THE THROAT--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.
SORE THROAT.
[Illustration: WITH AND WITHOUT THE BEARING-REIN.]
There is, among horse owners, much dispute as to the proper mode of
harnessing a horse. Gentility has no feeling either for itself or with
any of the many lives by which it is surrounded; this vice of modern
time delights in labored imposture, and is always best pleased when it
is mistaken for something that it is not. Gentility favors the use of a
bearing-rein in the horse's harness. The object is to keep up the head,
and to give to an animal with a ewe neck the aspect of one having a lofty
crest. The artifice is very transparent; it should deceive nobody save
him who is foolish enough to adopt it; but it deprives the poor horse of
no little of its natural power. Gentlemen's coachmen complain of the work
when their horses are driven ten miles daily, although the distance may
be repeatedly broken by visits and by shopping. The cabs of London can
only employ the horses which gentlemen have discarded; with these last
vehicles, however, no bearing-reins are adopted. The cast-off animal that
previously fagged over ten miles, when reduced to the rank, has to pull
loads which no genteel carriage would carry, and to travel a sufficient
distance to pay horse, driver, conveyance, and proprietor. In the
possibility of such a contrast is, perhaps, best exemplified the cruelty
of the bearing-rein.
When the fine structure of the horse's body is regarded, and we reflect
that a creature of so beautiful a frame is by man's will taken from the
fields, where every bite of grass is of a different flavor--now hot and
pungent by an admixture of the buttercup, then cool and bland by the
marsh-mallow mingling with the morsel--where, unknown as yet to toil, such
sustenance is sufficient for growth and idleness; when we consider that
an animal is suddenly snatched from such a diet, every mouthful of which
was endowed not only with a varied taste, but with a change of perfume;
when we feebly conjecture how grateful this ever-varying savor must have
rendered herbage to any being possessed of the admirable sense of smell
with which the equine species are gifted, it can create but small surprise
that, when taken into stables, put to exhausting labor, and day after
day made to eat a stinted allowance of dry food, the sameness of the
diet and the change in habit should occasionally derange the digestion.
=Sore throat= is, however, frequently a sign of some graver disorder; the
affection should, therefore, be cautiously treated as a local malady.
When it is present, the symptoms are a constant deglutition of saliva, a
want of appetite, accompanied by an inability to swallow liquids. The pail
being presented, the act of drinking is accomplished with evident effort;
the drops are forced down by a series of jerks, which are often made more
emphatic by an audible accompaniment. Notwithstanding this labor, only a
portion of the fluid enters the gullet, the greater part returning by the
nostrils.
[Illustration: A HORSE WITH SORE THROAT ENDEAVORING TO DRINK.]
So soon as this is observed, throw the horse up, for sore throat is
always attended with weakness. Clothe fully, bandage the legs, place in a
well-ventilated and amply littered loose box; feed upon green meat for a
couple of days, at the same time always having present a pail of thick,
well-made gruel, which should be regularly changed, thrice daily. Morning,
noon, and night, a pottle of bruised oats, with a handful of old beans
distributed among them, should be scalded, and, when blood-warm, placed in
the manger.
Frequently, this is all that is required, and the disorder is well cured,
which yields without medicine. Should the bowels prove obstinate, and
after the second day continue constipated, a mild dose of solution of
aloes should be administered.
Solution of aloes Four ounces.
Essence of aniseed Half an ounce.
Water One pint.
Mix, and give.
This, with the diet previously recommended, is rarely required, as the
food alone, so far as the author's experience can justify an opinion,
never fails in relaxing the body. However, should the sore throat remain,
dissolve half an ounce of extract of belladonna in one gallon of water.
Hold up the head of the animal and put half a pint of this liquid into
the mouth; allow the fluid to be retained for thirty seconds, then take
away the support, and the medicine will run from the lips. Repeat this
frequently, or from six to eight times during the day.
If the soreness of the throat should appear indisposed to heal, but, on
the contrary, should seem inclined to spread, lose no time in resorting
to the next preparation. Permanganate of potash, (prepared by Squires,
chemist, of Oxford Street,) half a pint; distilled water, one gallon;
half a pint to be used to cleanse the horse's mouth, in the manner just
directed for diluted belladonna, six times daily, or--
Chloride of zinc Three drachms.
Extract of belladonna Half an ounce.
Tincture of capsicums Two drachms.
Water One gallon.
Mix, and use as directed for the previous recipe.
Occasionally the disease does not spread, but, in spite of our best
endeavors, it will remain stationary. Then try the brewers' stout. Give
one quart morning and evening. However, see that the animal has the beer,
for men are partial to that fluid, even more than horses. Should no change
be remarked in forty-eight hours, blister the throat. Do this with one
part of powdered cantharides soaked for a month in seven parts of olive
oil, adding to the whole one part by weight of camphor. Rub this oil,
when filtered through blotting paper, into the throat for ten minutes in
summer, and a quarter of an hour in winter.
All the endeavors may be useless. Then cast the horse. Have ready some
nitrate of silver, dissolved in distilled water--five grains of the active
salt to one ounce of the fluid. Saturate in the solution a sponge four
inches wide, tied on to the end of a stick eighteen inches long. Have the
sponge made as dry as possible without squeezing it. Put a balling iron
into the mouth. Insert the sponge through the iron, and having pushed it
down to the back of the tongue, rapidly press it against the side of the
cavity. Be prepared for what you are about to do, and do it quickly. The
operation stops the breathing, and calls forth the resistance which is
natural to impending suffocation.
The horse being released, give the following ball, in addition to the
stout, twice each day:--
Powdered oak bark and treacle, a sufficiency of each to form a mass.
