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 Pedigree Freak
Posts: 2998
   
| I now sadly own my first cribber. I have never in my life owned a cribber and this is a strange situation. I bred and raised the colt, and he has NEVER been around another cribber.
I have tried several different types of collars and none seen to work. This colt is BAD. He can be in knee deep grass and stand to suck air. He has been checked for ulcers and isnt under high stress. I also have him on ulcer supplements just as a precaution. I dont need him teaching my other horses to crib. And he has never in his life been stalled, only on pasture. He is young and i know i have to stop him or he is going to destroy his respiratory system and teeth. Im at my wits end with him. Short of keeping a cage in his face 24/7 i dont know what else to do..
Anything is worth a shot at this point in my mind. Anyone have any ideas? |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | I have a horrible cribber and I've tried lots of different crib collars but the only one that works for me is the Miracle Collar. You have to have it put on correctly though or it doesn't work. I have mine on ulcer medication; however, he is at least better when he's out on the pasture and won't crib until I bring him into a smaller pasture or pen and he gets bored.
I have had this horse since he was a long yearling and he started cribbing when he went for training (he's 11 now) but he has never taught another horse to crib and we have 25 other horses on the property at any given time. I think some horses are predispositioned to it and others aren't (just like some people have addictive tendencies).
Once they start I don't think they'll ever stop completely but you can certainly slow him down. I would have him thoroughly checked over by a vet for a lameness issue a see if something is hurting him somewhere. If he is all clear then try treating him for ulcers not just giving him supplements for them and see if that helps.
Also what are you feeding him?
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | Sorry you are having to deal with this! Cribbing can be a pain. Is it possible to leave him turned out 24/7 without anything to crib on? The good news is that normally they don't "teach" others to do it as well. I have owned a couple over the years and been around several more. I have never had one pick up cribbing by watching another do it. Low starch/low sugar feed in small amounts, ulcer meds, and 24/7 turn out have always worked best for the ones that I had. |
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 A very grounded girl
Posts: 5052
Location: Moving soon..... | I have a cribber. I use a collar that is 3-4 inches thick. This is the only collar that works for my gelding. If I leave free hay for him he stays away most of the day. I can't turn him out so I don't know if he would continue to crib or not. Good luck.
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Member
Posts: 30
| We turn my cribber out in a rope electric fence pasture. It keeps him from cribbing while turned out. It's the ONLY time he can live without his cribbing collar on!!! We used rubber mats to round any edge that was in his stall. He still tries from time to time with no success to crib on the edges. Dare cribbing collar is the only one that works on him, but I had to get the sheepskin cover to prevent it from rubbing his bridle path. |
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 Toastest with the Mostest
Posts: 5712
Location: That part of Texas | Sockittoemred - 2016-05-19 9:56 AM Sorry you are having to deal with this! Cribbing can be a pain. Is it possible to leave him turned out 24/7 without anything to crib on? The good news is that normally they don't "teach" others to do it as well. I have owned a couple over the years and been around several more. I have never had one pick up cribbing by watching another do it. Low starch/low sugar feed in small amounts, ulcer meds, and 24/7 turn out have always worked best for the ones that I had.
I have a bad cribber and I chuckled a little when I read your advice about turning one out with nothing to crib on. I laugh because I've seen mine crib on a t-post top when it was too far to come up to the house (which he will do even from 1/2 mile away) to crib on the pipe fence. Some of them are so bad that turnout won't keep them from finding a spot, place or implement of some type to try it on lol. I agree with the teaching of others -- Mine has never taught any of the others to do it and if it was teachable, they would have had many chances over the years to learn it from him. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | Red Raider - 2016-05-19 10:53 AM
Sockittoemred - 2016-05-19 9:56 AM Sorry you are having to deal with this! Cribbing can be a pain. Is it possible to leave him turned out 24/7 without anything to crib on? The good news is that normally they don't "teach" others to do it as well. I have owned a couple over the years and been around several more. I have never had one pick up cribbing by watching another do it. Low starch/low sugar feed in small amounts, ulcer meds, and 24/7 turn out have always worked best for the ones that I had.
