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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
 
Location: The South | Is it possible? A friend of ours is going to sell his shooting horse, and it would be absolutely perfect for my husband. The only flaw is that he cribs. He is well behaved in every other way.
I'm not educated on the causes of cribbing or if certain collars fix it so I thought I'd ask here. I would love to have this horse if his cribbing can be controlled.
Please tell me there's a magic cure I haven't heard of  |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
  
Location: Texas | how bad does he crib? My most solid barrel horse is a cribber. he's not bad, it doesn't bother me, so he rarely has a collar on. He grazes in the pasture and will crib when stalled. I like the nylon "dog collar" looking cribbing collars from LW bits. I don't care for the miracle collar.
You can do a surgical procedure where they take out pieces of the strap muscles - sternothyroideus, sternohyoideus, and omohyoideus I believe. They will also cut the nerve that goes to those muscles (dorsal branch of accessory n). the results on the surgery are mixed. some horses stop cribbing and others find a way around it. They call it a modified Forsell's procedure where they take the nerve too. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4625
Location: Desert Land | Yes!! 3 of them to be exact. Treated their ulcers!!! All of my cribbers has also been scoped/tested positive for ulcers. After being treated, I had them on free choice hay and SeaBuck and they quit cribbing. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| My retired 1-d mare rarely cribs anymore. I removed commerical grain and replaced 1 qt non molasses beet pulp, and 1 qt. Of alfafa pellets and some hay forage and 10 pounds of grass hay. Everyone is alive and well. But she stopped cribbing months ago. No wood chewing no,stall walking.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
Location: The South | casualdust07 - 2014-02-21 11:21 PM how bad does he crib? My most solid barrel horse is a cribber. he's not bad, it doesn't bother me, so he rarely has a collar on. He grazes in the pasture and will crib when stalled. I like the nylon "dog collar" looking cribbing collars from LW bits. I don't care for the miracle collar. You can do a surgical procedure where they take out pieces of the strap muscles - sternothyroideus, sternohyoideus, and omohyoideus I believe. They will also cut the nerve that goes to those muscles (dorsal branch of accessory n). the results on the surgery are mixed. some horses stop cribbing and others find a way around it. They call it a modified Forsell's procedure where they take the nerve too.
I don't know how to describe it, when we're at a shoot he'll walk up to a rail and put his teeth on it and arch his neck and he looks like he's sucking air but it doesn't make that weird sound that I've heard before. I don't know what he does at home, I need to ask about that. I know his owner has said that he will crib in the trailer.
I will go look at the L&W collar, thank you! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
Location: The South | TheOldGrayMare - 2014-02-22 12:18 AM
Yes!! 3 of them to be exact. Treated their ulcers!!! All of my cribbers has also been scoped/tested positive for ulcers. After being treated, I had them on free choice hay and SeaBuck and they quit cribbing.
WOW 3 of them! I'd say you're on to something! I will ask his owner if he's ever given him anything for ulcers. He's a friend so he would probably feed him a treatment if I brought it over to him. He lives right down the road. What have you used for treating the ulcers? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
Location: The South | daisycake123 - 2014-02-22 6:10 AM
My retired 1-d mare rarely cribs anymore. I removed commerical grain and replaced 1 qt non molasses beet pulp, and 1 qt. Of alfafa pellets and some hay forage and 10 pounds of grass hay. Everyone is alive and well. But she stopped cribbing months ago. No wood chewing no,stall walking.
Do you think it was ulcers? I need to research them more, I know I've seen it mentioned on here before but I don't know much about them. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 682
Location: Northwest | LindsayJordan84 - 2014-02-21 8:52 PM
?Is it possible? A friend of ours is going to sell his shooting horse, and it would be absolutely perfect for my husband. The only flaw is that he cribs. He is well behaved in every other way.
I'm not educated on the causes of cribbing or if certain collars fix it so I thought I'd ask here. I would love to have this horse if his cribbing can be controlled.
Please tell me there's a magic cure I haven't heard of?
By treating for ulcers I "cured" a weaver/cribber. In this case, their behavior was out of pain not boredom. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | I'm probably one of the odd ones out.. but I'd buy him anyway. My crazy athletic, well rounded, speed demon of a horse is a cribber and I wouldn't trade him for the World (most days).
