210 CRIB- BITING. 



obedience ; but if the remembrance of corporeal punisliment 

 is connected with shoeing, they will always be fidgety, and 

 occasionally dangerous. 



CRIB-BITING. 

 This is a very unpleasant habit, and a considerable defect, 

 although not so serious as it is often represented. The horse 

 lays hold of the manger with his teeth, yiolently extends his 

 neck and then, after some convulsive action of the throat, a 

 slight grunting is heard, accompanied by a sucking or drawing 

 in of air. It is not an effort at simple eructation, arising from 

 indigestion ; it is the inhalation of air. It is that which takes 

 place with all kinds of diet, and when the stomach is empty as 

 well as when it is full. 



The effects of crib-biting are plainly perceptible. The teeth 

 are injured and worn away, and that, in an old horse, to a very 

 serious degree. A considerable quantity 

 of grain is often lost, for the horse will 

 frequently crib with his mouth full 

 of it, and the greater part will fall 

 over the edge of the manger. 

 Much saliva escapes while 

 the manger is thus forcibly 

 . held, the loss of which must 

 be of serious detriment in 



IIFZZLE FOB A CRIB-BITER. 



impairing digestion The 

 crib-biting horse is notoriously more subject to 

 colic than other horses, and that of a kind difficult of treatment 

 and peculiarly dangerous Although many a crib-biter is stout 

 and strong, and capable of all ordinary work, these horses do 



