Instructions
Hold the cribbing collar's metal shafts open in one hand and place them under the horse's neck, right behind its jaw bones. These curved metal shafts are connected by a hinge on a traditional nut-cracker style cribbing collar and are designed to fit snugly around the horse's windpipe, on the bottom side of the neck. When a horse cribs, it sucks in a gulp of air that forces the airway to expand. The cribbing collar prevents the airway from expanding beyond normal function, stopping the horse from gulping in the air.
Flip the leather strap over the neck, just behind the animal's ears, and slide the strap through the buckle on the opposite end. Making sure to keep the cribbing strap from sliding down the neck, tighten the buckle so that the collar cannot slide forward or back, and cannot move side to side.
Watch the horse as it attempts to crib. If it can still gulp air, the collar needs to be tightened some more. Although it is possible to over-tighten a cribbing strap, to a handler not used to using one, the cribbing strap may seem excessively snug when done up correctly. When wearing the strap a horse should still breath, eat and drink normally. Watch the horse for signs of immediate discomfort and remove or loosen the strap if the horse appears to be having problems with any of these functions.
How to Fit a Cribbing Strap
Cribbing is a bad habit horses can develop out of boredom, stress or as a learned behavior from other equines. Also called wind sucking, cribbing involves the horse grasping onto a fence or other solid object with its teeth and gulping air into its stomach. This behavior is detrimental to property, can cause the horse's teeth to wear unevenly and lead to other health issues such as ulcers. It should be deterred by using a cribbing strap on the horse that prevents it from engaging in the habit. The cribbing strap needs to be fitted correctly to work.