Cribbing collars...how tight??

[TheJenners]

For back story, go here. Trying to figure out a medical issue with this mare, who happens to be a cribber.

I hate collars.

I don’t mind cribbing.

But she has cribbed her teeth down to the gum line, which is uncomfortable (and bad), and started reaching over the fence to crib on the Centaur-like vinyl fencing, which the property owner has said cannot happen.

So, since I hate collars, I had gotten a cribbing muzzle. Not a grazing muzzle, this is all metal wire with big holes, very Hannibal Lector. Kinda heavy…

So all week last week, no muzzle. Rode her Wed and she was not off at all, but to the right she turned her head left and raised her head/tensed her neck. Normal, completely 100 percent, to the left. So, a huge improvement. I have an appt with a second vet for more evaluations on the random lameness, but starting to think neck, as the issues cropped up when she started wearing the muzzle. We’re nixing the muzzle. She didn’t crib for a couple days, then I came out yesterday and she was cribbing on a post. So…on went the collar, because if she cribs on the post, her gums/teeth will hurt, and she will crib on the vinyl fence.

I have no idea how tight to put this thing on. I put it on, stood back, tightened, stood back…this was how tight it had to go before she stopped cribbing. :eek: This CAN’T be right?? :eek: :eek: :eek:

Pic 1
Pic 2

Let’s just address the fit of the collar. :winkgrin:

[findeight]

TIGHTER.

[TheJenners]

OMG really??! I’ve never used one, I was horrified at the way it looked. I felt like…like… I dunno, someone who does bad things to animals. TIGHTER?? I almost didn’t post because I felt like I was going to get slammed for abuse :no:.

To be fair, she did have one side of the brow band over an ear when I checked on her an hour later…

[CrowneDragon]

They do have to be pretty snug to work. Is it effective? If so, then it is tight enough.
The front strap doesn’t usually have to be as tight, IME. Just the one behind the ears.
I hope it works for you. Poor girl. Hate those things but hate what cribbing does to their teeth. Sigh.

[independentlyawesome]

I guess there’s no way you can get some electric to keep her away from the fences?

I agree those collars always look painfully tight. I don’t really get why a cribbing muzzle would make her lame? Is yours really that heavy? If I were a horse, I think I’d pick a muzzle over a collar. But whatever works, I guess, as long as she can still eat with it on.

[TheJenners]

Maybe a nerve issue in her neck, pole. If you read the other thread, she has had random and traveling lameness that even my normal vet couldn’t pin point. We’re thinking maybe arthritis in her neck, and the muzzle was causing an issue. Maybe. Unkniwn til Wed, but can’t argue that she was better with a few days of no muzzle.

And yeah it is pretty heavy.

[Foxglove]

For 22 years our OTTB has worn a cribbing collar. It is just a strap that fits behind his ears, but it’s always put on as tight as possible. Without it he will crib on anything including his own leg, or my shoulder if I’m holding him. With it on, he doesn’t crib. And anyone who says they just need to be out in pasture more is wrong. For the past ten years he’s been on 20 acres of great pasture 24/7 and he still cribs. I found that he was cribbing on the jump standards because he couldn’t crib on the fence posts due to electric top wire. He cribs on the water tank, tree stumps, other horses, anything and everything --but not with his collar on. It’s been “rebuilt” a number of times. He’s always worn it since he was four years old.

Foxglove

[TheJenners]

Yep she is very careful to crib on the jump standards without pulling them out, and has tried to crib on me. Hopefully this works!

[CaitlinandTheBay]

For miracle collars- front strap “controls” the cribbing, back strap just kinda hangs it on. I like to keep my back strap pretty loose and my front one tighter.

[TheJenners]

OK, so I’m hearing opposites…tight front/loose back strap, and tight back strap, front strap not so tight… Eeep!!

Either way, even though I hate them, I’m not strangling my horse, right??

[Bluey]

You could ask your vet if your horse is bad enough to be a candidate for the modified Forell procedure.
That is an operation that takes some muscles and nerves from under the neck on both sides and horses can’t then crib.

Doesn’t work 100% and some cribbers start again after some years, but for those that it works, is life changing if cribbing was harming them seriously.

While in Europe 50+ years ago, we had one of the first horses that the standard Forell surgery was tried on in our veterinary university and it worked very well on him.
He was a five year old gelding that had never cribbed before, didn’t have any reason to that could be found, had been seriously cribbing for a couple months when that was tried.

I think I read in The Horse about some recent study on this, with the newer surgery techniques, that made the operation simpler today.

I wonder if there is some ongoing study, maybe using something like Botox, that your mare may qualify for?

Those straps have to be very tight to work, I can see why you are worried.

[Small_Change]

For what it’s worth, I had the best luck stopping cribbers with a Dare collar. It didn’t have to be quite as tight as the other styles, and also didn’t seem to rub nearly as badly as some of the other types.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=TheJenners;7706595]
OK, so I’m hearing opposites…tight front/loose back strap, and tight back strap, front strap not so tight… Eeep!!

