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Horse Behavior and Training

Cribbing

By:

horselover

Date:

2009-Nov-20 at 05:31AM

There is a beautiful, 7 year old mare at the barn that is close to our home where I find her cribbing all day long, every time I am there. While I KNOW she is left alone for multiple days, I wonder if her cribbing is curable. I would love to help her because I think her cribbing turns people off and lead to the 'rumors' that exist about the horse and her owner. Any help and recommendations are so appreciated.

Dippy's mum 2009-Nov-25 at 09:09PM

I would suggest you speak to her owner. Find out if they have a problem with time management. If so they may let you help out with her. On our yard we all try to help each other. If someone has a problem then they can ring one of us and we will see to their animals for them. Horses are never left for more than 8 hours without someone checking them. During the day there is usually someone there every hour or so. We try not to get into a situation where the horses are left in their boxes during the day and if someone cannot make it to the yard someone else will turn out their horses for them and if needs be will bring them in on the evening too. This mare you talk about is obviously very bored and stressed. I do not know whether you would be able to cure the cribbing but it could certainly be drastically reduced by better management.

Melea 2010-Sep-08 at 02:18PM

I just got a mare 2 and a half weeks ago and she is a cribber. I have her with an open barn and out to pasture and she can come and go as she pleases. We visit her all throughout the day 3 times plus and she still cribs. We can spend all day with her and she cribs, even with us right there. Other than the cribbing she seems content, rides beautifully, and is bonding with us some. I think that once they do it, it is such a habit that it is impossible to break. I know supplements are said to help chewing, but my mare is actually wind-sucking. I would be interested in any other suggestions too. My mare does not seem stressed. It is habitual any time she is in the barn. She goes out to pasture and seems content, but after coming into the barn, she starts up the cribbing.

horseman805 2010-Sep-08 at 02:44PM

There is no known cure for cribbing once the habit is established. The best you can do is "manage" the habit. There is some research that suggests this habit happens due to digestive issues or stress. The digestive studies say that feeding grain raises the acidity in their stomachs and gives some what humans call heartburn. Some think it is a learned habit from other horses but there is little or no proof to back it up. Whatever the source of the problem is, once they start the habit they can do it all the time regardless of the circumstances. Some are worse than others. Mine I can turn out and she will not crib but cribs when she is in the stall. I have seen some bad cases where even when turned out they crib on the fence.

I found a very comfortable collar that works great. It is the Rusty Dare Cribbing collar. If you "google" it you can find several online sources to buy it from. I have tried the others and some work but they leave rub marks on the horses head. The DARE collar is one piece and very comfortable for the horse. My only recommendation is to clean it once a week to prevent dirt build up on it. I have a rescue horse that is a cribber and was so thankful to find this collar. Hope that helps!

Alaskan_song 2010-Sep-09 at 05:54AM