Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1908-02-18
CURSE OF CRIB BITING
Valuable Animals Ruined Every
Year Through Lack'of knowl-
edge of Prevention.


shown the slightest tendency to crib
biting, because the trouble is heredi-
tary, and is generally transmitted by
the sire instead of the dam. Forty
five descendants of Norman stallion
were found to be cribbers, many Of
whom developed the habit when from
8 to months of age.
Harold Leeney, the noted English
veterinary, says cribbing is due more
to lonesomeness and idleness than to
anything else.
The contemplation of a blank wall
for hours at a time, in the long inter-
vals between meals, must be anything
but exhilarating to animals of highly
nervous temperament, even If pos
sessed of all the intelligence and pow
ers of reflection with which they are
credited by ardent lovers of horse
flesh.
TO find amusement, to while away the
hours, they ininutely examine the few
articles within reach, licking the man
GER the crib, the walls, nibbling the
halter or picking up and dropping the
chain, and finding additional pleasure
IN the noise the latter makes. From
playing with the mobile lips to crib
bing with. the teeth, and from biting
s to wind sucking is an easy transition,
and the art, once acquired, is very
rarely forgotten, although in allegiance
when at grass or in circumstances ad
verse to its practice
Crib biting in the finer skinned and
more sensitive animals is thought to
be developed by rough strapping or
too energetic grooming, many horses
irritated in this way acquire a habit
of laying hold of the manager and fix
( ing the breath during the operation.
1t has BEEN supposed that Indigestion,
producing those feelings known as
heartburn, have prompted the crib
biting habit, and the stomach LESSONS
(chronic 'catarrh, dilation and thicken-
ing of the walls) have been pointed to
as evidence in favor of the theory,
but they are more probably the re-
suit.
The enlarged abdomen does not pre-
cede the habit, but follows on it, and
the post St-mortem examinations of horses
that have but recently acquired the
trick do not show these alterations of
structure or diseased conditions. There
are quite variety of ways of crib
blng and many degrees. Some horses
only press the incisor teeth of the up
per Jaw upon the object, while archng
&the neck and using the muscles con-
Z nected with deglutition previously
Z named.
Others employ both top and bottom
teeth. IT there is no manger to lay
hold Of some other object will be
found by the confirmed victim Of the
habit, such as the bars of the hay
: rack, the halter chain or strap the
pole of the carriage when harnessed,
or anything that will afford them a
slight hold. Confirmed crib -biters have
been known to use their knees and feet
for the purpose, and Gunter speaks of
having seen foals use their mothers
hooks.
Sooner or later wind-sucking ends
in ruined digestion, distended abdo-
men and loss of muscular energy and
shortness of breath. They are waste
full and undesirable animals and drop
much food and make but i'll use of
what they consume They are bad
neighbors and often suffer from fatu-
lent collie
The symptoms in cattle differ con-
siderably; the mouth is opened, the
swung from side to side, by which
J means the saliva is lashed into foam
and collects at the angles of the mouth
and around it. This is followed by
a peculiar clucking noise which oc-
ours at the moment of swallowing air
The vice or trick may be completely
cured at the commencement by re-
moving the animal from familiar biting
places, by putting him into loose box
instead of a stall, by feeding in a
trough on the ground or on the ground
itself, in a brick or stone built box
with nothing to lay hold on, by run
at grass, or feeding only with long
stuff, which occupies much time and
gives the fullest functional activity to
the salivary glands and some amount
of fatigue to the muscles of deglut-
ton.
Punishment only answers while a
person is present, and it is observed
that many horses do it only when they
think they are not observed Increased
labor and loss of time for amusement
offer a cure in some cases. Other
remedies tried are movable managers,
used only when feeding close-ftting
muzzles, throat straps of various de-
signs. but all acting on the principle of
producing pressure on the muscles
chiefly concerned in wind-sucking
That the strap is the most efficient
remedy probably most will argue. and
that any objections to its use are out
weighed by the results. Its habitual
use tells its own tale to purchasers
who may see the mark on the poll if
there is nothing to show on the throat
IN buying horses one should look for
seeti rounded by crib-biting as well
is for marks of the strap.