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great success, chopping them up and giving them, mixed with dry oats 

 and bran. In other cases, the animals will fancy the green parts of 

 gorse (common whins), and in winter or early spring, when an animal 

 — the horse in particular — is slowly recovering from some debilitating 

 complaint, such as influenza, &c., and very shy about taking its food, 

 whins chopped up and mixed with its food answers splendidly, or a 

 good stem, cut with a quantity of bushy sprigs on it, hung up in the 

 box, for the animal to pick at when inclined, will induce a sickly horse 

 to eat when all other things have failed. 



247. Crib-biting is not really a disease, but a form of indigestion, 

 or merely a bad habit. The horse gets hold of the side of the crib, 

 the bar of a gate, or any other handy object, with its teeth, and by 

 arching its neck, gulps in air, thus filling the stomach with wind. 

 This habit is often due, in the first instance, to idleness. The front 

 portions of the incisor teeth of horses with this habit get gradually 

 worn round, but this is also seen in horses that bite at the manger or 

 stall on being groomed. The best remedy I know of, is to use the new 

 iron fittings (made by Musgraves, Belfast) in which the front of the crib 

 is of iron, and too broad for the horse to get a hold of. Brick troughs, 

 with a broad mould on the top ; a strap round the neck ; or feeding 

 the animal from the ground, are all useful, and worthy of a trial. 



248. Windsucking in the horse is a similar complaint to crib- 

 biting, and is also a bad habit. To testa horse for windsucking, the 

 following can be tried : — Put a handful of soft sugar into the animal's 

 mouth, and leave it for ten minutes or so. If a windsucker, you will 

 generally find it standing with its nose elevated, its neck strangely 

 arched, and making a peculiar and distinctly characteristic noise, or 

 the tongue may be noticed curled and protruding in front of the lips, 

 and the animal sucking for dear life. Some horses only show the 

 habit when a sloppy mash is given to them, when they suck in the air 

 with the mash, making a peculiar noise. Crib-biting and windsucking 

 are both considered an unsoundness. 



249. Ulceration of the Stomach is happily rare, and when it 

 occurs there are no positive symptoms. The horse does not vomit in 



H 