If none of these measures are successful, the sore throat must be the
symptom only of some greater disorder, and all local remedies, in that
case, must be ingulfed in the general treatment. However, it is not every
measure which will cure every sore throat. In young horses, when first
taken from the pure air into the contaminated atmosphere of most stables,
such affections are common; but in old animals they are generally most
severe. It is a usual plan to turn a horse out to grass when afflicted
with obstinate sore throat: this is cruel. The animal, whose labor we
enjoyed during its health, has a positive claim on us for kindness and for
care when overtaken by disease. Moreover, those who laugh at the above may
become serious, when they are informed that animals turned to grass for
sore throat are not unfrequently taken up virulently glandered. So closely
are moral duty and self-interest associated, when the operation of both is
rightly considered.
COUGH.
=Cough= is too often caused by unhealthy lodging. Few stables are
perfectly drained and ventilated; the very great majority are close with
impurity. No surprise, then, need be exhibited, if the entrance to the
air-passages should display disease, when an animal, so naturally cleanly,
is imprisoned in the space man is too thoughtless to keep uncontaminated.
The larynx is the seat of cough, when the affection exists by itself,
although the annoyance is often a symptom of some other derangement, and
may then spring from laryngeal sympathy with some comparatively remote
organ. It may arise from a very trivial cause, as teething; or it may be
a sign attendant on the worst of disorders, as farcy and glanders. Broken
wind, roaring, laryngitis, bronchitis, chronic diseases of the lungs,
stomach, bowels, worms, etc. etc., all are attended by cough, which is
more frequently present as a symptom than as a disease. Hot stables,
coarse and dusty provender, rank bedding, and irregular work, are the
general provocatives of cough, as a distinct affection.
The name is evidently derived from the noise which constitutes the chief
symptom of the disorder. Cough consists in spasm of all the muscles of
expiration. The air is violently expelled, and an explosive sound is the
consequence. During this spasm, the soft palate is raised, and the breath
is allowed to pass through the mouth as well as through the nostrils. The
horse, as a rule, being able only to respire through the nostrils.
[Illustration: THE ACT OF COUGHING.]
The characteristic noise is generally annoying to the master. Warmth,
however, is popularly esteemed the cure for cold. The horse proprietor,
therefore, thrusts his animal into an abode heated by impurity, only to
find the annoyance aggravated. This fact is soon explained. Stables are
not heated by fire or by water; their warmth is entirely derived from the
fermentation of excrement. Were they well ventilated, efficiently built
and cleanly kept, these places, having no artificial heat, must be cold;
but the owner loves warmth; it feels so comfortable; it is so nice! He
does not inquire if it is derived from the right source; he hates the
bother of investigating. Nothing can be proper if you are to consult
medical men! They talk and discuss, but no good comes of their verbosity!
And by such sayings, the horse proprietor blinds his judgment, permitting
to continue the evil which ignorance institutes. =Chronic cough= cannot,
when thus treated, amend. It continues till the membrane covering the
larynx be thickened and morbidly sensitive; then the cough is an appendage
to the life, and roaring is its companion.
For the cure of chronic cough, scald and crush the oats, damp the hay,
and give thin gruel or linseed tea for drink. At the same time see
that the air is pure: the human nose is a sufficiently good test of
atmosphere--that of the stable should not smell of horses, or of any taint
whatever. If the ventilation is good, the drainage clear, and the bedding
clean, the interior of a stable should be as odorless as any lady's
apartment.
Cough, or the noise which accompanies stages of different disorders, will
be described as the various affections of which it is a symptom are passed
before the reader. Chronic cough, or the sound that follows a draught of
cold water, and is heard when the horse quits the stable for the open
air, is most distressing. It is a constant accompaniment during the
commencement of a journey, and requires that the food and lodging should
be looked to. Clothe warmly, and give half a pint of the following, in a
tumbler of cold water, thrice daily:--
Extract of belladonna (rubbed down in a pint of
cold water) One drachm.
Tincture of squills Ten ounces.
Tincture of ipecacuanha Eight ounces.
Mix.
If no beneficial change be witnessed, try the subjoined:--
Barbadoes tar (or common tar if none other be at hand) Half an ounce.
Calomel Five grains.
Linseed meal A sufficiency.
Mix, and give as one ball, night and morning.
Should no improvement result, the next may be substituted:--
Powdered aloes One drachm.
Balsam of copaiba Three drachms.
Cantharides Three grains.
Common mass A sufficiency.
Mix, and give first thing in the morning.
A bundle of cut grass, every day, has done much good in the spring; so,
also, has a lump of rock salt placed in the manger, during any season of
the year. The horse, however, should be observed. If it eat the litter,
no straw, during the daytime, should cover the stall; and, at night, a
muzzle should be fixed upon the animal. The cough must be more than of a
simple character which does not vanish before the proposed measures are
exhausted. Cut roots, also, are beneficial during this disease. The hay
should not be abundant, and should always be moistened. But, above all
things, attend to the drainage and ventilation of the stable.
LARYNGITIS.
The common cause of this disorder is foul stables. When we see the animal
associated with the nobleman in his pride, and linked as the willing slave
of the merchant for his profit, it does seem strange that a creature,
thus connected, should be subject to disease from scant and tainted
lodging. When we consider the subject from another point of view, and
regard the beautiful framework, animated by the affectionate disposition
of the horse, it sounds more than cruel, to say the most valuable and
amiable assistant man has on earth dies neglected in age, and, during
the vigor of its prime, encounters disease from the niggard provision
made for its welfare. The devotion of a life ought to entitle the laborer
to breathing space, after the labor of the day has ended. But noblemen,
professional men, merchants, tradesmen, mechanics, all sin in this respect
alike. The horse, when not toiling, is pushed away into the narrowest
possible limits. The prisoner is permitted only to breathe a limited
quantity of the air which nature has supplied in so great abundance and
in such purity. That quantity must, from the time of close confinement,
be frequently respired during the night; and, when the air of the place
has become hot and heavy, the quadruped, at the command of its attendant,
quits its abode for the cold atmosphere without the walls.
