CROSS-BREEDING 



mences by gnawing the edge of the manger during hours of 

 idleness ; but there can be no doubt that one horse can, and 

 very frequently does, teach the trick to his stable companions, 

 and therefore suspected offenders should be kept by them- 

 selves. An animal whose front teeth are worn should be 

 carefully watched, and if the sounds of the ominous grunting 

 are heard in the stable, the horse which makes them should 

 be removed from his companions before it is too late. All 

 sorts of suggestions, such as a strap tightly buckled round 

 the throat, have been made for the cure of crib-biting, but 

 none can be relied upon as being absolutely efficacious, 

 though the most successful plan is to dress the edge of the 

 manger, the rack chain, and every projection within the reach 

 of the horse's teeth with something that tastes objectionably. 

 (See Wind-sucking^ 



Cross-breeding. — Many practical men, and a still greater 

 number of unpractical ones, devote a great deal of time to 

 more or less successful experiments in crossing two estab- 

 lished breeds of horses, with the idea of effecting improve- 

 ments in one or both of them, or of producing some particular 

 type of animal they desire to possess. In the hands of a 

 scientific breeder, successful results may be obtained, as, for 

 instance, in the hunter, which in the majority of cases is a 

 half-bred horse ; but mixing up blood is a very dangerous 

 thing for a man to attempt who has not studied horse- 

 breeding in all its phases. This is owing in a great measure 

 to the influence of back blood, as there is always a reason- 

 able prospect of an animal throwing back to some remote 

 ancestor, a fact which is by far too often lost sight of by 

 those who experiment in crosses. Nor is there any sort of 

 guarantee in making a cross that the good points of the 

 parents will be apparent in their stock ; indeed, as many a 

 breeder will have learned by experience, it is the bad ones 

 which often appear. (See Atavism, Back Blood, Breeding, 

 Telegony.) 



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