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DISEASES OF HORSES.

or inflammatory colic, when improperly treated or long continued. It is usually very sudden in its attack.

The causes of colic are not always apparent. It is sometimes occasioned by intestinal stones, which accumulate to a great size, remaining for years in the cells of the colon, until some accidental displacement occasions an interruption to the peristaltic motion. Cold in various forms is a parent of colic; but under the form of cold water given when a horse is hot, it is most common. In some horses it is so frequent as to become a constitutional appendage.

The distinguishing marks between colic and inflammation of the bowels are gained, occording to Blaine, by attending to the following circumstances. In gripes the horse has violent fits of pain but they remit, and he has intervals of ease. The pain in red colic is more uniform and less violent. In gripes, the pulse is, in general, natural; in red colic it is quicker than natural, and commonly small. The extremities are not usually cold in gripes; in red colic they usually are. In gripes, the horse attempts to roll on his back, which in red colic he seldom does. There are no marks of fever with gripes, as red eyelids, inflamed nostrils, &c. but in red colic they are always present. When the complaint has continued some hours it is always proper to bleed to prevent its ending in inflammation: bleeding in the mouth is quite useless. Back-rake, and throw up clysters of warm water, one after another as fast as possible, which often overcomes the irritation. La Fosse recommends a curious remedy, but as it can always be obtained, and has the sanction of long experience, it may be tried. An onion is pounded and mixed up with some powdered savin; in default of which, use powdered ginger. This is to be introduced up the rectum as high as possible, and the horse is to be then moved briskly about. An onion put up the fundament whole has long been a domestic remedy. The following is recommended by Blaine: spirit of vitriolic ather, an ounce; powdered opium, one drachm; oil of turpentine, three ounces; warm ale, a pint. He also recommends the following more simple remedy as always at hand: the expressed juice of two or three large onions; common gin, common oil, of each half a pint; mix and give. White recommends a pint of brandy, or of gin, with water, as an excellent carminative. Clark, who has expressly written on gripes, extols the virtues of a mixture thus made; which, if it have the qualities he attributes to it, and which there is no reason to doubt, no agriculturalist, coach, or post master should be without it: pimento berry, called also allspice, ground fine, half a pound; spirits of wine, and of water, of each a pint and a half; infuse these together, and keep it for use. Give a quarter of a pint every hour until full relief is obtained; hand-rubbing, wisping, or fomenting the bowels with hot water at the time.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS OR RED COLIC, is a very distinct disease from the gripes, gullion, or fret, with which it is, however, very apt to be confounded to the destruction of many horses. The peritoneal inflammation of the bowels, the one here treated on, is an affection of their outer covering.

The causes are various. It is not unfrequently brought on by a sudden translation of cold after great heats, as swimming during hunting, or from the removal of a horse from grass at once into heated stables, clothing and hard food; neglected gripes, or long continued costiveness, excessive riding, and the immediate drinking of cold water, have brought it on. It begins by restlessness, loss of appetite, some uneasiness; the

DISEASES OF HORSES.

mouth is hot and dry, the inner membranes of the mouth, nose and eyelids are often redder than natural. As the disease advances, the pain, before not violent, now increases, so as to force the horse to lie down and rise again frequently; and when very violent, he kicks at his belly, or looks round at his sides, pawing his litter very frequently. The pulse is usually small, quick, or hard; sometimes it is more full and small, but always hard. Breathing is quickened, the extremities are alternately hot and cold, but continue longer cold than hot; and the animal is costive: sometimes pain may force away a few hardened balls of fæces, but the principal contents are retained. Blaine has given the distinguishing features between this disease and colic, under which head we have stated them.

The treatment must be active and immediate, or a fatal termination may be expected. Begin by abstracting a considerable quantity of blood; from a large horse to the amount of seven or eight quarts; proceed to back-rake, throw up a large clyster of warm gruel. Give by the mouth, a pint of castor oil, mixed by the means of the yolk of two eggs, with half a pint of broth or gruel. Or, give olive oil instead, following it up in half an hour by a gruel drench in which six ounces of Epsom salts have been dissolved. A sheep skin, immediately as it is removed from the sheep, may be applied to the belly, which should first be well rubbed with the strong liquid blister. (Vet. Pha. 13.) In four hours repeat the bleeding, if considerable improvement have not taken place, and if the bowels be not unloaded, give more oil, and clyster frequently, having first back-raked. Avoid exercise; first hand-rub, and afterwards wrap up the extremities to the knees. As a clear passage for the dung is found, the symptoms mitigate, and the animal slowly recovers; but he must be fed at first very sparingly.

LAMPAS. All horses, but particularly very young ones, are liable to enlargement of the rugæ or ridges of the palate, dependent not on any local disease confined to the part itself, but occasionally by an affection of the whole passage of the mouth, throat, and stomach. It is usual to attend to the part only, which is scarified or burnt to little purpose, when a mild dose of physic, or gentle alteratives, would prove more certain expedients; to which may be added rubbing the part with bay salt, or with vinegar.

