AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



237 



ON THE VICIOUS HABITS AND PROPENSITIES OF HORSES. 

 Br Thomas R. Yare, 



(Continued from page 216.) 



CRIB BITING. 



I have occasionally excited the ire of grooms, by re- 

 questing them to abandon the practice of using the rack- 

 flliain. These gentlemen, when interrogated as to the utility 

 of attaching the head to the rack, usually answer, " To pre- 

 vent the horse lying down, and dirtying his quarters!" 

 But the true reason is, they are fearful of a little extra 

 trouble, in case the animal sliould be wanted at a short 

 notice. When I have inquired if the horse was habituated 

 to lying down in the day-time, or whether he has been ever 

 Itnown so to do, the response given is usually, "No; we 

 never actually saw him down during the day, but we have 

 always been accustomed to tie him up." Therefore, ac- 

 •cording to their own showing, they give the poor beast 

 this unnecessary restraint from no other cause but custom, 

 which they blindly and implicitly follow, though they can 

 adduce no benefit resulting from its observance. Custom 

 and prejudice are most imperious tyrants, and rule triumph- 

 ant over horsemen, as well as other classes of society. 

 There are certain points established, certain axioms laid 

 down, and the nine people out of ten, who never think for 

 themselves, take every thing upon credit, and implicitly 

 fall into the regulated course of opinion generally held, 

 without stopping to inquire whether it happens to be just 

 or unjust, tolerably right, or entirely wrong. 



If the horse be addicted to lying down in the day-time, I 

 have generally found, on inspection, that he is either sick or 

 lame, and consequently required immediate attention. Now, 

 to tie horses to the rack under such circumstances, is obvi- 

 ously an act of cruelty. In my opinion, to attach any 

 horse to the rack, only serves to pave the way for the oc- 

 curence of those habits and vices which have for so many 

 years baffled the attempts of horsemen to prevent, correct, 

 and eradicate with certainty and permanency. 



Many continue pertinaciously to assert that crib-biting is 

 not injurious to the strength of horses. I am free to admit 

 tliat they sometimes go through very arduous tasks and fleet 

 performances, and may probably occasionally win a race; 

 but capability of exertion would be still more evident, and 

 the rapidity of his course increased, if the malady were re- 

 moved. But no positive reliance can be placed in the exer- 

 tions of a crib-biter or wind-sucker; for thenatural power and 

 ability of the animal must inevitably be weakened, and ul- 

 timately yield altogether to the ravages the indulgence of 

 these propensities occasion on the frame of the animal, if 

 prosecuted for any length of time. 

 30 



A horse may be addicted to cribbing, and yet its pernici- 

 ous effects shall not be perceptible, except to those who are 

 thoroughly acquainted with the smyptoms incidental to, and 

 which uniformly accompany, the practice of the habit. I 

 have known many horses labouring under this malady, 

 whose condition appeared so good to the casual observer, that 

 theirowners havedoubted my allegations as to their weakness; 

 but a little extra exertion, in company with a sound horse 

 of apparently equal power and capability, soon convinced 

 the party of their error — the strength of the crib-biter, after 

 a short trial, proving very inferior to that of his opponent. 

 I know well that horses indulging in the propensity must of 

 necessity be injured or impaired in their stamina. Acting 

 upon this calculation, when attending races, and accidentally 

 discovering that any particular horse was either a crib-biter 

 or wind-sucker, although he might be a " favorite," to use 

 a turf phrase, " I uniformly back him to lose, and am gene- 

 rally right. " 



I have no hesitation in saying that a crib-biter is bona fide 

 an unsound horse; and, notwithstanding the warring litiga- 

 tions that may have occurred occasionally in consequence of 

 the habit, when a totally opposite notion to mine has been 

 entertained on the question, yet I cannot avoid arraying my 

 individual opinion in opposition to the fearful host of dissen- 

 tients who may start up against me, when my assertion is 

 perused. / verily believe that a crib-biter, sold with a 

 warranty of soundness, is, to all intents and purposes, 

 returnable: and I think I cannot be accounted unfair or er- 

 roneous in this position, founded on the well-ascertained 

 fact, that "crib-biting horses are injured in their stamina." 

 That Nestor among veterinarians, Mr. Bracy Clark — to 

 whom the horse is so greatly indebted, not only for his val- 

 uable publications, but likewise for the discovery of many 

 parts and properties of the foot of the horse, and above all 

 his perfection of the expansion shoe — observes very truly 

 in his remarks on this subject, that "the crib-biting horse 

 has generally a lean, constricted appearance, the skin being 

 contracted about the ribs; or a sunken, watery eye, or else 

 too dry; the muscles of the face also, as well as the skin, 

 drawn up with rigidness. When unemployed in eating, 

 his almost constant amusement is to grasp the rail of the 

 manger with his front teeth, then to draw himself up to it, 

 as to a fixed point, by a general contraction of the head, 

 neck, and trunk; at the same time the effort is attended with 

 a grunting sound." 



Now, many veterinary surgeons are of opinion that the 

 particular noise made by the horse is caused by the expul- 

 sion of air, and that crib-biting is in fact nothing more than 

 an eifort at eructation, arising from indigestion or some 

 viscid state of the stomach; whilst others pretend to say, 

 that the habit is caused from pain in the feet. If either of 



