Tuesday, August 19, 2014

I can't stand cribbing.

I hate cribbing.  It's my biggest pet peeve.  The Old Man's barn allows horses to crib completely unrestricted, so I keep a few stirrup leathers in my trunk and as soon as I get to the barn, I put them on the cribbers to prevent them cribbing while I'm there.

As far as I'm concerned, the only things cribbers are good for are target practice and dog food.  A controlled cribber, fine, I can deal with that, but uncontrolled?  No way.  Absolute deal breaker.

And this is what happens when you allow a horse to crib...

Horse 1:

This horse cribs on the metal between the bars on the front of his stall.  You can feel and see the indents in the metal from his teeth.

Horse 2

This is a ~20+ year old horse who is a nonstop cribber.


Horse 3:

This is a ~27 year old pony.

Repulsive, isn't it?  Also worth noting is that all 3 are underweight.  I kept a cribbing collar on #2 all winter and her weight was the best it's ever been.  Now that she's back to cribbing nonstop, she's lost weight again.

Cribbing is so incredibly bad for horses (and barns!).  Don't let your horse crib.  Keep a collar on 24/7. 

2 comments:

  1. Wow, those pictures are insane!

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  2. Fawkes was allowed to crib at will before I got him, and yep, his front teeth are all worn down. Now he lives in a cribbing strap.

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