The pure air which circulates about our globe is certainly much to be
preferred to the close interior of the stable. Yet, to the larynx, in
some measure accustomed to the last, a sudden draught of the first is
the almost certain source of disease. It acts as a stimulant upon a part
rendered delicate by abiding in a morbid medium. It operates violently
upon a structure which had almost become familiarized with impurity.
Inflammation is the result, and laryngitis is established.
The symptoms are broadly marked and prominently characterized. Dullness is
present. There is a slight enlargement, which may be observed externally,
and over the region of the larynx. The most distant attempt to handle
the throat produces energetic resistance. The head is carried awkwardly,
as though the neck were "stiff." A short cough is frequently to be heard
almost at every inspiration. At the same time, there is often to be
detected a hoarse sound, which becomes a sort of grunt, when the ear is
placed against the trachea. The breath is hurried and catching; the pulse
is full and throbbing; while the nasal membrane approaches to a scarlet
hue.
[Illustration: THE STEAMING-BAG.
For a full description see p. 85.]
The pulse requires the first attention. It must be rendered less frequent
and more soft, by drachm doses of tincture of aconite root in wineglasses
of water, which should be repeated every half hour. This is better than
blood-letting, as laryngitis is to be most dreaded because of its tendency
to assume the chronic form. This tendency venesection favors; therefore,
save under professional advice, refrain from bleeding.
After the pulse, the breathing next demands our care. Warmth and
moisture are curative and pleasant to an inflamed surface. Procure the
steaming-bag, and keep it almost constantly applied. The steaming-bag in
laryngitis is of the first importance. A day's delay in its use may so
aggravate the disorder as to oblige the resort to tracheotomy.
Should the steaming apparatus appear to distress the animal, it must be
used only for a limited period, and be reapplied after its effect has
subsided. To aid its operation, some soft hay must be obtained. Soak this
in boiling water and fix it upon the throat, by means of an eight-tailed
bandage, a representation of which is given below.
[Illustration: EIGHT-TAILED BANDAGE.
A piece of stout canvas or flannel, one yard and a quarter long, and
nine inches wide, is procured. Three slits are to be made at either
end; each should be a quarter of a yard deep. This is placed round
the throat and the ends are tied, four in front of, and four behind,
the ears.
]
So soon as the animal appears capable of enduring interference, the
appended drink should be given thrice daily. While administering it, watch
the horse with the utmost attention. If the slightest inclination to cough
be exhibited, immediately lower the head, or the liquid may, during the
spasm, be drawn down the windpipe. It is far better to lose much physic
than to kill one animal. It will, generally, be more readily swallowed,
if made blood warm: on no account should the twitch be used or the jaws
be forced widely asunder. The neck of the bottle should be inserted into
the corner of the mouth, and the quadruped should be permitted to use its
discretion as to the time occupied before each gulp is swallowed.
Infusion of squills Two ounces.
Infusion of ipecacuanha Two ounces.
Infusion of aconite Half an ounce.
Extract of belladonna One drachm, rubbed down with a
pint of warm water.
Mix, and give thrice daily.
The lodging should be a cool, well-aired and thickly-littered loose box.
The legs ought to be bandaged and the body fully clothed. The food, during
the violence of the disorder, must consist only of well-made gruel. It may
be untouched; but, nevertheless, it must be changed, thrice daily, for no
one can tell when the appetite may return.
The signs of the disease becoming worse are, increased noise in the
breathing; the respiration and pulse quicken; the cough is suppressed; the
nasal membrane changes to a leaden hue; the standing becomes unsteady; the
horse moves about; partial sweats break forth, etc.
The symptoms of improvement are, the membrane becoming paler, or more
natural in color; the cough growing freer or louder; a white, thick
discharge flowing from the nostrils; the breathing, also, is easier and
less noisy; together with the general demonstrations of health.
Then a little moist and succulent food may be allowed, but nothing harsh
or fibrous should be presented. When the amendment is confirmed, a seton,
or, in other words, a piece of tape, may be put between the skin and
flesh, in the place indicated by one of the next engravings.
The seton should be moved daily, and ought to be kept in so long only as
is necessary for the secretion of healthy pus. That object being obtained,
cut off one of the knots, and by pulling at the other, withdraw the agent.
Some slight alteration is next made in the solidity or dryness of the
food; and then the neck or throat is blistered, the size and extent of the
blister being indicated in a subjoined illustration.
[Illustration: A SETON IN THE THROAT OF A HORSE.]
[Illustration: A HORSE WITH THE THROAT BLISTERED.]
The action of the vesicatory having subsided, the natural food may be
returned to, only with certain cautions. The hay must be shaken out,
to remove dust, and it should also be picked, to take away any harsh
substances, pieces of stick, or thistle leaves. Then, the fodder being
perfectly clean, should be sprinkled with water and allowed to remain
soaking, at least six hours prior to its being placed before the animal.
The oats, likewise, should be twice sifted and once examined thoroughly by
the hand. Afterward, warm water ought to be freely poured upon them, and
the grain be permitted to soak six hours before being put into the manger.
