STABLE VICE 129 



curing such animals. Some forms of vice can, of 

 course, be rectified, but others are practicahy incurable. 



Crib Biting. — There are few more objectionable 

 habits to which a horse may be liable than the 

 common one of crib-biting. Further, it is often 

 accompanied by wind sucking, so that many horses 

 are both cribbers and wind suckers at the same time. 

 There can be no doubt that idleness is the cause 

 of the first, at the outset. Common sense, indeed, 

 would tell us, if experience did not, that many horses 

 must cease to crib when they are engaged upon regular 

 work, for they have then no longer any time to gnaw 

 away at the stable fittings, woodwork in corners, 

 halter, and the other usual " furniture " upon which 

 they vent their mischievous instincts. Many plans 

 have been suggested against cribbing, such as smearing 

 the fittings with aloes and treacle, feeding off the 

 ground, the provision of a manger that slides into a 

 recess after the horse has finished his feed, fixing on a 

 muzzle, and so forth. 



A very good method, which I can recommend, against 

 cribbing, is to do away with all permanent fittings 

 whatsoever, then when you are going to feed the horse, 



