The habit of cribbing is notoriously hard to break and can greatly reduce a horse's resale value. Roughly 300,000 horses in the U.S. are cribbers, among them 2.5 percent of all Thoroughbreds. Research as to the reasons why horses crib is ongoing.
Definition
The term 'cribbing' (or 'crib-biting') is loosely used to cover two distinct behaviors -- namely the real thing and a separate habit, windsucking.
When cribbing a horse grabs a solid object such as a fence rail or stable door between his incisors, depresses his tongue and swallows air.
'Windsucking' doesn't involve grasping anything in order to swallow air. The horse closes its mouth, arches its neck and forces air down the esophagus with a gulping sound.
For the purposes if this article I shall use the term 'cribbing' to cover both behaviors.
Boredom and Stress
There is continuing research into the causes of cribbing, but boredom and stress are accepted as major contributing factors.
I can testify to this with my own Thoroughbred mare. At age fourteen she injured a tendon with her previous owners and was turned out for two years. During that time her field buddies were brought in overnight, leaving her alone -- bored and stressed. Before long she became an inveterate cribber.
Gastric Acidity
Some research suggests that cribbers have a high acid level in their stomachs and attempt to neutralize it with an additional flow of alkaline saliva.
Another theory associates cribbing with feeding concentrate rations. According to Katherine A. Houpt, director of Cornell's Animal Behavior Clinic, high-concentrate diets may cause increased acid in the horse's stomach and/or large intestine. Cribbing may be a response to the resulting pain. Dr. Houpt thinks an added culprit could be the sweet taste of the feed, leading to a release of opiates which induce cribbing.
My Thoroughbred would crib immediately after eating concentrates and I've read of other horses which do the same. This supports Dr. Houpt's idea and she is currently investigating an easy-to-follow dietary treatment for cribbing horses which would still be high-performance.
Meanwhile she suggests feeding lots of hay and oats rather than sweet feed.
Note: I also read of one instance where the horse cribbed because of stomach ulcers, so it's worth investigating this cause, too.
Learned Behavior?
When looking for a boarding barn for my horses I faced strong prejudice against cribbers. Besides destruction of their property, owners were afraid my mare would teach the habit to other boarders. One barn owner alleged that his horses learned the vice within two weeks of a cribber arriving.
An article in Equus, September 2008, mentions research by Debra Archer, BVMS, PhD, of the University of Liverpool in England. In a study published in Equine Veterinary Journal, May 2008, Dr. Archer states there's no scientific evidence that cribbers will teach other horses to pick up the habit: "Don't hide them in the back of the barn....you'll just make them miserable in isolation and probably make the situation worse."
My own experience supports this. Rubesca was the only one of my four horses who cribbed. Her Thoroughbred colt never picked up the habit, and he was with her 24/7 (excluding his weaning period) together with the other two geldings. All four horses formed a tightly knit family for eight years-- both in the stall and in the field. None of the other three ever exhibited the slightest interest in cribbing.
Genetic Predisposition
Research suggests some horses have a hereditary component which predisposes them to chronic stress, and as a result to cribbing.
This explains to me why so many Thoroughbreds contract the habit, as they tend to be highly strung. Many owners of cribbers in forums I visited had what are known as 'OTTB's or 'Off the Track Thoroughbreds.' During his career a racehorse spends almost all his time in the stall, a perfect environment for boredom and stress.
One owner discovered his cribber came from a family of cribbers. Several among the progeny of his horse's sire cribbed, as did the sire's full brother. This does suggest there may be some truth to the hereditary argument.
What Can Be Done to Help?
As Dr. Houpt says, it would be so much better for the horse if we determined the cause of the cribbing and 'removed the stimulus rather than punish the horse.' Crib collars have varied success in preventing the behavior. They never worked with Rubesca: she cribbed whatever she had on - Miracle collar included. From what I've read, she was not unusual in this.
Mechanical methods don't stop a horse from wanting to crib and many of them cause more pain. I eventually took the collar off my Thoroughbred and let her crib to her heart's content. She was so fantastic in every other way that I felt she deserved the right to her 'vice.' Dr. Archer advocates turning a cribber out as much as possible and keeping forage in front of them to "reduce their overall stress."
There is no proof that cribbing causes colic.
Would You Buy A Horse That Cribs?
When selling a horse to a friend who worked for a well-known Dutch inventor, I felt compelled to be honest and confess to the famous man that my horse would weave through anxiety for the first few days, then stop.
He laughed. "If you could see the vices some of my horses have! All I care about is how they behave under saddle. If they're good, the rest doesn't matter."
Having owned a chronic cribber, I concur. The same friends who warned me against taking a horse with this vice soon changed their tune when they watched Rubesca win one-day-event after another and almost all her dressage classes, right until her death at age twenty-six. They said they would never let the fact that a horse cribs put them off, if it were good in every other way.
See also this article in Behind the Bit
Hilary Walker is English, living in Maryland with her three horses, four dogs, schizophrenic cat, perfectly normal American husband and teenage son. She loves teaching people to ride, taking them to shows and watching them win ribbons. She also enjoys training her young horse and is winning ribbons with him at First Level dressage. Her other love is writing, and she is about to release a humorous non-fiction book describing the times when things haven't gone quite so smoothly in her horse life. Like every self-respecting horse-woman, she abhors housework
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hilary_Walker
No comments:
Post a Comment