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Rae, I have to agree with you on my experience with cribbing, but that is not to say that I am current on all the new info out there either! Maybe some study would be in order. However, we stood an AQHA Champion stallion for a number of years, had almost 40 broodmares ourselves, kept quite a number of foals til their two year old year, and never had one of his offspring crib...that we know of! This stud was a world class cribber,too. We built him a special stall with all flat inner surfaces. The stall door set flush, and all that. His turn out paddock was hot wired. This controlled the problem, but never cured it. Even after years, the first time he got a chance... you guessed it. Given the option of a good horse with a vice such as cribbing or weaving  or whatever.... next time I'm gonna look for the good horse without the vice. There's a lot of them out there. Thanks, Linda

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From:  "Rae Callaway" <tallcarabians@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:  "'Ridecamp Correspondence Correspondence'" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:  RE: [RC] cribbing
Date:  Sat, 26 Nov 2005 20:47:14 -0600
>Well, from my experience, genetics didn't have anything to do with it.
>Scarlet has never cribbed a day in her life and I've spoken to the stallion
>owner and owners of quite a few of the stallion's foals and no one there
>reports any issues of cribbing, but the foal from those two does crib.  He
>was weaned at 20 weeks and never had a cribbing episode for as long as I had
>him.  He was sold and then put into training at a show barn.  When he was
>brought back to me at 5 years (being "untrainable"), he had serious cribbing
>issues.  For him, it was definitely NOT genetic, but environmental.
>
>Rae
>Tall C Arabians - Scout - who wasn't untrainable at all, just a fellow who
>didn't like that particular trainer's methods.  In the year he was with me,
>he became my guest trail horse.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of victoria thompson
>Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 8:10 PM
>To: Ridecamp Correspondence Correspondence
>Subject: RE: [RC] cribbing
>
>Latest research says that cribbing is a genetic trait.  I have no
>intention of going back through my magazines to find where the research
>was conducted, so for those of you who demand proof look it up for
>yourself.  If the dam cribs and the sire doesn't the baby has a 60%
>chance of inheriting the behavior.  If the sire cribs but dam doesn't
>the baby has a 40% chance of inheriting the behavior.  If both dam and
>sire crib the baby will crib 100% of the time.  There is a rare
>occurrence of a baby from non-cribbing parents that is weaned too early
>   picking up the habit if the baby buddies up with a cribber.  Note that
>it is a rare occurrence.
>
>Vices such as weaving, wood chewing, stall walking or pacing are
>learned behaviors usually associated with boredom.  Cribbing is not
>among these.
>
>You cannot stop your cribber from cribbing.  All you can do is find
>ways to prevent them from doing it.  Most people find crib collars the
>easiest method for prevention.  But they don't work on all horses (mine
>included).  I find hot wire the easiest way to prevent cribbing.
>Taffy's stall is referred to as Ol' Sparky at my barn.  Every surface
>that she is able to grab hold of has hot wire across it (or down it).
>I prefer hot wire to collars for another reason.  Even with a crib
>collar the horse will still set their teeth and try to crib.  The
>collar makes it impossible for them to open their throat and suck in
>the air.  But their teeth still get the wear from the constant setting
>on hard surfaces.  With hot wire they can't set their teeth into
>anything.
>
>There is no reason to turn down owning a cribber if the horse
>demonstrates all the characteristics that you are looking for.  All it
>means is you have to do a little more work around the barn to crib
>proof the place (this is especially true if crib collars don't work).
>You also need to be aware that cribbing can cause colic (not all horses
>will colic because of cribbing, some do).  It will wear down their
>front teeth.  They will look a little full in the tummy and fart a lot.
>   And they will develop a very muscular neck on the underside.
>
>Some people say they will never own a cribber and yet they have no
>problems owning a horse that paces himself a trench along the fence
>line.  It's a heck of a lot easier to prevent a horse from cribbing
>than it is to stop a horse from pacing back and forth all day and
>night.  Cribbing is still associated with a lot of old wives tales, so
>if someone tells you the other horses in the barn will pick up the
>habit tell them to get and life and walk away.  The genetic
>predisposition must be present before the horse will crib.  Cribbers
>put out on pasture tend to stop cribbing, but will start up again when
>confined to smaller pens and barns.  Some will still crib when out on
>pasture when there's a place to set their teeth that's handy.
>
>Cribbing is not a big deal.  It's easy to control and does not
>interfere with a horse's ability to perform.  The people that make it a
>big deal are the uninformed and lazy.
>
>Regards,
>
>Tori and Taffy (the biggest, baddest, cribbing bitch in the barn - said
>lovingly and with pride)
>
>
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