140 AMERICAN STABLE GUIDE. 



of the groom till disease of the eye destroys the eyesight 

 altogether; or the horse may be removed into a wide place, 

 where accidents of this character cannot occur. 



Rolling in the stall would not be classed as a vice, if it 

 were not that the animal so addicted may get cast, or fall on 

 his back, and not be able to rise till assisted in the morn- 

 ing. The results of casting in the stall, with the violent 

 and determined struggles to get up again, often results in 

 broken legs, injuries, and death before assistance arrives. 

 To remedy this habit, or at least prevent its consequences, 

 provide a loose-box, a wide stall, or a very narrow one, and 

 tie the head just so that the shoulder can rest on the floor, 

 but not allow the head and neck to do so. 



The horse that is addicted to rolling is generally a good 

 and healthy horse, and it is a pity to deprive him of the 

 luxury by any contrivance, if it be not to increase his 

 facilities without danger to himself by giving more space. 



Cribbing is familiar to all stablemen, and is a habit 

 confined mostly to the stable ; it is caused by indigestion 

 and idleness, giving time for one horse to teach it to 

 another. It consists in horses filling the stomach with air, 

 which in a manner satisfies the appetite to the almost 

 exclusion of solid food.* 



Prevention of crib-biting is a difficult matter, so much 

 so that we have seen a horse, deprived of all fixtures to 



* See Diseases in the "American Stable, Field, and !Farm- 

 Yard." Philadelphia : Porter & Coates. 