I have a bad cribber and I chuckled a little when I read your advice about turning one out with nothing to crib on. I laugh because I've seen mine crib on a t-post top when it was too far to come up to the house (which he will do even from 1/2 mile away) to crib on the pipe fence. Some of them are so bad that turnout won't keep them from finding a spot, place or implement of some type to try it on lol. I agree with the teaching of others -- Mine has never taught any of the others to do it and if it was teachable, they would have had many chances over the years to learn it from him.
I ran hot wire around the top of his pen and even made the gate hot. The only thing he had to crib on was the water trough and luckily it was low enough that he couldn't do it. This one was bad when he came to me he was a hard core all the time cribber. My husband could not stand it so I made it near impossible for him to crib. After two years at my house I didn't even have to collar him at the trailer any more. The only time he would think about cribbing after the first year was right after I fed him his grain he would take a couple pulls then quit.
When he first came I could turn him out in belly deep grass and he would rather stand in the shade and crib than eat. It was insane! I guess with that one he had to re-learn how to be a grazing animal instead of a stationary stump sucker. Anyhow, it worked.
Edited by Sockittoemred 2016-05-19 11:23 AM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
| The dare cribbing collar and paint your posts, Gates or fence with cayenne pepper and vegetable oil. Works great for me |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | epoh - 2016-05-19 1:13 PM
The dare cribbing collar and paint your posts, Gates or fence with cayenne pepper and vegetable oil. Works great for me
I painted my posts with cayenne pepper and it stopped the one horse from cribbing but another one decided it was an awesome treat and would lick the fence  . He's a special horse LOL  |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | I feel like I'm in the same spot as you. Our two new Haflingers that we drive both crib and they are stalled close to our other horses. I'm worried that one of the QH's might learn how to crib but so far they haven't. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 516
| I've been around quite a few cribbers in the various places I've boarded and not once have I seen another horse "learn" it... Honestly think that's a myth that they teach each other.
On another note, I'd do what other posters have suggested and make it impossible for him to crib. We had a cribber at our place at one point and he would crib on the backs of other horses he was so bad, drove me nuts and he wasn't even mine. Good luck! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 927
Location: Iowa | Dare collar cinched up tight. None of my other 3 have picked up this vice. |
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 Saint Stacey
| Horses don't teach others to crib. Most horses start cribbing out of pain. They are in pain, cribbing releases endorphins. Once it becomes a habit, it's next to impossible to stop completely. With Sidekick, I'd have to trade out collars. I'd use a Miracle Collar for a month, then switch him into a normal throat one for a month, then back to the Miracle. If you use a Miracle one, you need to hobble the brow band strap to the poll strap otherwise when they put their head down the brow strap becomes loose and it can fall over their eyes if you don't hobble it. |
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | I have seen a couple of instances where a horse learned to crib from another - one in particular picked it up from a pony who threw his head over the gate and sucked wind. His neighbor picked up the habit.
I do, however, believe it starts from either ulcers, pain, etc. My friends who train race horses say they have major problems with ulcers when horses are stalled. It helps to have hay 24/7, but it's not the solution. Turnout is important.
I used the All American Tack collar on my die hard cribber. If not, she'd crib and not eat!
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 993
Location: Northern California | I have a friend who had a horrible cribber. Her vet inserted "hog rings" into his gums. Sounded horrible to me, but it stopped the cribbing. . . . until the rings fell out!! |
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Expert
Posts: 2121
Location: The Great Northwest | RunNitroRun - 2016-05-19 7:43 AM I have a horrible cribber and I've tried lots of different crib collars but the only one that works for me is the Miracle Collar. You have to have it put on correctly though or it doesn't work. I have mine on ulcer medication; however, he is at least better when he's out on the pasture and won't crib until I bring him into a smaller pasture or pen and he gets bored. I have had this horse since he was a long yearling and he started cribbing when he went for training (he's 11 now) but he has never taught another horse to crib and we have 25 other horses on the property at any given time. I think some horses are predispositioned to it and others aren't (just like some people have addictive tendencies). Once they start I don't think they'll ever stop completely but you can certainly slow him down. I would have him thoroughly checked over by a vet for a lameness issue a see if something is hurting him somewhere. If he is all clear then try treating him for ulcers not just giving him supplements for them and see if that helps. Also what are you feeding him?
This totally. I have never heard of a horse learning to crib from another. All you can do to prevent them from loosing weight is to slow the desire to crib. Horses are not perfect either! |
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