Question: Can cribbing make a horse lose weight?

Answer: Horses that crib generally only crib for one to two hours per day, total. This does cause wear and tear on the teeth if the horse grips a wooden or other hard surface during cribbing. This could reduce the horse’s ability to chew and taking in enough food to maintain weight, particularly if the horse is being exercised hard. The horse should be checked for physical discomfort such as gastric ulcers first, though. The horse should also receive a full physical to determine other possible causes of weight loss, including parasites. If cribbing is determined to be the cause of a horse’s weight loss, it is most likely because the behavior is being performed to the exclusion of normal eating and grazing, and possibly in combination with inability to eat properly from tooth wear.