564 NERVOUS DISEASES. 



Mr. Crowhurst wisely advises that he should be fed on the ground 

 and not from a manger. 



It is well to allow the cribber or wind-sucker (and, indeed, every 

 horse) a constant supply of water in his stall, and a lump of rock- 

 salt (weighing, say, 2 lbs.), to lick when he chooses. 



LEGAL ASPECT OF ORIB-BITING AI^D WIND-SUCKING.— 

 These habits are regarded from a legal point of view, as vices and 

 not as unsoundness, as we may see from the case of " Scholefield v. 

 Robb" ("Moody and Robinson's Reports," Vol. i., p. 210), which 

 was, " on the warranty of a horse ' that it was sound and free from 

 vice.' The horse was bought to be delivered at a future day, and 

 the case of the plaintiff was, that the horse was a crib-biter and 

 wind-sucker. 



" Parke, B., told the jury, that if they thought the horse, at the 

 time of its being sold, and of the warranty being given, was not 

 a crib-biter, their verdict on both the last issues must be for the 

 defendant; but, even if the evidence of the plaintiff satisfied them 

 that the horse was a crib-biter at the time of the warranty, such 

 evidence would not, in his opinion, support the allegation that it 

 was then unsound, so as to entitle the plaintiff to a verdict on 

 the second plea. To constitute unsoundness there must either be 

 some alteration in the structure of the animal, whereby it is 

 rendered less able to perform its work, or else there must be some 

 disease. But neither of these facts had been shown. If, how- 

 ever, the jury thought that at the time of the warranty the horse 

 had contracted the habit of crib-biting, he thought that was a ' vice,' 

 and that the plaintiff would be entitled to a verdict on the third 

 plea. The habit complained of might not, indeed, like some others 

 (for instance, that of kicking), show vice in the temper of the 

 animal ; but it was proved to be a habit decidedly injurious to its 

 health, and tending to impair its usefulness, and came, therefore, 

 in his Lordship's opinion, within the meaning of the term, ' vice,' 

 as used on such occasions as the present." We may regard this as 

 the accepted ruling on " vice." 



In the case of " Broennenburgh v. Haycock " (" Holt's Reports 

 of Cases in Nisi Prius," Vol. i., p. 630), it was also ruled that crib- 

 biting is not an unsoundness. 



Looked upon from a practical, though not from a legal point 

 of view, both cribbers and wind-suckers should always be deemed 

 unsound ; for the practice of their vice will, in the ordinary course 

 of events, render them unsound; even if it has not already 

 done so. Besides, it will diminish their usefulness, on account 

 of the special precautions which have to be observed with them. 



