Equine Cribbing Study Guide

Overview and Clinical Importance

Cribbing (also called crib-biting or aerophagia) is a stereotypic oral behavior in horses characterized by grasping a fixed horizontal object with the incisors, arching the neck, contracting the ventral cervical muscles, and drawing air into the cranial esophagus while producing a characteristic grunting sound. This behavior is one of the most common stereotypies in domestic horses, affecting approximately 4-15% of the equine population depending on breed and management conditions.

Understanding cribbing is essential for the NAVLE examination because it represents a significant intersection of behavioral medicine, neurobiology, gastroenterology, and welfare science. Questions may address etiology, neurochemical mechanisms, health consequences, breed predispositions, and evidence-based management approaches.

Definition and Behavioral Mechanism

Behavioral Description

Cribbing is a stereotypy - a repetitive, invariant behavior pattern that appears to serve no obvious goal or function. The behavioral sequence consists of: (1) the horse approaches and positions itself at a horizontal surface; (2) grasps the surface with the upper incisors; (3) flexes and arches the neck by contracting the sternothyrohyoideus, sternohyoideus, and omohyoideus muscles; (4) retracts the larynx; and (5) draws air into the cranial esophagus, producing a characteristic audible grunt.