The popular opinion declares sore throat to be always present during
laryngitis. That notion springs from the horse always quidding, or
rejecting the pellet it has masticated, while suffering under an attack
of the last-mentioned disease. The two disorders, however, are distinct;
likewise the remedies for each are separate. The =quidding=, during
=laryngitis=, springs from the act of deglutition, obliging the sore
and inflamed larynx to rise and press the pellet against the roof of
the fauces. That act occasions much pain; hence the aversion to swallow
solid substances. Sore throat is, however, by no means the necessary
accompaniment of laryngitis. Neither are the bowels invariably confined
during the disease. It has been known that the purgation existed in such
energy as to require remedies. Consequently, no absolute plan of treatment
can be laid down. However, depletion should be avoided to every extent
which may be possible. The chronic form of the malady, consequent upon
debility, is to be much dreaded. Effusion into the membrane, covering the
rim of the larynx and its attendant roaring, is too frequently the result
of that weakness which is produced by active measures. Among the lesser
evils are cough, which not unfrequently proves but the precursor of more
potent ills. Therefore, while laryngitis lasts, rather check the fever by
gentle measures than resort to antimonials, niter, or the host of lowering
agents.
[Illustration: A HORSE IN THE ACT OF QUIDDING.]
So soon as the case is observed, change the stable: the horse will do
far better in the open air than in the foul atmosphere which originated
and must aggravate the disorder. Rain, snow, or frost are more wholesome
than the polluted warmth man's most humble slave is too often doomed to
inhale. The roofs of many stables are terribly low; in no building of
this kind is the covering too high. The welfare of the horse seems always
sacrified to the imaginary interests of its master. Thus, above the
stable is built a loft for the hay and a residence for the groom. To save
expense, the building is raised as small a distance from the ground as
possible. The height of modern buildings would be by no means extravagant,
were an entire stable of ordinary dimensions left free for a single
quadruped to breathe in. A puerile parsimony, however, denies the huge
lungs of the animal the only food life cannot do without, for even a short
space. Disease and death consequently soon waste treble the money ample
accommodation would not have consumed. Ignorance is the most expensive
quality a proprietor of horse-flesh can indulge; for nature invariably
refuses to be made subject to man's convenience.
ROARING.
A horse is said to roar when, during progression, he emits any unnatural
sound. The noise is not exactly of the same intensity in any two animals.
Some creatures roar so loud as to attract attention from the foot
passengers; others have so trivial a defect in this particular, that
it can only be detected after a breathing gallop. In all, however, it
materially lessens the value.
It is usual to cough horses suspected of being =roarers=; this, however,
is wrong. The constant pinching of the larynx may induce the affection.
The cough of a confirmed roarer, however, is peculiar. It consist of a
double effort; a spasmodic expulsion of the air, followed by a deep and
audible inspiration.
The best mode of detecting a roarer, where exercise is forbidden or
impossible, is to get a stick and to quietly approach the suspected
animal. Having reached the head, take a short hold of the halter, and all
at once display the weapon, at the same time making a pretense as though
about to use it violently upon the abdomen. The horse in alarm will run
toward the manger, and, if a roarer, the action will be accompanied by an
audible grunt. This proof, taken with the refusal to allow the horse to be
tried, is generally conclusive though by itself the test is by no means
satisfactory. Many horses that are not roarers will sometimes grunt under
the emotion of fear.
Of =roaring= there are two kinds, acute and chronic. =Acute roaring= is
that which is merely symptomatic of a disease. It may be produced by the
tumor of strangles compressing the larynx; by the impediment, in choking,
being situated so high up as to interfere with the breathing; and by many
other causes. In these cases remove the excitant, and the effect will
immediately cease. Acute roaring is, therefore, a very trivial affair,
excepting so far as it indicates the severity of the complaint, which
generates the affection.
=Chronic roaring= is a very different business. This mostly results
from the abuse to which a generous animal is subject, during the early
period of its domestication. A carriage horse may be serviceable, and
even dashing, when the twentieth year has passed; but the vast majority
of these animals perish before maturity is reached. A handsome pair of
Cleveland bays pull some fashionable lady round the park, before their
bones are formed or the teeth perfected. The animals have also to take
their mistress the circle of morning calls, and to be smartly stopped
short at the door of every house she visits, while their sinews are still
soft and yielding. They have to "go faster," when their mistress is in
a hurry, and have to wait her pleasure when she is disposed to linger.
They have to do all this, while their bodies are distorted by the
bearing-rein; the balance of their frames being violently made to conform
to the capricious notions of modern fashion. For the illustration of this
subject, an animal, with a head rather well put on, has been chosen. The
engraving represents a horse undergoing the torture of the bearing-rein.
The next illustration exhibits the horse carrying its head as it would,
were it free to exercise a choice. The reader is not asked which
delineation looks the best. Any appeal to his taste is forborne, because
the generality of eyes are perverted by the dictates of custom.
[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD PULLED UP BY THE BEARING-REIN.]
[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD WITHOUT THE BEARING-REIN.]
But he is asked to inspect the representations. Let him look well and long
at them; then declare which appears most at ease. Let his heart instruct
his eyes, and, to its teaching, let him subject his liking; for there can
be no beauty where constraint is perceptible. In the most vigorous of
the ancient statuary repose may be absent, the muscles may be strained
and the attitude violent; still all the parts balance. "Yes," it may be
replied, "but in the Elgin marbles the horses' heads are thrown back." So
they are; but not fixed back. The horses are ridden without bridles. The
elevation of the head, therefore, denotes spirit, and represents no more
than the action of a moment. The modern carriage horse, whether galloping,
trotting, or standing still, always has the head in one attitude, save
when the muzzle is thrown into the air to ease, for an instant, the pained
angles of the mouth, inhumanly tugged at by the bearing-rein.
