Cribbing Rings
Cribbing rings: effective or inhumane?
There are plenty of anti-cribbing products available on most veterinary stores. There are cribbing strap, electric shock collar, bitter tasting cribbing sprays and liquids and anti-depressant drugs.
Some horse owners resort to invasive, rather health hazard and expensive surgical operations such as myectomy in order to stop their horses from cribbing.
Another alternative is the use of gum rings or cribbing rings. This anti-cribbing method generated a number of discussions and debates as to its efficacy and effects to the health of the horse. Thus, this particular method should not be taken lightly.
So how a cribbing ring is used? Cribbing rings are inserted through the gum tissue or the bone between the incisors of the horse.
Chris Ray, a DVM of Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, and Dr. Justin High of Reata Equine Hospital both in Weatherford, Texas have installed cribbing rings to 50 and 20 horses, respectively.
Ray uses hog nose rings. Typically, hog rings are triangular shaped rings made of stiff wire. They are about an inch in diameter and 2 millimeters thick. They have sharp ends which can be installed through the gum tissues and then squeezed both ends together to form a loop.
High, on the other hand, uses slightly larger rings, the bull rings. They are made of light-weight aluminum about 1.25 inches in diameter. Rather than inserting the ring in the gum tissue, High anchors the bull rings in the bone between the incisors.
To insert the rings, they have to sedate the animal first. Then they press an anesthetic-soaked cotton bud to the area where the cribbing ring is supposed to be installed. The ring will be painful for the animal for about five days.
The owners are then advised to periodically check the ring and wipe the area with a clean damp paper towel. The horse is also prevented from being fed with grains until the wound completely heals.
Both animal doctors agreed that the insertion of cribbing rings to horses should be the last resort and that it is rather instant and temporary. Cribbing rings are also not for every horse. There are many things both horse owner and veterinarian have to consider before the vet sedates the animal and burrow a hole into the horse’s gum tissues or bone to install the ring.
However, the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Equine Welfare Committee recently released a statement about the procedure. The statement reads:
“The use of hog rings (or bull rings) as a device to prevent a horse from cribbing causes significant visible damage to the gingival surrounding the maxillary incisors, which has the potential to cause persistent pain and periodontal disease.
Until such time as scientific evidence is available to demonstrate that the procedure and device does not cause unnecessary pain and is not harmful to the gingival, maxillary incisors and supporting structures, the AAEP does not support the use of hog (or bull) rings as an anti-cribbing device.”
There are several reasons as to why this committee is against in the installation of cribbing rings to horses. First and foremost, the ring causes imaginable pain to the animal and vets engaged in such operation even warn their clients that this actually hurts the horse. The owners have to painstakingly watch and care their animal after the procedure so as not to infect the wound.
Cribbing rings don’t discriminate cribbing from eating. In addition, cribbing is apparently a symptom to a psychological problem such as frustration, boredom, idleness and stress. Thus, having the horse undergo such procedure does not actually cure the root cause of cribbing. It only temporarily alleviates the symptom.
There are also instances when cribbing rings fall off and have to be inserted time and again. Horses with cribbing rings tend to develop serious periodontal as well as malocclusion problems. Thus, horse owners have to seriously deliberate first their animal’s addiction and its actual cause before resorting to the installation of cribbing rings to their gums or dental bone.
