe but what I see, %25 of TB horses have cribbing habit in North American race industry , you can see a lot of horses having cribber collar in any American race barn. Race horses lives at race tracks in Norh America, actually that is the main stress factor, while some of horses runing at the race, rest of horses can hear whipping noises. and unfortunately they spend 23 hours at the stall. Sad but true.

by the way, if you have a cribber horse, an equine dental technician will understand this situation easly because this habit changes the natural incisor angle. So he/she may work on incisors, do not be suprised.

 

[Shay]

It is a displacement / stress activity. So age isn't a factor. It will start when the horse is stressed - then persist because they have learned it helps. OP - was your horse tabled longer than normal? Or in an isolated part of the yard where he couldn't see anyone? Or indeed conversely in too busy a patch of yard for him? Something happened and he found this was a way to cope.

 

[stormox]

It is a displacement / stress activity. So age isn't a factor. It will start when the horse is stressed - then persist because they have learned it helps. OP - was your horse tabled longer than normal? Or in an isolated part of the yard where he couldn't see anyone? Or indeed conversely in too busy a patch of yard for him? Something happened and he found this was a way to cope.

He was stabled opposite a cribber in an american barn stable and i am sure he copied it off him. Prior to that i had him at home and he could see out of 2 sides of his stable.

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I had one that began windsucking on box rest aged 6, he was the most chilled out natured horse, so I think it was a boredom breaker. He mostly stopped after the box rest finished, but occasionally windsucked because he liked it; I always said it was his version of having a cigarette! I also had one that weaved, and you could tell his vice was stress related, he would be tense and ears back, he found dinner time stressful as he was used to being fed in a large herd, my other horse would have floppy ears and his lip drooping as his windsucked! I never attempted to stop the windsucker, he didn't crib so I let him be. The weaver got an anti weave grill as his vice was a vicious circle of stress, and prevention kept him calm.

I imagine something about his routine must be upsetting him, but once they learn the vice, it's hard to stop even after removing the "original cause" if they are that way inclined anyway. Cribbing is a pain but electric fencing in the field and a grill on the stable door will help, also toys like a treat ball may relax and occupy his mind.