Which of the foregoing engravings looks most at ease? Does not the
fashionable horse appear suffering constraint and torture? The face is
disguised and concealed by the harness; but enough is left visible to
suggest the agony compulsion inflicts. "Pride," says the proverb, "has
no feeling." Therefore, no expectation is formed of any appeal to the
fashionable circles; but by the ignorance of the public is this barbarity
licensed. Were the mass properly informed, the hooting of the populace
would soon drive fashion into a more humane usage.
[Illustration: THE HEALTHY LARYNX.
1. The thyro-hyordeus muscle.
2. The crico-thyroideus muscle.
3. The arytenoideus muscle.
4. The crico-arytenoideus posticus muscle.
_a. a._ The thyroid bone.
A. The epiglottis (a cartilage.)
B. The arytenoid cartilages.
C. The thyroid cartilage.
D. The cricoid cartilage.
E. E. E. The commencement of the trachea.
]
[Illustration: THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE BEARING-REIN.
_a._ The healthy arytenoideus muscle.
_b._ The healthy crico-artenoideus posticus muscle.
A. The arytenoideus muscle paralyzed and partially
absorbed by the constant use of the
bearing-rein.
B. The crico-arytenoideus posticus muscle rendered
pallid, and deprived of power by the
use of the bearing-rein.
]
The left engraving represents the larynx in a state of health. The larynx
is the most sensitive organ in the body. If a crumb of bread, a particle
of salt, or a drop of water "go the wrong way," or enter the larynx,
everybody has felt the convulsive coughing that immediately ensues.
Yet this larynx, so exquisitively sensitive, and so resentful of the
lightest touch, is forced out of place and shape by the adoption of the
bearing-rein. The whole weight of the head is made to press against the
larynx; the action of the part is stopped; certain muscles are thrown out
of use. Now, doom a part to constant rest, and paralysis soon results.
This is exactly what follows the often long stoppage of that freedom which
is necessary to the health of any structure. Certain of the muscles are
absorbed; they lose their bulk and part with their color; their function
is destroyed: the consequence is, the horse becomes a confirmed and an
incurable roarer.
So fearful a result, as a life of anguish to any creature, might be
thought sufficient to amend a triviality like the whim of fashion. Still,
sad as that consequence is, it is not all which this folly engenders. The
larynx, sensitive and delicately constructed, is formed upon different
pieces of cartilage. This substance is slowly organized and very yielding.
The structures of the youthful horse's frame are not confirmed. All are
soft, especially a substance naturally semi-elastic. The bearing-rein
forces the head upon the neck; the larynx thereby is compressed. It
assumes strange forms, when it is forced from its natural position. As
maturity arrives, the various structures harden. Then distortion of the
larynx becomes fixed. This organ has been taken from the bodies of old
animals, of the shape here depicted. The morbid specimen, from which
the following was copied, is, unfortunately, too common, as the late
Professor Sewell clearly demonstrated. But, what a price is this to pay
for fashion--to sit for hours behind a noble creature, whose exertions are
adding to our pleasure, and at the same time to be entailing deformity
upon the animal! Physical soundness is of far more importance to the horse
than to the human being. The value of the quadruped, its manner of life,
its kind of treatment, the sufficiency of its food, and the comparative
comfort of its lodging,--all are regulated by the soundness of its body.
[Illustration:
THE TRACHEA AND LARYNX DISTORTED THROUGH THE CONSTANT USE OF THE
BEARING-REIN.
]
[Illustration: THE CABMAN'S REMEDY FOR ROARING.]
There are those who assert roaring is no injury to the powers of a horse.
Certain animals, to be sure, can hunt and keep a good pace, although thus
afflicted; but Nimrod (as the well-known, late sporting writer called
himself) soon found out to his cost that all roarers were not fit to ride
across country. The writer has seen a sailor, deprived of one leg, dance
a hornpipe with wonderful agility; but it would be folly, therefore, to
say sailors were not injured as dancers by the loss of a limb. That which
impedes the free passage of air to the lungs must be a rather serious
detriment to exertion. The cab proprietors of London, who cannot afford to
purchase very sound animals, and then to let them out at so much per day
to strange drivers, have discovered a way to prevent the noise generally
made by roarers. This end is attained by placing a pad under a portion of
the harness. In the following engraving this pad is indicated by a white
mark; though in reality it is so colored as to blend with the coat of the
horse. It presses upon the nostrils near to their openings, and by thus
limiting the extent of their expansion, by controlling the space through
which the air has to pass, it also commands the quantity of atmosphere
which is inspired. Thus the bulk of air is regulated to the diminution
of the respiratory organs. The horse breathes freer, and no noise is
made during the act. Yet, although such a contrivance may do very well
for a London cab, the pace of which is regulated by Act of Parliament,
it evidently is unsuited to the field, where everything depends on the
capacity of the lungs, and nothing upon the sound made during inspiration.
Other causes are mentioned by different writers as provocatives of
roaring, besides tight reining. Some of these, like thickening and
ulceration of the membrane lining the larynx, are the after consequences
of acute disease, and, as such, are to be prevented only by judicious
treatment during the existence of the primary disorder. Among other
causes, bands of coagulable lymph in the trachea, and congenital
deformity, are too rare to deserve the attention they have received.
