How can you put weight on a horse that cribs?

Answer 1

Cribbing is caused by underlying factors that must be addressed first. Cribbing is a typical response to several things, these include, but are not limited to: Ulcers, stress, lack of hay, lack of turnout, feed.

*Have a equine veterinarian place a scope down into the horse's stomach and check for ulcers. If they are present then it'll take a little over a month to heal the ulcers with medication. Once this is done you'll need to take preventative measures to keep them from coming back. This may be all that is needed to help the horse put weight on, this is due to ulcers causing digestive pain when food is eaten and the horse will eventually lose weight from not eating.

*Stress can come from travel or the way the horse is kept, it can also lead to ulcers. It's best to keep a horse as naturally as possible to avoid stress.

*Lack of turnout can lead to stress and lower gut motility causing stomach acid to build up and cause ulcers or discomfort and thus lack of appetite. The more turnout the better.

*Lack of hay can cause stress, ulcers and bad behaviour amongst other things. A horse requires hay to be present at all times, just like water. Use a slow feed net to keep hay available for longer periods of time.

*Feed can also cause problems itself. High amounts of grain can cause ulcers and hyperactivity, this combined with stall time and lack of turnout or travelling will cause stress and ulcers.

Basically anything can cause ulcers and stress in horses, the two main reasons for cribbing. If you address these issues and the horse does not gain weight then you'll need to investigate the horses health and maybe adjust the diet a bit. First have the horses teeth checked as cribbers wear down their teeth quickly and it may be hard for it to chew it's food well. Once that has been addressed have your vet do a fecal egg count test to check for parasites and see if the horse needs to be dewormed.

Next try adding a high fat low starch feed to the diet (no more than 3 pounds per meal.) in addition to good quality hay and possibly some alfalfa or perennial peanut hay to add calories to the diet. If those do not work alone look for flaxseed, rice bran, or another feed that will add fat to the diet or possibly a weight gain supplement.

If none of these things work you should have a full blood panel done by your equine vet to address an underlying health issue.