has anyone heard of this being useful to stop cribbing?
I have a critter who also has pressure in the poll area, so I am trying to get him off of the cribbing collar. I have heard of this suggestion and didn’t know if anyone had used it. He cribs in the stall and in his paddock.
I think spicy works for some horses.
A horse that really wants to crib, I am not so sure it will work.
Isn’t that basically what the products to prevent bandage chewing are?
It is typically easier to make things you do not want to be cribbed on not good cribbing places, like adding electric on the fence and metal trim on the stall.
I assume you’ve treated for ulcers? That can reduce cribbing considerably. I’ve used carpet tack strips on my dutch door so he doesn’t pull it off its hinges. But he always has something he can crib on, like an oak board. Otherwise he gets very stressed and stall walks. All my fences are electric and that’s really the only thing that works long term.
You weren’t worried he would scratch himself up badly on that?
OP, PVC cut in half and screwed in makes a slippy rounded edge they struggle to crib on - that’s just my experience with dealing with a cribber that couldn’t wear a collar.
I don’t think you can 100% stop cribbing, and I am probably in the minority, but I don’t think you should try to completely stop it. I feel like cribbing is a stress relieve/coping mechanism, and it may not be healthy for the horse to completely stop it once it’s ingrained. Does he wear the collar at all hours of the day? Maybe let him have some freedom for part of the day. Is he turned out much? Does he have a buddy? Maybe try to stall toys with treats attached to help give him something to do.
I figured he would only do it once! It was less dangerous than the Dutch door hanging half off its hinges. I was willing to take the risk that the damage would be minor. My guess is he went to grab the door and got poked and went to crib elsewhere.
I wouldn’t recommend pvc as that cracks and splinters badly.
It can, but man the stuff we put in was in place for 10 years at least without issue. They can’t bite down on it and their teeth skid off of it. I think inside, PVC is alright - outside where it may get brittle from more UV exposure the risk of cracking is greater.
Interesting study demonstrated that naloxone (Narcan) would stop cribbing behavior, but only for the duration of action of the narcotic antagonist.
I was a student when that study was happening.
I remember listening to the whole crew cribbing away in the ward.
My cribber does crib when even slightly sedated. She doesn’t crib when she’s running a fever or colicky. She doesn’t crib when she has an abscess (and acts like her entire limb needs to be amputated). She often doesn’t crib in a new location until she’s comfortable.
So I’ve always wondered if trials like this are more a result of the horses not feeling “normal” than the antagonist stopping the behavior.
When I boarded, one place had metal stall gates & a dedicated cribber was stalled across the aisle from my horse.
He’d haul on that gate nonstop, making it creak… 
It sounded like that TV show about the submarine where they were always alarming about “Captain, the outer hull is giving way!”
There was a cob that cribbed like mad at a place I was at. They used eclectic fencing on everything in his paddock, including the outside of his shed so he couldn’t crib on it even (he did not wear a collar), and it did work. But then he learned he could just crib on air just standing out in his paddock and he did that to his remaining years…
I have a cribber. His stall door has a yoke, which apparently is THE BEST SPOT for cribbing. I wrap it with gorilla tape to save whatever finish still remains and then put Cribox on it. Same thing for the top of his dutch door. Works great. He doesn’t even try.
I do let him crib outside because I think it’s his stress relief and I feel like not letting him relieve stress is worse than the side effects of cribbing. It’s interesting - I have both HDPE (plastic) fence and wood fence, and he greatly prefers the HDPE. So do I, because there’s no splintering and no paint chipping.
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