In the ongoing hunt to explain the relationship between cribbing and colic, researchers have discovered that cribbing causes increased intra-abdominal pressure.

Intra-abdominal pressure—which is any kind of pressure, from exterior or interior sources, in the horse’s abdominal cavity—appears to be elevated in horses that are cribbing, said Amelia S. Munsterman, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, ACVECC, clinical lecturer at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, in Alabama.

“Our research is one more piece of the puzzle in determining the relationship between cribbing and colic,” Munsterman said. “It is apparent that they are linked, but how this increase in intra-abdominal pressure may affect the outcome of a colic episode in the horse is still under investigation. What we do know now is that the pressure does increase due to cribbing.”

Munsterman and her fellow researchers compared the intra-abdominal pressure of eight horses that crib to eight horses that don’t. They took pressure readings every minute for a two-hour period. All the cribbing horses were encouraged to crib at one point during the study period in order to investigate cribbing’s immediate effect on intra-abdominal pressure

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