Cripping Horse

[Clairabel]

Can anyone offer advice on Cripping?

I have an 16 year old who cripps and is a poor doer. I have been told to try a cripping coller and a special supplement as it is digestion problems rather than an old boredom habit.

I need to rescue my fence. (Or what is left of the fence!)

[augermoon]

hi there,

Presumably you mean cribbing as in crib biting? If so, can you let us know how your horse is kept - in or out and for how long. As you mention a fence I am guessing he/she is turned out????

[Tangle]

Do you mean cribbing? If so, hopefully KarinUS will come along, as she's managed to do a fantastic job with her horse and nearly stop his cribbing habit by changing his environment.

I would be extremely wary of using a cribbing collar - it will prevent the horse from performing the cribbing action, but won't do anything to stop him wanting to crib - and by preventing him fulfilling that desire you'll probably just make him more stressed and increase your other problems :(.

The supplement sounds better to me - ulcers are a known cause of cribbing, and can be helped by feeding antacids so I'd guess this is what you've been given.

Talk to your vet and do some searches on the internet. There's a lot of information out there on what tends to cause cribing and what you can do to try and stop it :)

[andreaB]

i have used a cribbibg collar before , but my mare still wanted to do it & i think overall she was more stressed with it on , i found with my horse that a busy yard environment didn't suit her & that a routine helps matters. she doesn't crib as much now , but still does at feed time & will crib in the field if something changes , eg i go on holiday, hope my experiences are helpful, think its probably trial & error to see what suits your horse , condition wise i feed her plenty with lots of oil in winter , then again , she is 16 now

[KarinUS]

:rolleyes: Oh thanks, Tangle. That is sweet of you to say! :)
Over the last few weeks I have actually made some new observations that I will further look into related to gut motility.
Anyway:
If your horse is a poor doer as well as a cribber I would suggest beet pulp. It is a very digestible fiber and can be fed in fairly large quantities. The water in the soaked pulp as well as the volume of the feed tend to increase gut motility.
I have pursued this option after I noticed that cribbing increased DJ's gut motility (and gut sounds). He is doing very well on beet pulp. He still gets his pellets though because of the nutrients.
The trick with the pellets is to not feed them dry. I pour Aloe Vera Juice on the pellets and then add the soaked beet pulp. DJ also gets flax seed. It makes his coat shiny and gives him a nice round bum. :)
Of course he also has free choice hay. Use a kind your horse likes. Mine will happily munch on Prairie hay all day but doesn't care much for the fancier stuff.

In addition to the things that make them feel better also be on the watch for triggers. I recently had purchsed some free-choice minerals and it drove DJ to crib like crazy! Discontinued the minerals and voila- back to being a happy boy. Then I used a supplement from the same manufacturer and the same thing happened. The main ingredient in both was calcium carbonate so maybe he can't stomach that?!?
I also no longer use oil. Corn oil seems to be contributing to inflammation in some horses. I rather get the fat and calories from flax seed.

I am not too crazy about antacids. Using antacids can somewhat backfire as it sends the wrong message to the body. I prefer aloe.

There is lots of good research on the subject but what has really helped me is observing my horse's reaction. Even my vet said that it's a habit and once formed nothing will change it. NOT TRUE! It is so much dependend on his diet that I can't help but think he is cribbing to help himself rather than out of habit.

Good for you for saying 'no' to cribbing collars!

PS: If this is just about chewing wood and not about cribbing then look into a supplement called 'Quitt'.

[Kanuma]

i first would make sure its true cribbing, not just chewing wood. my lad chews wood and mustard smeared on the wood stopps him! ive also got this spray called crib stop, which is a mix of essential oils that seems to work as well.