crib

crib

a rack or manger in a stable.

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crib-biting

a neurosis or acquired habit in stabled horses characterized by stereotypic behavior. The horse grasps a solid object with its incisor teeth, arches the neck, pulls upwards and backwards and swallows air. The consequences are eroded teeth, occasionally gastric distention and severe weight loss. Called also wind-sucking, cribbing.

Incisor teeth of a crib biter. By permission from Knottenbelt DC, Pascoe RR, Diseases and Disorders of the Horse, Saunders, 2003

crib-biting operation

partial myectomy of the sternohyoideus muscle prevents ventral flexion of the head; not commonly performed. An alternative procedure involves neurectomy of the spinal accessory nerve.