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Discussion on Is cribbing messing up horse breathing?
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2014 - 11:39 am:
Hi every one
Just curious, we are in a process to buy a horse who is a cribber, never have an episode of collicks or any other issues except weight loss ( we took care of that problem since this horse at out stable for two weeks now). Our trainer look at her and she liked everything about her except cribbing of course. She said that cribbing messing up horse breathing and it could be a problem later on. My daughter did the research and found out that its true and supplements can be used for that meter. I looked myself all over the internet, every discussion and of course DR.O article was me first to look at. And I didn't fined anything about difficulties with breathing due to cribbing. Can anyone tell me something about it?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 - 9:48 am:
Hello Natalya,
I am not aware of any respiratory difficulties that are caused by cribbing. You said your research turned up positive: what problems did it say happens?
DrO
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Monday, Mar 17, 2014 - 11:27 am:
Thank you Dr.O, I didn't fined anything on a internet too. It was my daughter's assignment to do research on a topic they wish for her FFA class. And apparently she used school website and its was said that horses with cribbing have to much air going in to their lungs and messing up breeding and do not recommend use this kind of horses as an athletes. Its all I know other then that I didn't see any warning in that direction. Our trainer mention it too. Its was mentioned on some web searches I did on my own but no clear answers if its thru or myth. In that case I think its a myth. Thank you
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 18, 2014 - 1:48 am:
Don't know if it's a coincidence, but where I board there's a horse that's an inveterate cribber, and he has some breathing problems (abnormally loud harsh breathing when working).
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 18, 2014 - 9:09 am:
Yes LL, this horse does it too! Not all the time thou. We sought its just doe to luck of muscles, she has 0 of them. Wasn't being ridden for 2 years. But doesn't look like she is out of breath.
Dr.O, do you think maybe cribbing horses developed some kind of muscle on a neck which is squeezing their pipes?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 23, 2014 - 8:49 am:
Having known dozens of cribbing horses, I have not noticed an increase in breathing problems over those who don't crib.
If you wanted to conjecture a possible association, I have a possibility. Some horses learned to crib when they were kept up for long periods as a method to deal with boredom and hunger. Being in a barn also leads to increase hay mold exposure in some cases. This can lead to allergies. Here the association would not be causal but incidental to different aspects of a similar evironment.
DrO
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2014 - 10:41 am:
Hi guys, I have other problem with this cribbing horse. When she came to our place she was on alfa-alfa hay, we feed our horses Bermuda blend pellets, she used to love them. We add purina Ultium performance horse grain and corn oil to our competition horses feed. Well, she was eating eat very good until 2 days ago. She want to eat only grain and will leave most of her pellets for breakfast. We watched her she eating her lunch grass hay fine, when placed back in a stall she will go eat her left overs pellets a little then go back to cribbing. I need to fined a solution to keep her interested in her food since she is on a skinny side without too much grain ( according to Dr.O recomendations in a article grain is not good for cribbers).what can I add safely to keep her interested and add more calories? I was thinking add rice bran, molasses maybe but its too much sugar she will be too hot. Any ideas?
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2014 - 11:26 am:
Please look into Thrive horse feed( Dale Moulton)It is an all natural feed that does not require added anything. Has no added sugar, no preservatives and can be fed free choice. Puts weight on thin and undernourished horses. Fed with a grass hay, is very balanced. I would not call this a grain product (more like a forage product in kibble form) and may just be what your horse is missing to keep her from cribbing as much. Horses crib because it is pleasurable to them( releases endorphins)but I am not sure this is a habit you can break even if you keep her busy with other things. I am not a distributor, I just like the product and both my own horses have been on it for years.
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2014 - 11:41 am:
Thank you trotter I will Google it wright now, I give up on trying to quit her cribbing don't think its possible, just want her be eating and put some weight on her. Don't know why I keep buying all this trouble horses but my daughter likes her. I have two now with a special needs.
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2014 - 11:59 am:
Unfortunately no Thrive feed in my area  any other ideas?
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 1, 2014 - 12:18 pm:
Hi Natalya,
I have my feed delivered 2 X a year via a private trucker and you can use a regular trucker if you are always available for unloading or have a forklift available. I used Uship.com to find a trucker. 50 (40lb) bags last 2 horses approx 6 months. If you are only feeding 1 horse a full pallet will last a year.
When I first started I had my dealer Pray Road Stables(Ogdensburg, NY) send it via UPS because I wanted to try it before I had to commit to a full pallet load. UPS was very expensive costing as much as the feed itself per bag, but I did get to try it, so I accomplished my goal.
I would look for the closest dealer to you even if its in Texas or call Dale Moulton at Thrive and see if he can recommend someone. I do think the dealer would be more willing to send a partial shipment than Dale would since Dale is dealing with truck loads and not pallets.
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Member:
natalya
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 2, 2014 - 9:54 am:
Yes I looked for distributers closed one is in Colorado and Texas. For now I got high fat rice bran with omega vit E and selenium. She liked it. And I found out why she stopped eating she had a fever. No signs of discomfort, pretty much normal but fever 102.5. We cool her off and this morning she eat all her feed plus hay hopefully that was a reason for her not eating. This thought never occur to me that she might have a fever. Will definitely watched her in case if something is going on. But thanks for advise I will keep it in mined, description looks pretty good except it says that horses who had a sweet feed before had a hard time to adjust to it.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 2, 2014 - 10:37 am:
Natalya,
what They said about the adjustment is true, but that's because they would rather have sweet stuff than stuff thats good for them ( just like us).
Basically it depends on the horse. When I switched over from my old feed, I followed the directions and did not mix old feed with new feed. My horses missed one meal( got hay, but no feed) and started on a small amount of Thrive the next meal. My mare was the finicky one and it took her all of 2 hours to realize that was it and she wasn't getting anything else. The feed tub was licked clean by the next day and she has been on it ever since.
Good luck with your horse!
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