How to Prevent a Horse from Cribbing

Studies suggest that an estimated 4.5 % (almost 414,000) of U.S. horses exhibit cribbing.

A common stereotype in horses, cribbing is type of behavior exhibited by a horse that involves resting its top teeth on a stationary object and sucking in air through open mouth. While sucking in the air, the horse arches its neck and makes a loud and prominent grunting sound that is similar to wind-sucking.

The exact reason for cribbing in horses is not known. It has not been proven that this is a type of behavior inculcated by observing other horses. Often associated with boredom, stress, or nervousness, there are certain ways to reduce, if not completely stop cribbing in horses. Let's see how to tackle the situation and prevent existing cribbing in them.

The first and foremost thing you should do is to make sure your horse grazes for at least 6 - 10 hours/day, and this is not advised to be done alone, but with other horses. Let it out in a wide expanse of pasture that gives it access to maximum area of fresh grass. Here, make sure your horse does not resort to cribbing on tree barks, signboards, or posts.

▣ High-concentrate diet, also known as high-energy diet, is commonly included in a horse's daily meal. This diet includes cereal grains, molasses, and other food items that are low in fiber, but can be digested easily. Such diet plans do not help in solving crib-biting in horses.

▣ Instead, study suggests that roughages, such as grass hays, grass straws, silage, and fresh grass serve as better alternatives in order to curb the cribbing. Thus, reducing high-concentrate feed and increasing the intake of roughages have proved to be helpful in most cases.

▣ If providing a high-fiber diet is difficult, then consider including fat- or oil-based diet in place of a carbohydrate-based one.

▣ You cannot afford to let your horse get bored or frustrated since it only aggravates the cribbing and will make it all the more hard to cure it. By making your horse graze with other horses, or including group training activities, you will aid in the much-needed social atmosphere that a horse craves.

▣ Stall confinement makes matters worse, so ensure that exercise is also a part of its daily routine.

Now, this is a bit of a controversial solution as its effective percentage is very low. Anti-cribbing collars contain a metal object near the place of a horse's throat. So, when the collar is fitted around its neck, the metal becomes a cause of irritation and discomfort, making it difficult to suck in air when it cribs. However, this is technique is not recommended on a permanent basis as there have been reports of increase in stress levels due to its usage.

▣ Bedding your horse's stall with straw is one of the suggested options. Horses preferably do not consume straws; hence, they are compelled to feed on the hay in the straw bed―similar to foraging.

Since research is still underway in finding a concrete solution to the problem of cribbing in horses, the aforementioned methods have had a considerable success rate. If nothing works and the cribbing gets worse, doctors suggest conducting a surgical procedure to cure the condition; this, of course, should be the last resort.

Disclaimer: This story is purely for informative and educational purposes and does not intend to replace the advice offered by a registered veterinarian.