There is one consolation, however, connected with the subject which
breeders may accept with confidence. Roaring is not necessarily
hereditary. There is, moreover, a caution, which, associated with roaring,
may be given to purchasers. When trying a horse at the top of its speed,
never hold in the reins tightly. By so doing, you draw the head upon
the neck, compress the larynx, and may make almost any animal, however
sound, "roar like a bull." Rather wait till the animal has stopped. Then
dismount, place your ear against the windpipe, and, if the horse is a
roarer, the deep inspirations necessary to tranquilize the system will
inform you plainly enough of the fact.
CHOKING.
Gentlemen have something to answer for, when they employ the knowing
and the ignorant as grooms about their stables. The writer wishes women
would undertake to tend on horses. The animal requires no service that
the female strength would not be equal to, while the female mind would
soon comprehend and appreciate the gentleness of the quadruped. The
timidity of the equine race would meet with womanly sympathy; and no one
can have observed the attachments which spring up between the female and
domesticated creatures, but must in heart have confessed that the care
of the stable was, as much as the watching of the sick-room, especially
woman's province.
The foolish fellows, now congregated about a mews, are constantly longing
for something which shall magically do their work for them. They have a
firm belief in charms and an utter hatred of labor. They sigh for some
spell which shall marvelously improve the appearance of their master's
property without exertions on their parts. Their pride centers in the
blooming coats of their charges. They have a large confidence in all
sorts of condition balls. Such secrets constitute the mystery of their
craft. As a general rule, the faith is proportioned to the strength of the
ingredient. Arsenic is, by the lower order of stable keepers, contemplated
with positive love. Vitriol, in the uneducated groom, engenders the warmth
of passion. Niter breeds delight; and confidence is, by the better sort
of horse attendants, bestowed on any filth or trash. Raw tobacco has
some repute; but the ashes of the weed, collected and wrapped in several
papers, are much more esteemed in the generality of stables. Half a pint
of human urine, forced down the cleanly throat of the horse, is not an
unfrequent benefit bestowed upon the animal; but, happily, this specific
is recognized only by the more learned of the class. Of all things,
however, to amend condition, perhaps, a raw egg driven into the horse's
œsophagus, before any food has been consumed, may be honored by the most
universal regard.
Nevertheless, be the condition-worker what it may, the groom generally
keeps his own counsel. Arsenic and vitriol are commonly favorites with
agricultural carters, who poison their horses with the intention of
over-much kindness. Tobacco ashes and eggs are popular with the more
refined of the order. Both classes, however, are too self-confident and
too ignorant to have any fear of consequences. With the groom, the egg is
thrust into the fasting gullet. Its size excites the contractibility of
the muscular fiber; the substance is soon grasped by the living tube with
spasmodic tenacity. There it is retained. The symptoms consequent upon
=choking= are soon exhibited; but the groom looks on unmoved. At first, he
thinks the evidence of agony is proof in favor of his charm; subsequently
he resolves, with the cunning of ignorance, "not to split upon hisself."
Now, in a case of this description, never depend upon any report you may
have received. Recollect choking may spring from two opposite causes. The
symptoms may result from disease, as strangles; or they may arise from any
tumor pressing against the respiratory channel. In that instance, however,
remove the cause, and the effect will cease. Of genuine choking, during
health, there remain two sorts: the high and the low choke. Thus, if the
substance has become fixed in the pharynx, or has only passed six inches
down the œsophagus, the symptoms are urgent. The remedy must be at hand,
else the life is quickly lost.
In the =high choke= the head is raised; saliva bedews the lips; a
discharge soils the nostrils; the eyes are inflamed and watery; the
countenance is haggard; the breathing audible; the muscles of the neck
are tetanic; the flanks heave; the body is in constant motion; the fore
legs paw and stamp; the hind legs crouch and dance; perspiration breaks
forth; every movement expresses agony: wherefore, if relief be not quickly
afforded, the horse falls and dies of suffocation.
[Illustration: THE HIGH CHOKE.]
The veterinary surgeon should attend such a case, prepared to perform
tracheotomy, which sometimes is absolutely necessary, before anything
intended to remove the obstruction can be attempted. The operation, in
this case, is designed to be no more than temporary; therefore, the use of
Mr. Gowing's tracheotomy tube is here decidedly in its proper place. It
can be inserted; a few moments after it can be removed, and leave behind
no loss of substance to be supplied or to retard recovery.
[Illustration: AN EXTEMPORIZED HOOK TO RELIEVE HIGH CHOKING.]
The balling-iron, after tracheotomy is accomplished, should be fixed in
the mouth and the hand then introduced. Sometimes the impacted substance
can be felt, but cannot be grasped. In this last case, a rough hook is
to be extemporized out of any wire which may be at hand. It should be of
the shape indicated in the preceding engraving, and of sufficient length
to reach behind the obstruction. The hook is to be gently worked into its
situation, and, with a sudden jerk, the foreign body is to be removed from
the œsophagus.
Occasionally, the substance is so firmly embraced as not to permit any
instrument to pass beside it. Sulphuric ether must then be inhaled, in
the hope of thus overcoming the spasm. The ether, however, does not in
every instance prove successful; and, as an egg, probably, alone could be
of sufficient size to resist all the measures adopted for its removal, a
large darning-needle must then be procured. That, being first armed with a
piece of strong twine, must be driven through the skin and made to enter
the globular impactment. There is no danger of injuring nerves or arteries
while doing this; all vessels are pushed on one side by the enlargement,
caused by the choking substance. The integrity of the shell being
destroyed, the egg may easily be broken by external pressure. Another plan
proposed, is to insert a fine trocar, and draw off the contents of the
egg. Either method would answer, but it is always well to wound the lining
membrane of the œsophagus as little as may be possible.
