238 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
that no harm is meant, and they will not depart from their 
usual habit of obedience; but if the remembrance of cor- 
poral punishment is connected with shoeing, they will 
always be fidgetty, if not dangerous. 
This is a very serious vice, for it not only exposes the 
animal to occasional severe injury from his own struggles, 
but also from the correction of the irritated smith, whose 
limbs, and even whose life being in jeopardy, may be for- 
given if he is sometimes a little too hard-handed. Such a 
Horse is very liable, and without any fault of the smith, 
to be pricked and lamed in shoeing; and if the habit should 
be confirmed, and should increase, and it at length be- 
comes necessary to cast him, or to put him in the trevis, 
the owner may be assured that many years will not pass 
ere some formidable and even fatal accident will take 
place. If, therefore, mild treatment will not correct the 
vice, the Horse cannot be too soon got rid of. 
Horses have many unpleasant habits in the stable and 
the road, which cannot be said to amount to vice , but 
which materially lessen their value. 
SWALLOWING WITHOUT GRINDING. 
Some greedy Horses swallow their corn without properly 
grinding it, and the power of digestion not being ade- 
quate to the dissolving of the husk, no nutriment is ex- 
tracted, and the oats are voided whole. This is particu- 
larly the case when Horses of unequal appetite feed from 
the same manger. The greedy one, in his eagerness to 
get more than his share, bolts a portion of his corn whole. 
If the farmer can, without considerable inconvenience, so 
manage it that every Horse shall have his separate divi- 
sion of the manger, the Horse of smaller appetite and 
slower feed would have the opportunity of grinding at 
his leisure, without the fear of his share being stolen from 
him by his neighbour. 
Some Horses, however, are naturally greedy feeders, 
and will not, even when alone, allow themselves time to 
chew or grind the corn. In consequence of this, they 
carry but little flesh; they are not equal to severe work; 
and, if their rack has been supplied with hay when the 
corn was put into the manger, their stomachs will become 
distended with half-chewed and indigestible food; they 
will be incapable of exertion for a long time after feeding, 
and, occasionally, dangerous symptoms of staggers will 
occur. The remedy is, not to let such Horses fast too 
long. The nose-bag should be the companion of every 
considerable journey. The food should likewise be of 
such a nature that it cannot be easily bolted. Chaff should 
be plentifully mixed with the corn, and in some cases, 
and especially in Horses of slow work, should, with the 
corn, constitute the whole of the food. Of this we shall 
treat more largely under the article “ Feeding.” 
In every case of this kind the teeth should be very 
carefully examined. Some of them maybe unduly length- 
ened, particularly the first of the grinders; or they may 
he ragged at the edges, and may scratch and wound the 
cheek. In the first case the Horse cannot properly mas- 
ticate his food; in the latter he will not: for these animals, 
as too often happens in sore throat, would rather starve 
than put themselves to much pain. 
CRIB-BITING. 
This is a very unpleasant habit, and a considerable defect, 
although not so serious a one as some have represented. 
The Horse lays hold of the manger with his teeth, vio- 
lently extends his neck, and then, after some convulsive 
action of the throat, a slight grunting is heard, accompa- 
nied by an apparent sucking or drawing in the air. Whe- 
ther, however, air is actually drawn in, and thus the 
Horse becomes more subject to colic than one without this 
trick, or whether a portion of air is expelled, showing the 
previous existence of flatulence and a disposition to colic, 
are points that have not been settled among the veterina- 
rians. 
The Horse is evidently making the edge of the manger 
a fixed point, by means of which he may overcome that 
obstacle which the formation of the soft palate and the 
back part of the mouth, would present to either 
the expulsion or drawing in of the air, if accom- 
plished through the medium of the mouth. When we 
consider, however, that any air expelled from the stomach 
might easily find a passage through the nostril, without 
the action of crib-biting; while it would be difficult or im- 
possible, without some alteration in the natural form and 
action of the parts at the back of the mouth, and particu- 
larly the depression of the epiglottis or covering of the 
windpipe, to convey air to the stomach, we are inclined 
to conclude, that this fixed point is used to enable the ani- 
mal to accomplish this alteration, and suck up and convey 
a portion of air into the stomach. 
The effect of crib-biting is plain enough. The teeth 
are injured and worn away, and that, in an old Horse, to 
a very serious degree; a considerable quantity of corn is 
often lost, for the Horse will frequently crib with his 
mouth full of corn, the greater part of which will fall 
over the edge of the manger; and much saliva flows out 
while the manger is thus forcibly held, the loss of which 
must be of serious detriment, as impairing the digestion. 
The crib-biting Horse is notoriously more subject to colic 
than other Horses usually are, and to a species difficult 
