164 CRIB-BITING. 
absorbed by the blood during respiration. And moreover, is it not 
strange that all horses, when indulging an imitative faculty, should always 
precede the display by the same licking of the manger, which assuredly is 
not learned, because that stage has passed before the young horse is placed 
near the one it is supposed to imitate? Is it not also surprising, that 
applying the tongue to cool substances should, in other domesticated 
but dumb creatures, be a symptom of derangement of the stomach? 
When the horse cribs, the manger is not bitten. The upper incisors 
are merely placed against the wood-work, and, from this fixed point, the 
animal strains backward the body; thereby, the muscles of the neck are 
the more readily excited, and a small portion of air, accompanied by a 
slight sound, is forced up a canal which does not of itself favor regurgi- 
tation. When the inability to vomit is considered, the necessity of some 
such stratagem, to relieve the stomach of its burning acidity, must at 
once be admitted. We are still further reconciled to the necessity which 
prompts the action, when the ease afforded to human dyspeptic subjects, 
by the expulsion of ‘the wind,” is properly regarded. 
To relieve crib-biting, first attend to the atmosphere of the stables; 
render that pure by ample ventilation. Place a lump of rock-salt in the 
manger; should that not effect a cure, add to it a large piece of chalk; 
should these be unavailing, always damp the food, and, at each time of 
feeding, sprinkle magnesia upon it, and mingle a large handful of ground 
oak-bark with each feed of corn. Should none of these measures prove 
beneficial, treat the case as one of chronic indigestion or gastritis. 
Let every reader, however, remember dyspepsia is far easier acquired 
than eradicated or even relieved; still, the vast majority of the fears 
entertained concerning crib-biting are perfectly groundless. The habit, 
certainly, does not round the edges of the front teeth; neither does it 
predispose to spasm or to flatulent colic; a horse that cribs may have either 
diseases ; so, also, do many animals which are free from the peculiarity. 
Cribbing can be no recommendation to a purchaser, although the writer 
cannot honestly point to the direction in which it is detrimental to the 
usefulness. The late Mr. Sewell had a brown horse: this creature was 
eighteen years old, and an inveterate cribber; yet, it would trot nine 
miles an hour, for its own pace, without ever needing the whip. More 
than this, no horse master should require; but let those who entertain a 
horror of crib-biting, pay extra attention to the means by which the 
indulgence can be prevented. 