The employment of the cow probang has been advocated; the egg to be
broken, if this recommendation is adopted, by the employment of the
whalebone stilet. The œsophagus of the cow and horse, however, are of such
different construction, that he must be a very bold or a very ignorant
person who dare employ an instrument made for the first, to remove an
obstruction within the gullet of the last.
[Illustration: THE COW PROBANG, USED TO BREAK AN EGG.]
An old and hardened ball may provoke this accident; but then the
impactment is not complete, because such substances are seldom of a
perfect round. The sides are opened, and the obstruction is, therefore,
more easily removed. Horses are not like the bovine race, so greedy as to
swallow potatoes or small turnips, without mastication. Besides, man's
favorite is more under domestication, and, therefore, less exposed to such
accidents.
When the choking occurs low down, or within the thoracic portion of the
œsophagus, the symptoms are less urgent. The animal ceases to feed. If
water is attempted to be swallowed, it returns by the nostrils. The
countenance expresses anguish; but the head is not held erect, neither
are the muscles of the neck spasmodically contracted. Saliva flows from
the mouth, and a copious discharge runs from the nose. The breathing is
labored; but it is seldom noisy. The back is roached, the flanks tucked
up, and the horse often stands as if desirous of elevating the quarters.
After two or three days, (for the =low choke= may continue such a period,)
the accumulation of wind within the abdomen becomes excessive; the
breathing quickens; the pulse fails, and the animal (if not relieved)
perishes from suffocation, induced by tympanitis.
[Illustration: THE LOW CHOKE.]
For low choke more time than nature allows, when the impediment is
situated near the mouth, may be occupied. No hurry nor any speedy remedy
is required. Give oil, by the quarter of a pint, every hour. In the
intermediate half hours give strong antispasmodics, using the horse
probang after every dose of the latter. Sulphuric ether, two ounces;
laudanum, two ounces; water, half a pint, will constitute the proper
drench. Should the whole be returned, chloroform must be administered,
by inhalation, till total insensibility results. Then, the head being
extended, the probang should be introduced, and gentle but steady pressure
made to force the obstruction onward. If success comes early, it is easily
welcomed; but it is well not to expect success before the expiration of
twenty minutes. When movement is felt, do not increase the force. Maintain
a steady pressure, never relaxing and never augmenting the power exerted.
Drive the substance slowly before you, but do not, by sudden energy, risk
either the provocation of spasmodic action or a rupture of the œsophagus.
Before using the probang, always calculate the length of the whalebone,
so as to judge when the end has nearly entered the stomach. It is always
well, if possible, to avoid forcing the end of the probang through the
cardiac opening, as the termination of the œsophagus is called. The
muscular fibers here are strongly developed, and are formed to resist
the passage of any substance out of the stomach. To be sure, the animal
is under the influence of chloroform; but that powerful agent seems more
particularly to exert its action upon the voluntary muscles; whereas, the
cardiac orifice is guarded by white, involuntary muscular fiber.
A few days subsequent to the removal of the obstruction, no matter where
it may have been situated, feed on soft-boiled food--not bran mashes; and
in case of roots not being at hand, sustain the life with smoothly-made
gruel. Let the animal be observed, when watered. Should the liquid be
returned by the nostrils, injury to the lining membrane of the œsophagus
is indicated; stricture may then be anticipated. Though it be not probable
that any medicine will now be beneficial, nevertheless, as an experiment,
administer, thrice daily, four ounces of water in which four grains of
chloride of zinc have been dissolved.
Such is a true and brief history of the terrible mishaps that result
from the mingled knowingness and ignorance which characterize the
majority of grooms. A good or simple lad would be sadly out of place in
a modern stable, though the writer should recommend the employment of
such to become more general. The tricks and arts of professed grooms are
all worthless or injurious. To such men, however, is the timid horse
intrusted; and so much are our minds enslaved by custom, that the hint
only of employing women in the stable will, no doubt, be received with
general indignation. Let us, however, endeavor to view the matter without
prejudice. Women work in the fields; women fill the situations of men
as domestic servants; women carry heavy loads; women, on the continent,
perform the duties of men; women commonly tend an animal of inferior
intelligence, the cow; women are subordinate to men only where strength is
concerned. In the stable no strength is required. Courage, even, is out of
place there. Gentleness is the only quality imperative, and gentleness so
habitual that it never will alarm timidity. This attribute seems to reside
in the feminine mind; and, however opposed it may be to habit, the author
cannot but lament the barrier which prevents the horse from becoming known
to its natural attendant.
RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS.
The gullet or œsophagus of the horse is, perhaps, the most compact and
delicate structure in a beautiful body. Its mucous lining membrane is
thrown into minute folds, thereby announcing to the studious anatomist
the degree of extension the tube was designed to endure. Its exterior
is enveloped by a large mass of cellular tissue, by which means the
independence of its motion is secured; it will permit of less violence
than almost any other part. Small as its channel and delicate as its
lining membrane are, the tube is amply large and strong enough for a
creature which masticates long before it deglutates once, and which is by
nature forbidden to regurgitate.
However, stable-men seek not to understand but love to master the
quadruped intrusted to their charge. The butt-end of a carter's whip is a
favorite resort with these people, whether serving some farmer or acting
as grooms to some lord. When any mighty specific happens to stick in its
passage to the stomach, the butt-end of the whip is employed to drive the
obstinate charm onward. Should the obstruction be situated low down, the
whip is neither small enough nor pliable enough to touch the offending
matter. Should the choking mass be lodged high up, by compelling it beyond
the reach of human hand, positive injury is done, and ultimate relief is
rendered very problematical indeed; however, ignorance is not often to
be deterred by difficulties. As the passage narrows, greater violence is
resorted to; the men push and strive till at last the whip moves onward,
and the stable-men congratulate each other upon "all being right at last."
