Weaving and Cribbing

[*Sez*]

I knew when I bought Salsa that he'd been known to weave. Now he rarely does, unless he's very upset (usually when the rain is banging away on the barn roof), and tends to throw his head in the air and nod furiously when he wants his breakfast/tea instead of weaving now.

I've started to notice that there are teeth marks on his stable door, and when we have to stand outside the outdoor schools to wait for a lesson, he grabs the wooden fence with his teeth and just latches on to it. He doesn't windsuck or chew, he just grips it between his teeth. I'm starting to feel like we've swopped one bad habit for another and I'm very concerned about his teeth and jaw (and the state of my stable!) but am not sure how to stop it? I keep telling myself that he's still settling in and getting used to things, and he's quite highly strung, so of course he's going to feel stressed from time to time, but I want to nip this in the bud as quickly as possible. To combat his weaving, I bought him a large mirror, made sure he had plenty of hay and tied swedes in the doorway as a distraction and it seems to have been fairly successful.
A girl at our yard suggested painting hoof oil on the areas he bites, but I thought this would be very sticky (he rests his chin on the door as well and it's where I put his rugs when I'm changing them) and probably wouldn't be very healthy for him to ingest. Does anyone have some cheap, horse friendly ideas to stop him doing this? (cheap because the little wotsit knocked over and spilt an almost full bottle of Keratex last night! My own fault, I know, for putting it on the floor next to me while I was doing his hooves :rolleyes: )

[Gay]

Have you tried Cribox it's made for the job and is around £5 a tub - you paint it on with a brush but it should last a long time as it's the texture of solid hoof oil. They definintely don't like the taste either. :)

[sheer bliss]

A horse that weaves or cribs is stressed, by removing the ability to do the repatitive behaviour e.g. cribing and anti crib liquid on the door. Removes the emotional release (endorphins) the horse gets from cribing.
So horses become more stressed, if you tackle the cause of the stress the cribbing should improve.

You have tried swedes hung at the door, but has this detered from weaving and encouraged the crib???

Have you just moved your horse yards? as you say hes still settling in??

Has he left old friends?

I would advise you to try using bach flower remedies or aromatherapy to help him, its not too costly and might help him settle, but the cause of the stress has to be found to find the most appropriate remedy to help

[*Sez*]

Thanks for the cribox suggestion.

Sheer Bliss, I only bought Sal at the start of October so I know he's probably feeling stressed from the move and leaving his mare behind. I'm fairly certain this is the problem, and I think only time will help with it. However, I don't want him to start damaging his teeth and stable in the meantime! I will have a go with the flower remedies, and if no improvement, I'll try cribox. His last owner said he was quite easy to stress anyway, so perhaps the flower remedies coupled with equine massage would be useful for him in the long-run?

Can anyone suggest some courses or books on stress-relieving techniques in horses?

[hackedoff]

I have a horse that used to crib incessantly, constantly, with the loudest windsucking grunt ever, this was due to his past- no turnout, no hacking, no socialising and hard feed at regular intervals. He came to our NH yard and now lives in a herd out 24/7 with unlimited hay when he comes in and no hard feed, just alfa. His cribbing/windsucking is down to about 20% of what it was, but I do sometimes see him crib in the field on a fencepost! He is highly strung too and I've found Topspec calmer (its mainly magnesium) has had a noticable effect on him.

[roxycutie]

You said your horse weaves a little bit still. Horses usually do this because they are bored and need to be ridden or lounged. cribbing is also a bad vice that can lead to worse vices such as windsucking. My horse does this also, and i have bought a sour apple spray that you can put on the stall door. Its non toxic and has a bit of a foul odor. And to keep the horses in our barn from weaving we also have a "V" door they are pretty expensive though.:) Hope I helped.

[Giveitago]

It helps to tie the hay net outside the stable so horsy can lean out over the stable, see what's going on etc and graze at the same time. Cribbing is usually related to the horses need to eat and weaving is their need to constantly move.

My boy weaved badly, wearing out his shoes but now he's much better but will weave when stressy. His hay outside really helps but remember to keep it topped up. Plus he's only in the stable for a max of a couple of hours per day and out in with the herd for the remainder.

I personally wouldn't use lotions and potions for a quick fix, you need to find the cause not hide the symtoms. Bach flowers may help in the interim.

[redcedar]

all the advice above is really good and have done a combo of these with my fella who was the worst cribber when i got him . He would latch on to anything at anytime !!

the way i stopped this was to turn him out 24/7 with his feild mate and now he only cribs a tiny bit when he is stressed (moving feilds or new horses moving in next door ) .i also find he does it sometimes when he is bord (inthe small feild , less things to do and explore!!)

Keeo his mind active and if you cant turn him out try spreading his activities out through out the day so he has a settled and interesting routine , horses love routine when they are highly strung , only problem is you have to stick to it as the added stress of the routine falling behind or changing can bring the vice to the for again !!

Good luck !!

[*Sez*]

Thanks for those :D . He already has a haynet outside his door, because he's nosey and likes to see what's going on while he's eating :rolleyes: . He gets hay in two separate haynets and in his rack, to give him a bit of variety. I've also put up a mirror in his stable, which he adores (he gives himself dribbly kisses when he's eating:D ). I also bought him a stall ball to play with, but he's terrified of it and somehow punctured it.

I wonder if some of it is boredom - what else can I do to keep him entertained whilst in at night? I tie up swedes for him, hide carrots in his hay, and I've tried the stall ball. I can't think of anything else I can give him that will be safe to use unattended over night. Both horses come in at around five/six pm when we finish work, then get groomed and ridden and put to bed at about eight pm with their dinner. Then we have a stable hand who feeds and turns them out in the morning three days a week and the other two days my parents do the mornings. I try to leave them enough hay to last over night, as they're usually in for around 12 hours.

[Jessey]

I have one of those feed balls, keeps my lot amused for hours and it also simulates grazing, they love it. I just keep a portion of the hard feed back to put in the ball so they don't get any more feed.

It could also be that your horse has stomache upsets, doing it when you ride and also when in his stable, maybe a probiotic would help regulate his gut, even the change from wet grass to dry hay can upset some horses. Ulcers seem to be linked quite often to horses who crib/windsuck, it may also help to review your feed, some feeds can make horses more fractious than others.

J x

[Bay Mare]

Can't he be turned out overnight?

[*Sez*]

Unfortunately our YO insists all the horses are stabled at night between October and March/April. There's 120-odd horses at our yard, so it's a lot for her to feel responsible for at night if owners chose to turn out, I guess :) . I've got a feedball for Jacob which he isn't using at the moment... I'll pinch it for Sal and see if it scares him as badly as the stall ball did!

I'll start soaking his hay, and will speak to the nutritionalist about his feed. He's eating what he had with his last owner still, but it's still worth getting checked out.