176 VETERINARY DENTAL SURGRRT. 



TREATMENT. 



Cribbing and wind-sucking constitute a decided 

 unsoundness and are incurable when once thor- 

 oughly established. Were the vice due to pres- 

 sure of the incisor teeth against each other, the ex- 

 traction of one or two of them would certainly 

 remove the cause and be followed by a cessation of 

 the habit. Some surgeons claim to have entirely 

 dispelled the vice in young animals when first noticed 

 by the extraction of one or more teeth. I have 

 operated in that way (as an experiment), under like 

 conditions on the teeth of several horses, but have 

 never been able to entirely stop the habit. Sawing 

 between the teeth can have no possible effect in 

 breaking up the vice, although it is frequently 

 resorted to for that purpose. A neck strap buckled 

 tightly around the throat while the animal is in the 

 harness will act temporarily in checking the habit, 

 but has no good effect whatever when removed, but 

 on the contrary will press on the throat and produce 

 roaring in some instances. 



To prevent the vice give the horse something to 

 do. Do not keep him tied in the stall from one week 

 to another, but turn out and give plenty of exer- 

 cise. 



*" Horses which are crib-biters or wind-suckers 

 are to be considered as unsound, as the vices generally 



* Williams' Practice of Surgery, Page 540. 



