Cribbing

Cribbing is a serious vice in horses that can lead to several problems including weight loss, wearing of the top incisors, and can cause the horse to be more prone to colic.  Cribbing is when the horse grasps onto a surface (often wood) with its teeth, flexes its neck, and swallows air.  Cribbing is thought to be a coping mechanism that horses use to deal with stress or boredom. Managing horses to prevent cribbing is a more effective way to address this problem.  There are a variety of cribbing collars and other equipment available to stop cribbing, but most are effective only in reducing cribbing or are not effective at all.  This information is from eXtension Horse Group. 

Here is a publication from the University of Kentucky on Stereotypic Behavior in Horses: Weaving, Stall Walking and Cribbing.

A short video about cribbing from eXHorses.  A longer webcast from My Horse University is found at Is it Coping or is it a Vice?  A Review of Cribbing, Weaving and Other Stereotypic Behaviors.

 

Photos by Fernanda C. Camargo and Bob

Coleman, Animal and Food Sciences from the

University of Kentucky