BRIDLE SORES. When the bit in colt breaking, or in hard pulling horses, has hurt the bars, care is requisite to prevent the bone becoming carious. Touch daily with ægyptiacum, and cover the bit with leather, unless total rest can be allowed.

POLE EVIL. This complaint commonly requires the attendance of an experienced practitioner-but the prevention is often in the power of owners and others about horses, and to this point we shall particularly direct their attention. Pole evil is commonly the effect of accident. Repeated small blows of the manger, or continued pressure from hanging back on the haltre, &c. will, if not remedied, produce swelling at the nape of the neck, with some tenderness. In this early state, if the collar be removed and the part be kept continually wet with vinegar and water, the swelling will often disperse-but if, in spite of this, it proceeds to suppuration, let a vent be made for the matter by a seton [116] so that it may readily flow out. Introduce nothing healing, but encourage a free discharge, and it may heal at once. When such is not the issue, the disease attacks the ligaments; sinuses form, and the matter burrows

DISEASES OF HORSES.

under the skin and muscles, when a seton must be introduced from the opening above and should be brought out at the bottom; the seton should be then daily wetted with the liquid blister. (Vet. Pha. 13.) Should this plan fail, escharotics will be required in the form of scalding mixture. (Vet. Pha. 37.)

STRANGUARY or suppression of urine; incontinence of urine; bloody urine. Stranguary may arise from an injury done to the kidneys, or to the bladder, by strains, or by the absorption of irritating matters. In these cases, bleed if there be fever, and if not merely give the horse absolute rest; mash him, give gruel, and warm his water for drink. Bloody urine should be treated in the same way; some horses have such a natural or acquired weakness of the kidneys, as to stale blood with their urine on every occasion of over exertion: the means frequently used for relief, are such as aggravate the complaint, and indeed are often the occasion of it, which are diuretics. Strong diuretics injure horses more than strong physic, and benefit them less than any other of the popular means made use of. In retention of urine, but particularly in cases of bloody urine, they are absolutely improper.

MANGE. This is a contagious disease, not uncommon among low bred and badly kept horses, but which is seldom generated in those properly managed. When it is the effect of impoverished blood, a different course of feeding must be substituded, not heating, but cooling though generous; as carrots, speared oats, malt mashes, stable soiling, &c. When it arises in full fed horses, bleed twice, lower the feeding, substituting for corn, soiling, carrots, or bran mashes. Give a nightly alterative (Vet. Pha. No. 1 or 2) and dress with either of the mange dressings. (Vet. Pha. 43.) After a cure has been effected, carefully clean all the apartments with soap and water.

GLANDERS. This is a disease which is highly infectious, but which according to Loudon is extremely difficult if not impossible to cure. The marks of glanders are a discharge of purulent matter from ulcers situated in one or both nostrils, more often from the left than the right. This discharge soon becomes glairy, thick, and white-of-egg-like: it afterwards shows bloody streaks, and is fœtid. The glands of the jaw of the affected side, called the kernels, swell from an absorption of the virus or poison, and as they exist or do not exist, or as they adhere to the bone or are detached from it, so some prognosis is vainly attempted by farriers, with regard to the disease; for in some few cases these glands are not at all affected, and in a great many they are not bound down by the affection of the jaw. As there are many diseases which excite a secretion of matter from the nose, and which is kept up a considerable time; so it is not always easy to detect glanders in its early stages. Strangles and violent colds, keep up a discharge from the nostrils for weeks sometimes. In such cases a criterion may be drawn from the existence of ulceration within the nose, whenever the disease has become confirmed. These glanderous chancres are to be seen on opening the nostril a little way up the cavity, sometimes immediately opposed to the opening of the nostril; but a solitary chancre should not determine the judgment. The health often continues good and sometimes the condition also, until hectic takes place from absorption, and the lungs participate, when death soon closes the scene.

The treatment of glanders, it has been already stated, is so uncertain that it is hardly worth the attempt; however, when the extreme value of

DISEASES OF HORSES.

the horse or the love of experiment leads to it, it may be regarded as fixed by experience, that nothing but a long course of internal remedies, drawn from the mineral acids, can effect it. These have been tried in their endless variety: White recommends the mildest preparations of mercury, as æthiops mineral; under the conviction that the more acrid preparations disturb the powers of the constitution so much, as to destroy as effectually as the disease. At the veterinary college the sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) has been long in use. Others have used the sulphates of iron and zinc. Clark recommends the daily administration of a drink or ball, composed of the following ingredients: sulphate of zinc, 15 grains; powdered cantharides, grains; powdered allspice, 15 grains; of which he gives one or two extraordinary proofs of utility.

