202 



THE HORSE. 



opinions, valuable as they undoubtedly are in the main, cannot be 

 looked upon as in all points to be relied on. 



REMEDIES FOR STABLE VICES AND BAD HABITS. 



Crib-biting is a diseased condition of the stomach, for which 

 there has never yet been a cure discovered, except on the princi- 

 ple of restraint. It may, therefore, be considered under the pre- 

 sent head. In crib-biting the teeth are applied to some fixed 

 object — generally the manger, so as to afford a fulcrum for the 

 muscles of the neck to act from, and by preventing this, or by 

 contriving so that the contraction of the muscles of the neck shall 

 give pain, the vicious habit is got rid of for the time. The most 

 common method is to buckle a leather strap so tightly round the 

 neck, just behind the jaw, that when the horse attempts to crib, 

 he tightens the muscles of that part, and these being pressed 

 against the strap, occasion such pain that the act is not completely 

 carried out, and even if it is on the first occasion, the attempt is 

 not repeated. The strap is buckled sufficiently tight to do this, 

 without much impeding the act of swallowing, or the flow of 

 blood from, the head, through the jugular veins to the body; but 

 in confirmed cribbers no ordinary pressure will suffice, and then 

 the head often becomes affected from the impediment which is 

 caused to the return of the blood from the brain to the heart. To 

 remedy this defect Mr. Cook, Saddler, of Long Acre, two or three 

 years ago, invented a neck strap, containing a number of prongs, 

 which pass through holes in a spring guard, and unless this is 

 strongly pressed, they do not touch the skin. It is applied by 

 throat straps to an ordinary head collar, and in slight cases it is 

 found to answer most perfectly, but when the vice has become 

 confirmed, and the desire to indulge in it is very strong, the pain 

 occasioned by the prongs is endured, and no effect at all is pro- 

 duced. It is not therefore of much use, as the common strap 

 does no injury in those eases where Mr. Cook's is effectual, and 

 the latter will not avail when the plain strap is forbidden, on ac- 

 count of the extreme pressure required. I cannot, therefore, re- 

 commend any plan but such as will totally prevent the prehension 

 of the manger, and this is accomplished by one of two ways. In 

 the first of these, the manger itself is either concealed, or the 

 corn and hay are placed on the ground, in a space slightly sepa- 

 rated from the rest of the stall by a row of bricks, or other similar 

 bodies, which cannot be laid hold of. To the concealed manger 

 and rack there is the objection, that while the horse is feeding, he 

 can go on cribbing without interruption, and as this is the time 

 chiefly chosen for the act, success is only partly achieved. Plac- 

 ing the food on the ground is entirely successful in stopping the 

 habit, but it leads to some waste of provender, as the horse is apt 



