478 
CRIB-BITING. 
red , those who are acquainted with the diseases of horses will be 
the best able to judge.” 
The above has induced me to write, and to acquaint you that 
the statement is incorrect, inasmuch that it was never said that 
old horses were as liable as young ones to acquire the habit of 
cribbing, and, also, that the horse was not nine or ten years old, for 
at that time he was seven, no more. Mr. Holmes has misunder- 
stood the evidence. I gave my evidence, that I had known in- 
stances of horses acquiring the habit of crib-biting at a later age 
than that of the horse in question ; for some, like Mr. Holmes, 
doubted whether aged horses could take up the habit. Of this I 
am satisfied. In short, I am strengthened in my opinion by an in- 
stance which has occurred since the trial, of a seven-year old car- 
riage-horse taking to cribbing ; and the groom says he “ got hold 
of it” by standing alongside of one that previously indulged him- 
self in this trick. Be this as it may, he is now a confirmed crib- 
biter. In another case that came under my own observation, a five- 
year old mare became a crib-biter, in my opinion, from biting and 
holding on at the manger when they dressed her. 
I have lately attended a colt, four years old, for injury of the 
back, and he possesses this propensity quite out of the common 
way. He is obliged to feed out of a stone manger, which may, 
probably, be the reason why he has left off laying hold of it with 
his teeth ; but still he indulges in the habit of resting his lower 
jaw very expertly on the edge of the manger. 
In conclusion, I am wishful that that part of Mr. Holmes’s Essay 
should be set right, as regards the trial of the bay horse that Mr. 
Freer, the dealer, purchased from Mr. Hodgson, of Staindrop : for 
it was not said by any of the three veterinary surgeons, Mr. Adam- 
son, of Durham, Mr. Pinnock, of York, or by myself, that old 
horses were equally as liable as young ones to become crib-biters. 
Mr. Adamson or Mr. Pinnock may, probably, have answered this. 
I have not seen the former of late, although we occasionally do 
meet. He it was that furnished the case of a horse unknown to 
have any symptom denoting the approach of crib-biting, and which 
became a cribber in a single day by standing alongside of a beast 
of this description ; at least, he was never accustomed to the trick 
before. There can be no doubt that the habit can be acquired from 
imitation. 
I have seen horses crib-biting at the gate when out at grass ; yet 
I do not recollect an instance of one becoming a crib-biter when out 
at grass, but I have heard of such things. 
S, Wheatley. 