SHOULDER STRAINS. These are very rare, most of the lameness attributed to the shoulder belonging to the other parts, and particularly to the feet. Out of one hundred and twenty cases of lameness before, Blaine found that three only arose from ligamentary or muscular extension of the shoulder, or rather of the adductor and sustaining muscles: when shoulder strain does happen, it is commonly the consequence of some slip, by which the arm is forced violently forwards. It is less to be wondered at than at first seems probable, that farriers mistake foot lameness for shoulder strains, when we reflect that a contracted foot occasions inaction, and favoring of the limb; which thus wastes the muscles of the shoulder. Seeing that one shoulder is smaller than the other, the evil is attributed to that, and it is pegged, blistered, swam, and fired, to the torture of the animal and the increase of the foot's contraction by the confinement. In real shoulder strains, the toe is dragged along the ground while in motion; at rest it is planted forward, but resting on the point of the toe. When the lameness is in the foot, the horse points his foot forward also, but he does so with the whole limb unbent, and the foot flat. These differences are highly necessary to be attended to, as well as the peculiar difficulty there is in moving down hill, which he does with reluctance, and by swinging his leg round to avoid flexing it. This lameness may be further brought to the test by lifting up the foreleg considerbly, which if the evil be in the shoulder, will give evident pain. The muscles between the fore legs are likewise tumified and tender in these cases.

The treatment consists, when it is recent, in bleeding in the plate vein, rowelling in the chest, and fomenting with hot water two or three times a day. When the heat and tenderness have subsided, first bathe daily with the astringent wash for strains (Vet. Pha. No. 6,) for a week; and afterwards, if necessary, proceed to blister in the usual manner.

GALLS. When a horse is galled by the saddle or harness, or when he is chafed between the arm and chest, an accident, which frequently happens in travelling through muddy roads, the following lotion will be found servicable:-Sulphate of zinc, one ounce; superacetate of lead, one ounce; water, one quart.

WIND GALLS. When wind galls make their first appearance, they are easily cured by a bath and bandage. Boil red oak bark to a strong decoction, add some sharp vinegar and a little allum, let the parts be fomented twice a day, warm as the hand can be held in it; then take a woollen cloth, dip it in the bath, and bind the ancle up, tight as possible, without giving pain to the horse.

Should this method not succeed, after a thorough trial, the swelled or

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DISEASES OF HORSES.

puffed parts may be opened with a sharp knife, but blistering with flies is less dangerous, and generally attended with equal success.

RING BONE. This is a hard and bony substance which generally reaches half way round the ancle, and causes a horse to go stiff and lame. When it first makes its appearance an application of corrosive sublimate added to Spanish flies and Venice turpentine mixed with hog's lard may be useful. But, when a ring bone has attained to its full size, we know of no remedy.

BROKEN WIND. This when once fastened upon a horse, admits not probably of a perfect cure, but may be relieved in a measure, by a careful attention to diet. The food should be compact and nutritious. Corn is better than oats, and old hay, which has been well kept, better than new. During the grass season, the disease often almost disappears, but recurs in the winter, during which, potatoes may be given to advantage; also carrots, parsnips, and beet roots. Molasses in small quantities has been recommended, also tar water; but more dependence probably, may be placed on lime water. In case the symptomatic cough be troublesome, bleeding will be found highly advantageous.

FOUNDER. 66 A horse may be foundered," says Mason, in his excellent work entitled, "Gentlemen's New Pocket Farrier," and which we take the liberty to recommend to our readers, "by excessive hard rides, permitting him to plunge deep into cold water, while hot and sweating, and drinking his fill of cold pond water, eating large quantities of new corn and fodder, and then briskly exercised; over-feeding with bran alone whilst performing hard labor, drinking plentifully at every branch in travelling, feeding with more than a horse can eat after being half starved, violent exercise on a full belly, or not permitting a horse who has travelled in a hot sun all day, to cool thoroughly before he is given as much as he can eat, drink, &c.

Symptoms of a Founder.-The symptoms that indicate an approaching founder, are so few and so common, that the most ignorant persons will rarely be mistaken. Great heat about the legs, pasterns and ears, a soreness in the feet, together with a stiffness so great in all his limbs, that the animal frequently refuses to move, unless force is used-his flanks and lower part of his belly draws up, his hide becomes bound or tight, his legs thrown a little more forward than in his usual or natural position; a constant thirst, and very often a considerable swelling of the ancles, &c. &c.

Remedy for a Founder.-So soon as you are convinced that your horse is foundered, take from his neck vein at least one gallon of blood; give a drench of one quart strong sassafras tea, one table spoonful of salt petre, and a quarter of an ounce of assafoetida, and do not permit him to drink for five or six hours; at the expiration of which time, should he not be evidently better, repeat the bleeding, taking half a gallon of blood, and give another drench: at night offer him some bran or oats, scalded with sassafras tea, and if it can be procured, let him have green food, fresh from the field, for it has the happy effect of opening the bowels and cooling the system: his feet should be nicely cleaned out and stuffed with fresh cow manure his drink should be at least one half sassafras tea, with a small handful of salt thrown therein.

By the morning should the horse be better, nothing further is necessary, only being careful not to over feed him. But should there be no change for the better, tie a small cord just above his knees, and with a lancet or

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