Horse Cribbing Sprays

What are Horse Cribbing Sprays?

Anyone who has combated the crib biting vice before knows that it can be an incredibly difficult habit to remove from a horse, particularly if the odd behavior is allowed to take root. Fortunately for you, there are a few different weapons you can arm yourself with on your quest to conquer the habit that affects your horse.

First of all, it’s important to understand that no single technique or product can definitely solve your horse’s problem. Each horse is an individual and what may work for one horse, may not work for another.

Another factor that can affect your success rate in curbing cribbing is how ingrained the habit is. If a horse just picked up cribbing recently, he’ll be far easier to cure than a horse that has been cribbing for several years.

Boredom is the most common reason a horse will pick up the cribbing habit. They need to eat throughout the day and keep their minds active lest they become bored and stressed. Distractions such as horse toys and food work better as preventative measures than they do as cures. If your horse just picked up the habit, you can try to distract him with several feedings, some pasture time, and toys or companion animal before the habit becomes ingrained.

But if your horse is a long-time cribber, chances are these measures won’t break him from the habit. At most, it will lessen his cribbing sessions as he eats instead.

So the easiest way to prevent this vice from taking root to take is to ensure that your horse does not stand idle all day and become bored.

A horse would have a difficult time cribbing on objects below knee level, so equipment and items such as feed bunks can be lowered. You could also try installing metal strips on the stall doors and electrical fencing to prevent any damage to the woodwork. Unfortunately, the metal strip can damage the horse’s teeth.

So some stable owners resort to using rubber wrapping to prevent further damage to the stall. But this is only a stopgap measure and not a long-term solution. As a matter of fact, this doesn’t directly resolve the cribbing issue.

Here are other possible solutions:

1. Have your horse thoroughly examined by your veterinarian to determine if there is a medical cause;
2. As much as possible, change the horse’s environment to make cribbing inconvenient and to provide him some form of entertainment;
3. Some horses enjoy rattling a plastic container with gravel hung in their stall or have some large beach balls in their pasture;
4. Oftentimes providing a companion or buddy, such as a kitten or a goat, will keep a horse content;
5. Try adding some hay to the diet which should keep your horse busy eating; and
6. Try putting your horse to work. A hardworking horse doesn’t have time for cribbing.

Horse Cribbing Sprays

One method that has proven effective is to spray a harmless but bitter-tasting solution all over the horse’s stall. Every time a horse attempts to chew on the wood, he’ll find the taste so repulsive that he’ll be discouraged from cribbing.

The horse simply makes a mental association that all wood tastes just like the bitter-tasting solution. It’s just like electric fences; a horse only needs to get the jolt once or twice to keep him inside any fence for life.

But to be effective anti-cribbing product, the ideal horse cribbing spray must contain the following qualities:

1. It should be easy to use and apply;
2. It should be inexpensive;
3. It must contain all natural, non-toxic ingredients that don’t pose any health hazard to your horse;
4. A single application should be long lasting. A year or more would be ideal; and
5. It must not contain ingredients that would pose no threat to the environment.