70 



WIND SUCKING. 



This is a defect nearly of the same descrip- 

 tion as crib-biting, except that the horse neither 

 bites nor rests his mouth against any substance 

 during the action of wind-sucking. The horse 

 generally holds his head inwards, witii his neck 

 considerably bent, and appears, by the constric- 

 tion of his lips, to suck wind; but, in this 

 habit, as well as in that of crib-biting, no wind 

 enters the stomach by the mouth, although 

 horses of this description are subject to the 

 same extraordinary jflatulence as the former, 

 and, on that account, are, in point of sale^ 

 equally objectionable. 



SHIVERING, OR NERVOUS 

 AGITATION. 



This malady is denoted by the following 

 appearances, viz. a considerable degree of in- 

 flexibility in the spine, or back bone, standing 

 with the hind legs wide apart, and unsteady, 

 and reeling when moved backwards, together 

 with a perpetual deviation and tremulous mo- 

 tion of the tail. It is a disease of the spasmxodic 

 kind, but the cause of it is not yet thoroughly 

 understood. At all events, it must depreciate 

 a horse considerably in value ; and by dis- 

 qualifying him for useful purposes, consequently 

 renders him unsound. 



