412 ON THE HABITS AND VICES OF HORSES. 
promises any one, there is perhaps no occasion for a signature 
I am not one of those who “ never read” your periodical; on th< 
contrary, I wish well to it. I am glad to see it pursuing a steads 
course, and preserving a moderate tone, amidst the storm that a 
present seems to agitate the veterinary profession. I have reac 
with much interest your account of those scenes which took plac< 
at the Freemasons’ Tavern; and I am sorry to see, that wha 
might have been productive of much good, has evaporated in i 
party squabble. As long as this bad feeling continues, I shall b< 
content to remain, 
A Looker On. 
The horse is an animal of inveterate habits. Every one thai 
is at all acquainted with the secrets of the stable knows, that 
whenever horses take to any particular vice, how difficult, if no 
impossible, it is to break them of it. And this is a subject that, ] 
think, has never yet been sufficiently noticed by any of our vete¬ 
rinary writers. It appears to me, therefore, that, to enumeratt 
all, or at least as many of these habits and vices as have conn 
frequently under our own observation, and at the same time t( 
point out some of the best means we are acquainted with of pre¬ 
vention or cure, would not only be curious and interesting, bui 
might also be useful to many. 
Some of these habits are more properly called vicious, and 
others may be termed comparatively innocent; but they are all o: 
them, more or less, troublesome and vexatious: even the veiy 
least of them is a sufficient source-of annoyance to make a mar 
often think of parting with, or perhaps rather of getting rid of a 
horse on that account only. They may be arranged most conve¬ 
niently under the three following heads :—viz. Habits or vices 
acquired in the stable; those connected with riding; and those 
connected with driving. 
Of the first class, or those we observe in the stable, one of the 
most prominent perhaps is 
Cribbiting, a very disagreeable habit, to say the least of it, and 
which horses often take to. “ It consists in laying hold of the man¬ 
ger with the teeth, apparently sucking in air, and at the same 
time making a particular noise.” Mr. Blaine is of opinion that 
this is not an attempt to swallow air, but, on the contrary, to 
expel it; that cribbiting is, in fact, nothing more than an effort 
at simple eructation, and arising from indigestion, or some viscid 
state of the stomach. To this opinion, however, I cannot sub¬ 
scribe, for many reasons. If a particular state of the stomach 
were the cause, a horse would only crib now and then; instead 
of which we see him do it on all occasions, on all kinds of diet, 