If the horse is good and a perfect fit then you can typically manage the cribbing. Bring him home and try different feed and medication treatment and see if it helps but if it doesn't you can use crib collars (depending on your horse you may need to try a few) and you still have a great horse.
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | My 1-d old man cribbed! His was out of boredom. He didn't do too bad but he would do it randomly. I say bring him home. If he is perfect in every other way I would look past it. To me that wouldn't be a deal breaker. I would treat for ulcers though! Oh, I also used the collar(can't remember what the name was) and it helped. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 357
| We also have cured three of them. We have found that these horses did it because they were hungry. I would try feeding him good grain and hay 3 to 4 times a day. Also have a mare that will crib every once in a while and we just tie a piece of string around her neck and thats all it takes. As long as it can be controlled with a collar I would not worry about it at all. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1118
Location: The South | I'm thinking I heard him say that he tried a collar and it didn't make a difference so he doesn't mess with it anymore.
Is there a big difference in the different brands of collars?
If one doesn't work should you try others or are they all pretty similar?
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  Sweet Tea
Posts: 3496
Location: Home of the World Famous "Silver Bullet" | LindsayJordan84 - 2014-02-23 1:08 AM I'm thinking I heard him say that he tried a collar and it didn't make a difference so he doesn't mess with it anymore.
Is there a big difference in the different brands of collars?
If one doesn't work should you try others or are they all pretty similar?
we use a aluminum grazing mask. she can do everything except crib. this horse is very well taken care of. no ulcers. i do believe seabuck is a good choice. |
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Location: Midwest | Shock collar. Had a mare I bought that was a cribber. Used the shock collar on her once and she never cribbed again. Sold her like that too and I was honest with the new owners to and it's been 2 years now and she still doesn't. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 304
Location: Up and over to the right | A collar will still let them go through the motions of biting and pulling back but it won't let them suck in air. Cribbing can equal colic sometimes so it's better to at least control the air intake. I wouldn't recommend a shock collar. |
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5407
| I've got a cribber now and have had two others in the past. I get along with the collar that has the metal part on the bottom. Also they are the cheapest to buy I think. I always have to put more holes in the strap and put it on tight. If they still crib with it on tighten it up, you won't hurt them. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1115
| I've been around several cribbers. The motion of putting their teeth on an object and arching the neck at the poll actually squeezes a gland that releases endorphins. Definitely look into the ulcer issue and maybe try retraining him for trailering with the Clinton Anderson Trouble Free Trailering. It could be a nervous habit. I rode one that only cribbed when he was bored or nervous. |
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Expert
Posts: 1955
Location: Ky | The best horse I've owned was/is a cribber. It came with him. I wish he didn't crib but I've never regretted not owning him.
I can't imagine that a cribber can ever be "cured". Never seen one cured or heard of it in 50 years in the horse business. I've of a million cure and attempts at a cure but nothing that did it.
Some things will stop cribbing while they are using them. The cage thing around their muzzle will keep them from cribbing while they wear it. The shock collar worked on mine and would stop him from cribbing while he wore it. He was so miserable when he couldn't crib though that I took it off of him.
I let a friend borrow it and he said the same thing. It stopped his horse from cribbing but he was terrible to be around.
They call the miracle collar that because it would be a miracle if it worked. I keep one on my horse all the time now because it does slow down his cribbing. I would like to have a cure for it too but I can't see one out there. |
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 Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | Yes, as an "accidental" side effect --- I fed my horse Gut Proof by Horse Power Herbs for colon ulcers. He quit cribbing while he was on it. This was a horse that had cribbed with tons of turnout, and a miracle collar properly adjusted. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2049
Location: Utah | I have one now that cribs. I have my beliefs on what started it, but I notice that when he is stressed he does it more. I do believe that when he stresses, he has ulcer flair ups and some of his cribbing is caused by pain. I think that some of it was also caused by being board. I have used the miracle collar on him and have another on right now, the dare, I think... Anyways they both slowed him down, but he will still do it. He has slowed down on his cribbing a ton in the 2 years that I got him, and after having one, I would be okay with having another if the horse was right. I will tell you, that he was awful to be around when I first put the collar on him, like an addict coming off, but as he has worn it, he is fine with them now. Honestly he made me so mad with how he was acting under saddle, that I put the collar on him, lol. He is a "picker" and it will take him all day to eat his hay. I don't feel like cribbing has affected his performance at all though. |
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