I can't believe it, Cribbing

[Talibutts]

we have had my daughter's pony since he was 4 years old. We have always turned out as much as possible, the pones have been out 24/7 since late April, they have to come in over night from the 1st of December, but as yet they are still out.

The pones are brought in every day and groomed, checked and ridden, my daughter (she's 22 and a registered barefoot trimmer) rides lots, probably covers at least 50 miles a week.

Our pones are native cobby types, fed hay whilst stabled, and a token feed for vits. They are out unrugged and are kept as natural as possible as much as possible.

This evening after work my daughter brought the pones in, rode, then fed the token bucket feed, then my daughter's pone for the first time ever started what we think is cribbing. She rang me in tears and I could hear him down the phone. He kept gripping his teeth over the top of the door and was making a noise in his throat. Earlier in the year, he was turned out with a section D that cribbed on fence posts, but that horse left the yard about 2 months ago. She's so upset, she even went to a local uni because she will not be parted from this pone. She is convincing her self it's an ulcer, and her care and management of him has some how contributed. Pone is insured with Petplan, but surely it's a vice not an illness, but my daughter belives that cribbing gives some relief to ulcers.....any help advice is welcome!

 

[tubby]

There has been a lot of research on cribbing & the cause of it , they do seem to think it's usually caused by ulcers though doubt if that's the only cause. It's not true that they learn the habit off other horses.Would be inclined to call vet out & see where you go from there,if they scope him & find it is ulcers treating the ulcers would stop him cribbing.

 

[Lemme]

We have a horse at the yard who has cribbed for my knowledge for the past 12 years - none of the others do - he has health issues but not ulcers - def a vice in his case - owner thinks it started from boredom when he had to have extended box rest.

if this new youcould try coating the top of the stable door with a deterrant or you can get metal stips to put on -

do hope you find a solution..........

 

[carthorse]

In my experience it is NOT learned behaviour - I've got a cribber & nothing has ever learned the habit from him, not even his companion that has been with him since a 2yo & is now 7.

If your daughter is worried, & I can see why she is, then I'd suggest she gets him scoped as soon as she can. In the meantime I'd try to keep him away from any surface he can crib on - especially at feed times - & run electric tape over field posts. At least that way you'll maybe stop the habit becoming too established & if you can find & treat the cause it may stop. Once they become habitual cribbers it's nigh on impossible stop because, unlike other "vices", tests have shown that they get an endorphin release from it & so it becomes addictive

 

[Talibutts]

He doesn't do it in the field, just started it in the stable on Friday. We are ringing the vet in the morning, but hes has always had a 'dodgey' tummy, always has slopy poos, putting two and two together as I'm typing....

We have mentioned his 'slopy poos' to the vet before, but he never seemed bothered, said he was fit and healthy (if a tad overweight) and some horses are just like that.

 

[carthorse]

That's what I got told too Talibutts, learn from my mistakes & insist on a scope anyway! I was also told he wasn't in anyway a candidate for ulcers - well even if they didn't think he was (& knowing him a lot better than the vets I'd always said his personality put him at risk) the fact was when he eventually did get scoped he had bad ones. Oh & don't be fobbed of with a faeces test, my vets have found several horses test negative with these but when scoped are found to have ulcers.

In the meantime keep feeds low starch & sugar (generally that means no mixes or cereals) & make sure he has ad lib fibre. Some supplements help some horses, but if he has ulcers you need GastroGuard (make sure he's insured for vets fees!!!!). I found Jim showed an improvement on Equine America's Ulser Gard, but it wasn't enough to get rid of them.

 

[fairlady]

I too had a cribber/windsucker that was in with a Youngster and the Youngster never copied my Mares behaviour.

There has been research that the habit is linked to Ulcers, but tbh I don't know enough or have read enough to come to any conclusions and would not like to give advice on that.

Think it maybe worth a phone call to the Vet at least to see what their
viewpoint is though.:wink: Keep us updated.

 

[CMP]

My horse is a cribber although to be honest it is not bad. It is the one and only thing I would change about him. He actually does it for attention sometimes. I feed him a high fibre diet and never carrots, apples, polos or anything sweet.
I started him on a product called happy tummy which is from a company called fine fettle feeds and it has helped a lot. There are claims that it can stop cribbing but it just made my boy a much happier horse. Check out their website and see what you think. A lot of folk on my yard were really impressed with the difference it made to Caymen.