48 THE HORSE 



crib biting is a vice of such proportions that it may 

 be legitimately included in the category of diseases 

 which are practically incurable. A great deal of 

 trouble is frequently caused by the presence of a 

 kicker in the stable, especially as such a horse — 

 some of which will keep the game up all night long 

 — are very liable to injure themselves or their stable 

 companions through their vagaries. A truss of straw 

 suspended at the back of the stall a foot or two behind 

 his quarters will sometimes effect a modified remedy, 

 as, in the first place, it cannot injure him when he 

 kicks it, and, secondly, every time that he does so it 

 swings back against his hocks and upsets his equa- 

 nimity. Consequently the kicker sometimes gets tired 

 of attacking the harmless straw, which emits no 

 responsive sound to his attentions, and he then com- 

 poses himself to rest and permits his companions to 

 do the same. 



Crib biting is the name by which a most nasty 

 and annoying habit is usually known. It consists of 

 the horse taking hold of the manger or some pro- 

 jecting part of the front or sides of his stall with his 

 teeth and sucking air into his stomach, giving a 

 peculiar grunting sound meanwhile. A muzzle is 

 the best prevention, but is not always efficacious, 

 and the animal may be turned into a box with 

 smooth sides and fed off the ground; but crib 

 biting is, like other bad habits, a very difficult one 

 to cure. Wind sucking is even worse, as a proficient 

 in this most undesirable accomplishment sucks in the 

 air through his tongue, and, like the cribber, is better 

 sold forthwith without a warranty. 



