I recently purchased a young horse who cribs. He has had two minor colicky episodes in the last 3 weeks. Both resolved themselves with some hand walking and banamine, but I’m a bit concerned. He wears a miracle collar that is on tight at all times. This was the collar his previous owner used on him as well. The first time my vet did a rectal and said his colon was slightly inflamed. This second time was milder so a rectal was not needed. Has anyone had luck muzzling a cribber? I worry about it getting caught on something, especially at night. He’s on a gut supplement and gets his hay in a net to slow him down. Any ideas appreciated.
Have you treated him for ulcers? Cribbing and ulcers go hand in hand. Also take a look at your management and see if he needs increased turnout etc. I don’t use a collar. My cribber is actually more stressed when he can’t crib. Like a smoker who can’t light up. His cribbing decreased dramatically once I treated his ulcers.
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I have only had him a month so I have not treated him for ulcers aside from a week of Gastroguard when he first got here to help with the transition. The first colic was while he was on the Gastroguard. He does not exhibit any other signs of ulcers besides the colicky episodes (not really an anxious personality, easy keeper, loves grooming time, very willing under saddle). I know this doesn’t necessarily rule them out but that’s why I was leaning more towards the cribbing being the main cause. When the first colic happened the collar was loose. The second colic, we had tried a different type of collar… so I’m hoping the solution is to go back to the miracle collar and make sure it’s tight. He still cribs with it, but from what I understand it will help cut down on the amount of air he can actually swallow.
I did not muzzle mine. Have you considered other factors such as feeding schedule, access to clean water, and/or turn-out? If the horse was used to being fed on a certain schedule or having access to turn out and no longer is, that could cause stress. Anecdotally, I felt he cribbed less with the hay net for all meals, access to water (to dunk hay), and good turn-out.
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Moving is very stressful. A week of GastroGard is basically money down the drain, since he’s likely still stressing as he gets used to new feed, schedule, handlers, and expectations. Do the full month, maybe talk to your vet about sucralfate for the hind gut as well. A scope would obviously be best (it’s like $350 here?) but personally I’d be comfortable just treating in this case.
I’ve found cribbers to self soothe and be pretty chill - if they’re allowed to crib. I believe the newest research says to just let them, if you can? The issues arise when they choose to crib instead of eat or start ingesting wood - all but one I’ve known would phase out of constant cribbing when the collar came off and only did it at feeding time or when initially put in the stall. YMMV.
FWIW my understanding is that there is an association between cribbing and gas colic, however an inflamed gut wouldn’t be a direct result of cribbing. That sounds like ulcers or something else.
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I’d scope and treat for the ulcers you like have. I’d also not use a cribbing strap if at all possible. If he’s leaving food to crib then it may be necessary but often environmental modifications and a really good hay in a slow feeder can keep most preoccupied in a stall to not go after buckets or edges of stalls.
A lot of shiny “happy” horses are full of ulcers so I wouldn’t use those as benchmarks. Two colics and chronic cribbing is reason enough to explore ulcers.
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I agree with fivestrideline. I have had a number of cribbers over the years. I quit using straps 45+ years ago. Ulcers may or may not be associated. Ulcers may also happen with non cribbers. Stress may or may not be associated with acquiring the habit. Consider your cribber to be an “addict”… has an “addictive personality”. And has acquired their habit that their addictive personality requires. To increase stress on an addict, take away their addiction. Colic may be associated with cribbing, or not. May be associated with ulcers, or not. My cribber colics due to higher protein levels in her diet, not from cribbing. She doesn’t colic as long as I feed her correctly. She cribs freely, and a LOT. Since she pulls the air from her CHEST rather than her throat (this is RARE, and I’d never seen it done like this before she arrived on the scene), using a strap has no effect on her. Her cribbing muscle is on her chest. She started to crib as a foal, turned out in a huge field with her mother and other mares and foals. No other cribbers in the field. Horsie heaven. And there she was, happily cribbing away at 2 months old. She’s 23 now. Amazing horse, super intelligent and creative. Super talented and athletic. So easy to do everything with. Like riding a super computer. Attention to detail is amazing. She’s “intense”.
There are many different sources of colic. Gas colic is one of them. Ulcers are another. My mare has not coliced like she did when she was eating alfalfa. She’s fat, and happy, And cribs at will. I wish she didn’t, but there’s nothing I can do to MAKE her not crib. She needs her habit.
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I have a cribber who used to have frequent minor gas colics when I first got her. Those have all but gone away since treating for ulcers. Ulcers and cribbing are a bit of a chicken and the egg situation: you’re not always able to tell which came first, but they seem to be a self repeating cycle that continues to get worse unless it is broken (usually by treating the ulcers).
