I would have to think this would be a common issue in OTTB’s.
Define common?
I see hundreds of TBs in training every year and have only seen maybe one cribber every other year in that setting. Of the handful of cribbers I have managed, only 3 were TBs. One is my occasional cribber, who did actually race, and one is a TB bred for sport who has never seen a track.
The majority of cribbers I’ve ever dealt with have been WBs.
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The barn I manage has the policy of if your horse is a destructive cribber, your horse needs to wear collar that is appropriately adjusted and If they destroy something you need to purchase it. However we won’t turn a horse away because they crib. There are other behaviors that are far more destructive to the stalls and pastures than cribbing. Have you ever had a horse that will walk a fence line until there are literal divots in the mud and eventually hard ground because they take exactly the same strides back and forth and back and forth? Or the wood chewers that will go through a fence post faster than you realize?
We do have metal lining our stalls to prevent that kind of destruction and cribbing blocks can be installed anywhere we need to. It does help that both the owner and myself own cribbers and both of us manage our horses the same way. We both hate collars but my guy in particular would just stand and crib rather than eat or do anything else. Hers just likes to crib on water buckets. It’s all about managing what we got.
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I shared this in the sport horse breeding forum recently:
In the 00s I worked for two very different barns (among many) that stand out in my mind re: cribbers.
First was a pro H/J training facility with about 50 horses, mostly WBs and TBs. At any given time, we easily had at least 5 cribbers. In the years I worked there, we surely had more than a dozen cribbers come through the barn.
Contrary to that, I later worked at what was the largest thoroughbred racing stable in the country back then. We had over 300 horses in training at any time. In my time there, I’m not sure I can count 3 cribbers— I really only remember one for sure, and two others I have a vague recollection of cribbing.
I only share this because it’s interesting to me that the cribbing frequency was so strikingly different. Both barns provided high quality care by anyone’s standard, though they were also both high stress for the horses in the sense the horses held jobs and worked hard.
The literature certainly agrees that the incidence of cribbing is higher in thoroughbred racehorses than the general population, however my personal experience is I’ve known far more non-TB cribbers than TB cribbers.
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No - just because I don’t really enjoy horses with strong stereotypical behaviors. I had an Arabian gelding that was a self mutilator and a serious stall/ fenceline walker and that is enough for one lifetime. My eye still twitches thinking about him. He was a very reactive worrier that was never happy no matter how he was cared for. Didn’t like being outside, didn’t like being inside, didn’t like a herd, didn’t like being by himself. I boarded back then and he wasn’t an easy horse - probably a lot worse than a cribber.
Now that I have my little farm I can cater to their preferences better but I still don’t want to deal with cribbers, stall walkers ( probably worse) or other quirky coping behaviors. Too many happy less reactive horses out there.
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If it is for you to keep forever and you are in a position to manage a cribber well, buy the horse. If it is for resale, don’t consider a cribber. As we can see in the replies - many people won’t touch them!
If it was the right horse, absolutely! Two of my best horses were cribbers.
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For resale, no I wouldn’t buy a cribber. But if he ticked all the boxes and I was keeping at home so he could have 24 hour turn out, the yes. Also treating him for ulcers may reduce the cribbing dramatically. Mine was a horrible cribber until I treated him for ulcers. Now he’s mostly recreational after eating.
Update: I decided against it. The thing I hadn’t considered was if he didn’t work out, resale would be harder. Thanks everyone.
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Thank you for letting us know! I was following this, struggling with the same decision. I DID buy one that cribs today. I’ve had another one, and my own farm. That said I was still very much on the fence, this thread helped so thank you for starting it and thanks everyone for you input.
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I loved a lot off the comments here that some had cribbers who was their best horse and others who said the horse only ate and cribbed. It seemed that the ones who did own cribbers it was mostly a non issue.
Horses with some stereotypies like cribbing, weaving and stall/fence walking tend to be self exercised by those, making them more mellow, consistent, quiet and in general more accommodating, like a well exercised one in hard work, rarely fresh and full of beans, but good solid citizens.
Not sure the trade-off was worth it.
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I have two cribbers and while I love them, there are times they make me so tense that I just want to scream.
