320 



MISCELLANEOUS HABITS. 



success, except that in some cases the habit is prevented 

 for a time by the soreness produced by the filing. Driv- 

 ing wedges between the teeth has also been resorted to, 

 the effect of which would be such intense pain as to pre- 

 vent the horse from cribbing for some little time. It can 

 be seen that all these pretended remedies are practically 

 of no account. 



It is a little singular that a horse will not crib on any- 

 thing that is lower than the knees, consequently a sure 

 way to prevent the habit is to tear away the manger, and 

 feed the horse from the floor or from a basket. 



To break up the habit, the only practical remedy is 

 punishment, as hereafter explained. 



When in Bath, N. Y., many years ago, I noticed that a 



horse when cribbing at a jDOst in the 

 street contracted the larynx and 

 muscles of the neck forcibly during 

 the act. Instantly it occurred to me 

 to make the experiment of putting 

 such an adjustment upon the throat- 

 latch as would prevent it by the pain 

 it caused. I went*to a harness-shop, 

 procured some six-ounce tacks, drove 

 them through a strip of leather about 

 half an inch apart, and filed the 

 points sharp and of equal length. I laid this bit of strap 

 on the inside of the throat-latch, so as to bring the point 

 of the tacks under the larynx, and kept it in place by 

 winding each end and center with a piece of waxed end. 

 I now buckled the throat-latch long enough so that it 

 would not touch the neck when in the act of eating or 

 swallowing, yet so close as to bring the points of the tacks 

 sharply against the muscles of the neck at the least at- 

 tempt to crib, and stood by to notice the effect. The first 



Fig. 218. — A horse in the 

 act of cribbing. 



