Crib Biting

Crib-biting: an amusement or a vice?

Long before humans discovered the benefits of taming wild horses, these beautiful beasts were left alone to roam the vast plains. They were free to do whatever they liked to do. They forage wherever they find it best to graze. They run for miles and miles. And when they want to call it a night, there were no grills, barns or stalls to “shelter” and cover them.

But man saw the horses’ potential and versatility so they were caught and kept in controlled paddocks, housed in stables, and supplied with “manmade” food. Since then, horses have to put up with a lot of things. Their life now is a far cry from what their ancestors had centuries ago.

These equine creatures are expected to graze in fenced small pasture and live in enclosed lonely stables. Horses are social animals and they find pleasure in entertaining themselves. Spending most of their waking moments inside stables alone, they tend to find ways to please themselves.

One of these forms of horse entertainments is crib-biting. However, sometimes an innocent act of amusement can turn into a habit and soon into a vice that can have possible devastating effects later on. So what is crib-biting?

Crib-biting is an acquired habit in horses, which eventually becomes a vice or addiction among equines. Typically, horses use their incisor teeth to grasp onto any fixed objects like the edges of their stalls, manger, wooden fences, and the top of their stable door.

They then gradually gnaw and chew the wood. Crib-biting is also called wood-chewing probably because crib-biters tend to sink their incisors on wooden materials. Some horses not only bite the fences. They crib-bite and at the same time arch their necks to swallow a mouthful of air, which gives them a sense of euphoria. Such kind of pleasure makes these horses to indulge in crib-biting.

Horses tend to crib-bite for a variety of reasons. Other than the fleeting pleasurable effect of crib-biting, most veterinarians and animal experts observed that the number one cause of crib-biting seems to be idleness and boredom. Bored and lonely horses find ways to entertain themselves and chewing on wooden objects appears to be the most “handy” and preferred pastime.

Horses are good imitators. They might have copied crib-biting from other horses. The longer they are exposed to such temptation, the faster they could have acquired the bad habit. Crib-biting could also have been a causal effect of an internal disorder such as indigestion or disease of the nervous system.

Crib-biting is deemed to be hereditary. It is also seen possible that crib-biting is prompted by the need of horses to salivate. Horses only salivate when they are chewing.

Crib-biting is considered a vice and addiction because it causes a number of health concerns on crib-biters. Die-hard crib-biters slowly wear down and erode their teeth, which makes grazing difficult.

Others tend to develop digestive problems such as gastric distention. It also causes dramatic weight loss on the animal. This indulgence also induces occasional colic attacks due to the huge amount of air sucked into the stomach.

To prevent and stop the progress of these crib-biting vicious health effects, most horse owners find a number of ways to control and discourage their horses from crib-biting. Many anti-cribbing products such as cribbing straps and electric shock collars are available in most veterinary stores.

Applying unpleasant tasting emulsions and liquids to fences and stalls can also be done to dissuade horses from crib-biting. However, making surfaces distasteful only drives the horses even more frustrated and upset. Instead, replace wood fences and stalls with hard rubber boards or metal materials as it seems to help control this bad habit.

If lonesomeness seems to be the cause of the horse’s crib-biting, giving him a companion can help to divert his attention. It could be another horse or any harmless animals like a sheep, goat or a pet dog. Certain vet stores sell extremely durable mirrors to provide crib-biters a “constant companion,” which is the animal’s reflection.

Providing little distractions such as a hanged rubber ball, horse toys or any rubberized solid objects may also help to amuse crib-biters. Another way is to increase their visual horizons by installing extra and larger windows in the stable or altering adjoining barrier with grilles to invite contact with neighboring horses.

It was observed that horses fed with a balanced diet and have free access to mineralized salt block are rather healthier and pleased. Thus, horse owners are encouraged to provide stable-kept equines with lots of roughage to their diet as well as plenty of fiber-rich food to chew on during their waking moments.

Although a number of invasive surgical operations are done to control horses from crib-biting, it is still best to provide these grazing, used-to-be-free, wandering animals with rather healthier forms of pastime such as a long ride in the field.