CKIB-BITING. 



555 



tied up in a stall, will generally utilise the edge of the manger 

 or rack-chain for the practice of his vice; as these are usually the 

 most convenient objects within reach. Horses have been known 

 to crib on one of their fore-legs. The cribber shows little or no 

 preference, however, in the stable or out of it, so long as the 

 selected object serves his purpose. As a rule, he seizes his point 

 of support with his front teeth, which consequently become worn, 

 chiefly, as follows: — • 



1. By the front (and in exceptional cases, the rear) edges of 



Fig. 147. — Side view of the incisor teeth of a crib-biter, 30 years old (same 

 as shown in Fig. 148). 



The teeth becoming more or less irregularly bevelled (Figs. 147, 

 148 and 149, pp. 555, 557 and 559). 



2. By the teeth becoming shortened. We may here recognise 

 the effect of the wearing down process, by taking a front view 

 of the teeth (Fig. 150, p. 561). 



3. By the teeth becoming bevelled and shortened. 



In the foregoing cases, the wear is almost always confined to the 

 front and middle incisors (nippers). We can see that in Fig. 148, 

 three of the corner incisors were also implicated. 



4. The cribber, in the practice of his vice, may effect vertical 

 grooving between the incisors by friction against the rack-chain, 

 and when such an animal wears a groove between one pair of 



