268 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



with leather and padded, which is strapped 

 round the throat. The tongue, being at right 

 angles to the strap, and under the throat and 

 jaw, prevents a horse from getting his head down. 

 In this position he can neither suck wind nor crib- 

 bite. 



They are said to be infectious — that horses catch 

 the habit from each other. This I do not believe ; 

 and, indeed, my own personal experience points to 

 the contrary. In every troop of cavalry in the 

 service there is sure to be at least one horse which 

 is either a wind-sucker or a crib-biter. The other 

 horses do not contract the habit, so that it cannot 

 be catching. I can, however, quite understand how 

 the idea has arisen that it is so. 



As I have recently remarked, both habits are 

 the result of a disordered state of stomach, and 

 indigestion, etc. Now, it is quite possible that in 

 a stable where one horse is suffering from the com- 

 bined ill effects of over-feeding and under-working, 

 the others may be suffering in like manner in a 

 greater or less degree. The horse which is most 

 delicately constituted is the first victim, and is 

 therefore the first to acquire the habit. The others, 

 being more or less in a similar condition, very 

 readily catch it from him. If this were not so, 

 how could troop-horses, which are separated from 



