Re: RC: begging for help

[TddWil@aol.com]

OK, I wasn't going to reply to this because my first horse would rather crib 
til she coliced than eat, and I would never own another one. Things that go 
around their neck just don't work that well. I remember another horse that 
the owner put one of those spiked cribbing collars on him and he just kept 
cribbing even though the thing was poking holes into his neck. A cribbing 
muzzle that lets them eat is what I would try. I remember seeing them 
advertised in the back of Equus, they let the horse eat and drink. You could 
electrify all possible cribbing spots. Not as easy as it sounds. Metal over 
exposed wood does not work, they will crib on metal, feed buckets, I even saw 
a horse in crossties crib on them. There are several operations, some 
involving removing muscles in the neck(disfiguring) or cutting a certain 
nerve. I think the underlying cause is a chemical deficiency, is it 
endorphins?, that cause the horse to engage in what I guess amounts to an 
obsessive compulsive behavior to get the endorphins he craves, like a drug 
addict. I think there was a short blurb in Equus about this, and that the 
behavior stopped when the horse was given injections of the chemical he 
lacked. Having to take medicine for OCD/anxiety/depression myself, I would 
probably look into that last option first even though it was just a study. 
For now I would try the muzzle before he fills up with air and floats away! 
If I find the ad I will let you know. Good luck, I remember how frustrating 
this is.

                                                    Shelly in DE