Q. What options exist to treat behavioral vices? In my case, a 5-year-old mare that I acquired off the track this spring is a cribber–something I was not aware of before I got her home. I never found a really good/descriptive/illustrated article on the "Forssell-Burba" or "modified Forssell" surgical technique and, in fact, found that most veterinarians I talked to were several years behind the times on the surgery's considerable rate of success. I looked at foul-tasting paints to discourage the behavior, electric fencing to limit the mare's access to cribbable surfaces, punitive collars as operant conditioning aids, and myriad less aggressive anti-cribbing collars.

Scot Gilies

Lexington, Ky.

A. Cribbing is very challenging to treat, and in fact, I've never known a case to be completely eliminated with true behavior modification techniques–for example, operant conditioning (when an animal learns that his or her initial action results in a reaction from you). That's because, as you have found with your horse, it's not just an ordinary behavior problem. There is likely an underlying physiologic condition driving the compulsion to crib that is very difficult to overcome with positive or negative diversion, reinforcement, or punishment techniques