My mare used to be a very dedicated cribber, choosing to crib obsessively instead of eating. She does wear a Miracle collar, but I take it off at night when she is outside. I have found that if her gut is happy, she may crib for a few minutes when the collar is first taken off, but then will stop and go out to graze or eat hay. If she is cribbing excessively, usually it means her gut is unhappy.
I agree with the other suggestions to try a full month course of ulcer treatment, and then add a gut supplement. Free choice hay that is available 24/7 is also important to help give cribbers something to do other than crib. I think you will find that once he settles and you can get his gut right, the cribbing will subside on its own without having to wear a collar all the time.
I had a gelding who sounded very much like yours - chill guy, not stressed, etc. He seemed to be more at peace with a strap on; otherwise, he was nicknamed a “crackhead” as he would just crib forever, and would look to do so as soon as the strap came off if given the possibility!
The miracle collar never worked and gave him white marks. He would still be able to crib a tiny bit with miracle collars/anything resembling them on and it seemed to stress him out. We found that just a plain wide leather strap worked best. They would stretch out and need to be replaced, but it took quite a while.
We just got a local leatherworker to make ours, so I don’t know this website, but this looks exactly like what we used! It looks so simple but was really the only thing that ever stopped his cribbing entirely. You have to make sure it’s the right tightness. Never had any issues with one like this in over 10 years of owning him!
https://www.twohorsetack.com/p-3605-any-color-cribbing-collar-made-from-usa-tanned-leather.aspx?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiOy1BhDCARIsADGvQnBJuqcWOYzo_0lwRACgXe1adYA4vn7EtahgwWtiiooiia2AqzvLnSoaAs6hEALw_wcB
He did pass from colic at 19, and did get incurable ulcers after being leased out at 13, but he hadn’t cribbed in 10+ years before passing.
I do not have an exact citation, but it is my understanding that proper veterinary studies have shown that there is NO correlation between cribbing and colic. On the other hand, there IS a correlation with being stalled and colic.
I understand that the plural of anecdote is not data, but here are my anecdotes.
I bought Spy at age 12, a confirmed cribber. At first he had a cribbing strap, but when it broke he didn’t start cribbing, so I never bought a replacement. I had him turmed out 24 x 7, but the previous place had him stalled most of the time. He never coliced, and he died at age 36 of an infection.
I bought Music at 18 months. She never cribbed (though she did chew on things). She coliced slightly twice, and died of colic (either a twisted gut or a strangulating limppoma) at age 34.
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I believe you are correct, that cribbing doesn’t cause colic, but I think ulcers can. Cribbing also has a genetic component.
This is incorrect. There is a correlation between cribbing and colic, specifically a particular type of displacement/entrapment colic: https://largeanimal.vethospitals.ufl.edu/2012/12/11/horse-owner-alert-cribbing-and-colic/ (older article, but it was the most detailed non-journal article I could find quickly).
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We lost one of our best horses to colic, she was a windsucker, 3 torsions in her stomach showed on the post mortem, vet said no question it was all linked.
I was going to mention this as well - we had one with epiploic foramen entrapment, and it was correlated to his cribbing. The changing thoracic and abdominal pressures when he leaned back and gulped allowed the bowel to slip into a small foramen, and as the bowel became inflamed due to entrapment, more and more spilled in through the foramen. The surgeon was very specific in stating that he rarely saw this type of entrapment outside of cribbers.
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Hi everyone thank you for all of your helpful replies so far. He was scoped today and his stomach appeared healthy and ulcer free. I did also speak to the seller who wondered if maybe the measures we were taking to keep him from cribbing were stressing him, leading to the colics. Some things do point to it being a gas colic though, and the links in this thread about entrapment and displacement are worrying me so I am tempted to muzzle him, but if the seller is right I’m sure that would make the issue worse. Not sure what to do next
Prohibiting a horse from cribbing, which is a self-soothing behavior, just adds to his stress, which has to come out in some manner. Colic, perhaps, in this case. You could also find him switching to stall walking, weaving, etc. The recommendations now are not to stop the behavior because it’s a coping mechanism similar to OCD in humans.
I had a cribber OTTB who switched to compulsive head bobbing when I put a cribbing collar on her years ago. The BO, an old time horse guy said “Just leave her alone. I don’t care if she cribs,” so I stopped all my efforts. She went back to cribbing and never colicked in the 15 years or so that I had her, didn’t wear her teeth down or have any of the other bad results that people claim will happen without intervention.
Oh, and the belief that other horses will pick up the habit is a myth. They’re either genetically programmed for these behaviors or they’re not. And it usually takes a precipitating stressful event to start the behavior—not seeing another horse doing it.
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