STABLE MANAGEMENT 231) 



emphasis, is hung in such a manner that when it is kicked 

 it swings back upon the offender. With a view to making 

 it impossible for the horse to kick, a fore- and hind-leg are 

 sometimes strapped together ; and a modified form is that 

 of connecting both hind-legs with a strap after the manner of 

 hobbles, but this does not prevent the horse from kicking 

 with both heels at once if it is inclined to do so. A plan at 

 one time much advocated, but with which the writer never 

 had any success, was to strap a block of wood round the 

 fetlock, which was fashioned to fit exactly into the hollow of 

 the heel, the idea being that when the horse bent the leg to 

 kick the block would hurt him and make him desist. 



Crib-biting, and its twin-brother wind-sucking, are annoy- 

 ing tricks, the former habit often degenerating into the 

 latter, which is apt to cause stomach derangement, besides 

 flatulence and colic. Crib-biting by itself is objectionable 

 as it wears away the front teeth, and occasionally loosens 

 them so that one or more teeth may drop out, both 

 conditions interfering with the animal when turned out 

 to graze. Far the most efficient treatment of a confirmed 

 wind-sucker, especially one that is so addicted to the habit 

 that it can effectively suck in wind without fixing its teeth 

 against anything, is to make it wear constantly a hollow bit 

 open at both ends, and punctured in front with a row of 

 holes similar to a flute, so that as fast as the air is drawn in 

 it passes into the tube through the holes, and escapes at the 

 ends without being taken into the stomach at all. The bit 

 should be worn day and night, never being taken off except 

 at feeding-time, and the attendant should be on the alert to 

 replace the instrument the moment the feed is finished. 

 The writer had one horse thus treated for quite a dozen 

 years, with the best effect. Constant care is needed to 

 keep the bit clean, and it must daily be well washed out and 

 the holes cleared, for they continually get blocked up by the 

 remnants of the food. 



Weaving is a habit contracted by some nervous horses 

 when in a stall, and is a constant oscillation of the head 

 from side to side, with a corresponding change of the 

 balance of the forepart from one fore-leg to the other. The 



