CRIBBING AND WEAVING 265 



thin-skinned horse might contract the habit from being 

 roughly groomed. The process hurts him, and he 

 grips some object with his teeth, and holds his breath. 

 Everyone has seen horses do this when they were 

 irritated or excited; and it is a short step from this 

 habit to cribbing. 



The act of cribbing is thus described by the late 

 Captain Hayes: 



The exact process is that during a temporary interruption of 

 breathing and visible contraction of the muscles on the anterior 

 margin of the throat, the larynx and base of the tongue are 

 drawn downward, whereupon the upper part of the pharynx 

 becomes filled with air, which, during the then following act 

 of swallowing and return of the larynx and tongue-base to their 

 former positions, pardy escapes forward, or the whole may be 

 swallowed, by which one or two champing sounds are pro- 

 duced — peculiar tones like belching. 



Perhaps the nearest approach that a human being 

 makes to this habit is the inhaling practiced by some 

 smokers of cigarettes. 



Confirmed cribbers have been known to lay hold of 

 their own knees with their teeth as a means of cribbing, 

 and it is said that foals will sometimes use their 

 mother's hocks for this purpose. 



Some horses, called " air-snappers," crib without 

 touching any object with their teeth. They stand with 

 the neck arched, and the muzzle approaching the 

 breast; their heads nod a little, they smack their lips, 

 and finally accomplish their object with an upward, 

 jerking motion of the head. "Air-snappers" are 

 worse than ordinary cribbers, and will even leave off 