Both obsessively cribbed when we lived in Florida on 3 acres. Since moving to more acreage in Illinois they have both stopped cribbing during turnout and only do so when they’re in for dinner.
I wouldn’t reject a cribber right away, but the horse would have to be an absolute unicorn in every other aspect for me to accept them in my barn. Any boarders I take cannot be cribbers as I’m not putting up with someone elses horse causing that extra level of destruction.
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Not unless the horse was perfect for me in EVERY other way to be honest. I’ve had two cribbers and while I loved them, I hated the extra stress and expense they invoked. When I got rid of them, I swore I would never get another one if possible.
Concerning other horse learning to crib by watching one - I fostered an older gelding that I knew cribbed, and had him here for two days before his collar was delivered. In that span of time, I saw my then two year old filly once or twice watch him crib on the corral panels of the round pen. Then she would go sniff where he had cribbed. Only once did I see her try to “taste” the same spot. I was not pleased, AT ALL with the idea she might pick that up from him. But she never tried to replicate what he was doing, just investigated the spot where he did it. And then she would walk away. I guess she didn’t think it looked all that fun?
But the cribbing collar worked fabulously for him, and he wore it 24/7 until he was adopted several months later. I pretty much forgot about it, as the collar just became a part of him (although I always made sure it was sited correctly and not rubbing him anywhere), and it went with him when he left.
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I own a cribber and he is the best horse I have ever interacted with, and the best horse I’ll probably ever own in terms of personality, talent, safety (he’s about as spook-free and good brained as a horse can come), and general demeanor. Yes, he is high maintenance in the health department and has had his share of GI disturbances, but I bought him fully knowing his history, and would buy him 10/10 times again! I did get a “discount” price-wise for him because of his complex medical history, but he is completely my heart horse and best friend!
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Appreciate this thread bc I just caught a new OTTB at my place gently cribbing on a fence board after eating grain outside, and I worried this means my farm will soon be a series of pulled down boards. Good reminders here not to overreact. I had been assured he does not crib or chew so it caught me off guard
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When I moved my Trak gelding to a new barn, imagine my surprise when the owner left me a curt message saying “all cribbers must wear a neck strap”. Whaaaa? He was 9 yr and had never cribbed before, which is what I told BO in my reply. I think he was just stressed as he didn’t do it again after the 1st week, and I never needed the collar.
I have owned 8 horses and leased others and have (thankfully) never had a cribber. I have, however, ridden several. Most recently, the cribber in question was also prone to chronic colic. Of course, I cannot know of those were related, but based on literature that suggests they might be, and based on my aversion to stable vices that suggest stress, I wouldn’t take on a cribber lightly.
I suppose if horse was amazing in every other way and had no history of colic, I might overlook it. Otherwise, I would pass and continue my search. Same goes for weavers, chewers, and others with stable vices or egregiously bad ground manners.
ETA: egregiously
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I posted up-thread about having had a cribber (lost her two years ago) and being willing to consider another one.
But Cat’s story is the perfect example of how thwarting a horse’s self-calming behavior doesn’t end the practice: it either changes to another behavior or the poor horse becomes a mental/emotional wreck.
When I took Cat off the track, the barn I first moved her to offered dawn-to-dusk group turnout in a big pasture with decent (not great) grazing during growing season. There were several round bales out at other times of the year. The stalls were in a newly-built barn, with the v-shaped cut-outs in the front bars. It turns out, Cat was a head bobber. It bothered the BO (who had some strange horse husbandry ideas anyway) enough that she closed the door to the V at all times.
Lo and behold, Cat swiftly became a cribber. She could have become a stall walker, or weaver, or developed another type of OCD behavior, but for her it was cribbing.
We do horses a disservice by not allowing them the behaviors that they are forced into by their brain chemistry and genetics. Thankfully, when I moved to another state, I found my present boarding barn with an old-school BO who said “She doesn’t have to wear a collar. Let her crib. She’s not hurting anything and it makes her feel better.” He’s also the one who told me that if I was investigating anti-OCD medication treatment for her because of considerations for the barn, to save my money, because it wasn’t bothering him. This guy is the reason I’ve been at this barn for 12 years now, and hope to be here until my other two retirees are gone.
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