Either way, even though I hate them, I’m not strangling my horse, right??[/QUOTE]
No, you aren’t strangling her, but do keep a close eye out for rubs. They can get bad sores, in a hurry. You can always try it a hole looser and see if it still stays in place and still works.
The back strap is the standard cribbing collar strap and the front strap is to keep the back one from sliding back, I believe. I’ve seen several people use Miracle Collars without the front strap at all (sometimes to prevent rubbing). Boyd Martin’s Neville Bardos is one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRvhTY5OWU4) (skip to 3:38). They still work.

I think the nicest thing you can do for a horse in a cribbing collar is keep their feed and water low to the ground, because the collar is looser when their head is low. If she has issues with her poll that are aggravated by carrying a heavy muzzle, I can’t see how a tight cribbing collar is going to be better though.

[Simkie]

TheJenners, if you’re game, I have found this thing to be the best cribbing collar out there. Because it doesn’t prevent them from cribbing in a mechanical way, it doesn’t have to be “am I going to strangle my horse???” tight. When they crib, it compresses a switch that delivers a mild shock to the horse.

I have a cribber who is naked most of the time. Sometimes when I bring her into the barn for the farrier or whatever and she’s got to hang around, she’ll start cribbing. When I put the collar on her, she might crib once, get zapped and then just doesn’t even try again. This same horse in the Miracle Collar would either just crib through it (even if super tight :() or keep trying to crib and getting nowhere.

If you do want to try the Barclay collar, email them for their US distributor info, or look on ebay. It is a bloody nightmare trying to order from the Australian people, and they don’t have anything on their website blocking orders from US address (or they didn’t when I went through this, anyway!!)

[SugarCubes]

Agree that the Dare collar works better than the Miracle Collar. It doesn’t have to be nearly as tight, and there isn’t a strap in front of their ears. My horse miraculously removed his Dare collar while turned out one day and we never found it:confused:, so I went back to my old Miracle Collar but keep both straps fastened BEHIND his ears and it works much better. Before, the front strap never stayed put unless it was super tight - so tight, in fact, that it started causing white hairs to grow on his head :(.

[CaitlinandTheBay]

www.weaverleather.com/documents/miraclecollarinstructions.pdf

The second strap is NOT a traditional cribbing strap and does NOT prevent cribbing. I went through this over and over with cowboys at my barn (and had to cut one off my choking horse once). It is the tightness of the browband strap that causes the little leather-covered metal piece in between the jaws to stop the cribbing.

ETA: I gave up on my boy wearing a collar at that particular barn. Better a live cribber…

[crosscreeksh]

After many years and a million cribbers…I like a single 2.5 inch wide leather strap made by Weaver the best. https://www.horseloverz.com/product/harnesses/479035-weavercribbingstrap.html?sku=5-331490&gdftrk=gdfV27555_a_7c1161_a_7c4441_a_7c5_d_331490
It is simple, neat and effective!! I HATE the Miracle collar!! It is a combo of a neck strap and a brow strap and they look aweful …I think it makes a horse look misserable!, and don’t work so well!! A single stirrup leather under the jaw and over the brow has always stopped the very worst cribbers we ever had.

[crosscreeksh]

After many years and a million cribbers…I like a single 2.5 inch wide leather strap made by Weaver the best. https://www.horseloverz.com/product/harnesses/479035-weavercribbingstrap.html?sku=5-331490&gdftrk=gdfV27555_a_7c1161_a_7c4441_a_7c5_d_331490
It is simple, neat and effective!! I HATE the Miracle collar!! It is a combo of a neck strap and a brow strap and they look aweful …I think it makes a horse look misserable!, and don’t work so well!! A single stirrup leather under the jaw and over the brow has always stopped the very worst cribbers we ever had.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=CaitlinandTheBay;7706847]
www.weaverleather.com/documents/miraclecollarinstructions.pdf

The second strap is NOT a traditional cribbing strap and does NOT prevent cribbing. I went through this over and over with cowboys at my barn (and had to cut one off my choking horse once). It is the tightness of the browband strap that causes the little leather-covered metal piece in between the jaws to stop the cribbing.

ETA: I gave up on my boy wearing a collar at that particular barn. Better a live cribber…[/QUOTE]
I have tried fitting them according to the Weaver instructions with no luck. I talked to one of their product reps at a horse expo and they couldn’t endorse the tightness we were having to use to get results, so I have given up on their fitting and use guidelines. IME, the front strap is fairly dispensable.

On another note, I’ll also add that I saw a horse get the heel of a hind shoe caught in the straps (must have been scratching his ear?) and ended up tearing himself up pretty badly before the collar broke.

[TheJenners]

Oh geebers…

Well, thankfully she is a BIG girl, and I don’t think she can reach :lol: