.—A horse is said to be crest-fallen, when the part running from the withers to the ears, and upon which the mane grows, is impoverished, and wasted, from the natural prominence of its beautiful curve, to a state of reverse hollowness or indentation. This is generally accompanied by a total emaciation, brought on by very bad support, or neglect under different degrees of disease. The firmness and corresponding curve of the crest is almost invariably a tolerable criterion of the health and condition of the horse; and a judicious inspector seldom omits this part of the examination. If the flesh upon the crest is firm, solid, and not flabbily soft, or fluctuating, it is a good sign of constitutional strength; but a horse having a low, bare, indented crest, will always have a poor, weak, and impoverished appearance, doing his owner no credit. This defect, however, proceeds more from penurious keep, and temporary starvation, than any cause or defect in Nature, and may always be expeditiously remedied by liberal support, and nutritious invigoration.
CRIB-BITING
—is a habit acquired by some horses, of incessantly biting the manger, and gulping the wind; which appears, from observation, to be more prejudicial to character, than to bodily exertion. It is said, "young horses are most subject to it; and that it is often occasioned by uneasiness in breeding of teeth, and from being ill fed when they are hungry. The bad consequences are wearing away their teeth, spilling their corn, and sucking the air in such quantities, as will often give them the cholic or gripes."
It is certain a crib-biter never appears high in flesh, or so full in condition as horses that are not so; and so prejudicial is it considered by many, that they will not admit a horse to be perfectly sound if sold with this infirmity. Opinions vary upon the difference it makes respecting the labor and fatigue a horse of this description can undergo; some asserting that "the defect keeps him weak, languid, and unable to endure much work:" while others as strenuously insist upon its being in no way whatever prejudicial.
"Who shall decide when doctors disagree?"
CROPPING
—is the operation of taking off the ears, which was till very lately performed with a knife and wooden mould, rendering it both tedious and painful: it is, however, now very much improved by the invention of an instrument admirably adapted to the purpose, by which the separation of the ear is almost instantaneous. It is only adopted where horses are lop-eared, and bear the appearance of mules about the head. As the operation is at best but a cruel mutilation, every humane and tender mind will think it "more honored in the breach than the observance."
CROWN-SCAB
—is a partial appearance about the coronet of a horse, varying in different subjects, according to the state of the object diseased. It partakes a little of the disorder called grease, to which, if unattended to, it would soon degenerate; being a species of that defect, but in an inferior degree. In some it appears as a scurfy eruption, raising the hair, and turning it different ways, from whence soon oozes a kind of oily ichor, fœtid in smell, and greasy in appearance: in others, the discharge is thinner, and more watery, according to the greater or less degree of morbidity in the frame, or acrimony in the blood. It has been a practice with the old school to counteract its effects by vitriolic lotions, slight styptics, and strong repellents: scientific disquisition will not, however, justify such treatment, but recommend daily mollification with warm oatmeal gruel and a soft sponge; when which is wiped gently dry with a soft linen cloth, it may be very mildly impregnated with camphorated spermacæti ointment, and the cure assisted by mercurial physic, diuretic balls, or a course of antimonial alterative powders.