Cribbing and wood chewing by horses can create problems for horse and owner alike. Wood chewing is often considered by many owners to be a rather benign vice, while cribbing more frequently is considered to be a direct threat to the horse’s well-being. However, both can be irritating to the caretaker. There is something unsettling about the repetitive belching sound emitted by cribbers, and the series of U-shaped dips in a board fence created by wood chewers can arouse one’s ire.

That’s the human side of the equation. What about the horse? Do cribbing and wood chewing compromise his health? There have been some changes in thinking concerning answers to that question as the result of scientific studies.

First, we must differentiate between cribbing and wood chewing.

When a horse cribs, he grasps a hard object with his incisor teeth, arches his neck, and with a grunting-burping-belching sound appears to suck in air through his mouth. Wood chewing, on the other hand, is just that–chewing of wooden objects. The horse simply uses his teeth to gnaw on wood. Often the target is a board fence and, in cases where wire fencing is utilized, it might be wooden fence posts to which the wire is attached