Choosing a Cribbing Collar for Your Horse

When a horse cribs, it will place its teeth on a hard object like a bucket, fence board, or stall door, arch its neck, and suck-in large amounts of air. Cribbing collars for horses use leather straps that apply pressure to the horse’s throat when they try to suck in air, whether wind-sucking or cribbing, which will curb the behavior. Stopping a horse from cribbing is important because it can cause health issues such as abnormal tooth wear, enlarged throat muscles, digestive upset, and even colic.

There are many types of cribbing collars and cribbing straps. If you are worried about your horse’s cribbing collar rubbing, you can get soft sheepskin collar covers to add padding to the straps. Some horses may only crib occasionally, chew on wood, or still attempt to crib even with a collar. A crib-repellent spray can be sprayed on any surface with a strong bitter flavor that deters horses from wanting to crib or chew. These “chew-stop” sprays can be used in combination with cribbing collars or horse muzzles, and stop the behavior of a determined cribber.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cribbing Collars

How do you manage cribbing?

You can manage a horse from cribbing with various products designed for horse cribbing prevention. Horse cribbing collars are a humane strap that horses can wear, applying pressure to their larynx when the horse tries to crib or wind-suck. You can also use cribbing deterrents such as chew-stop sprays that have a bitter taste on any surface it is sprayed on, discouraging horses from chewing, wind-sucking, or cribbing.

Do cribbing collars work?

Cribbing collars do work for most horses to at least greatly reduce a horse’s ability to truly crib. A horse can still bite onto a surface with their teeth, but they will not be able to arch their neck and throat latch area properly to suck in air.