When the whip seemed to yield, something more than the obstruction gave
way; the walls of the canal were ruptured; an almost inevitable death then
awaits the unfortunate animal. The food is rejected; drink is refused; the
creature stands motionless, the picture of horror; it seems to comprehend
and to await its approaching fate. The neck begins to swell; the swelling
creeps on till it invests the entire body. Gas has found entrance into
the cellular tissue, through the divided gullet. Death at last ensues,
because the inflation impedes the vital functions, and, being corruptive,
is incompatible with the preservation of living organism.
[Illustration: The dilated œsophagus or sac superior to the stricture.
The Stricture.
The tube of its natural size.
STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS]
More often, however, the whip only tears the internal membrane; the
obstruction has been dislodged and removed, but a worse evil has been
created. The horse for a time refuses food, and the anxious master wonders
"what can be the matter!" At last the pain may cease, the appetite return,
for nature may strive to repair the damage. The whip usually tears a
flap of membrane, which, obedient to the laws of gravity, hangs pendant
within the œsophagus. Our common parent, however, does not, after the
human pattern, repair the evil which man induces. She has no mortal hand
wherewith to restore the rent membrane to its place. The sides of the
wound, however, strive to unite, and by the date when this junction is
accomplished, the mucous membrane being inelastic, the magnitude of the
canal is seriously diminished. Nature seems to feel that the chief strain
of deglutition will be upon this lessened spot, which, therefore, she
endeavors to support and strengthen. Lymph is deposited about the place,
till ultimately a firm and solid stricture is formed.
This, however, though bad enough, is not the worst. Lymph, after a
time, has a tendency to contract. With the diminution of the external
ring, of course the internal canal decreases; it is strained at every
meal; but straining only provokes its contractive power, till at length
hardly the best comminuted morsel could pass the opening. Such, however,
rarely enters the strictured œsophagus; the difficulty of deglutition
renders it impossible for the appetite to be appeased. No sooner is
the food placed before the animal than, because of hunger, induced by
prolonged starvation, it is bolted, almost unprepared by mastication and
insalivation. Nourishment in that state cannot pass the stricture; it
lodges above the contraction; still, hunger impels the horse to eat on. It
does so till the œsophagus becomes distended. Gullets have been taken from
animals, stretched till they are thinner than the paper upon which this
book is printed, and so much enlarged as to admit a boy's clenched fist.
After the affection reaches this stage, the swollen œsophagus, when
loaded, presses upon the trachea and larynx so severely as materially to
impede the breathing, and it is at this period that instinct develops
a strange artifice. The horse has no power to vomit; the fibers of the
healthy œsophagus impel but in one direction; still, no sooner has the
gullet become distended than the impaired breathing creates a desire to
remove the obstruction. The chin is lowered; the crest is thus curved to
the utmost, when the muscles of the neck are brought into violent action,
and the impacted provender is shot back through the mouth and nostrils.
[Illustration:
THE HORSE ENDEAVORING TO CAST UP THE PROVENDER WITH WHICH THE SAC OF
A STRICTURED ŒSOPHAGUS IS LOADED.
]
This description reads bad enough, but regard for veracity obliges the
statement that is not yet complete. Hunger, when excessive, causes the
stomach to pour forth its acid secretion; this effect is produced by the
sight of provender; but the gastric juice not being given food to act
upon, passes into the intestines; there it provokes the most intense
spasm; so that it is common to see the hind legs raised to violently
strike the aching belly, while the labored breathing announces that
abstinence from any kind of exertion has become a primary necessity of
life.
The only palliative for so pitiable a condition is carefully-prepared
food--gruel and such substances given in small quantities at a time. The
horse, however, when it requires such support, generally has been so much
lowered by disease as not to be worth its ordinary keep. No one cares
merely to prolong the equine life; the animal is only permitted to live
because of the profit man can make out of its labor; yet, for the full
meanness of the last motive, let the horse proprietor seek a better class
of servants for his grooms. Let him abolish the stunted, long-faced,
narrow-headed compounds of mischief and of treachery which are now the
common inhabitants of every mews. Before doing so, however, he must amend
himself; he must be prepared to teach by example; the present groom only
fulfills the wishes and panders to the pride of the master. Were a higher
order of stable-men desired, the longing could easily be supplied; but
fashion pronounces in favor of the present, natty affectations, and men
with more solid qualities naturally refuse to compete in an arena so
unworthily occupied.
Before quitting this subject, a caution must be given against all probangs
as at present made. The cow probang is evidently unsuited to the equine
gullet. The horse instrument has the bell of the cow probang attached to
a piece of whalebone; when a narrow channel is to be entered, the bulk
of the leading substance is of all importance. That which goes in front,
not that which lies behind, has then to be considered; so, in spite of
the whalebone, the present horse probang is nothing more than the cow
instrument in disguise.
[Illustration: The horse probang as at the present made.
That which should be employed.
THE HORSE PROBANG, AS IT IS AND AS IT OUGHT TO BE.]
The probang intended for the horse should be formed like that employed
upon the human subject. It should consist of a long slip of fine
whalebone, having a sponge fixed to one end; when required, the sponge
should be thoroughly saturated in water or in oil, (according to the
circumstances,) then squeezed dry and forced down the œsophagus. The
material would adapt itself to every cavity, would fill the largest,
but could not harm the smallest; would as effectually remove every
obstruction, but would not be so difficult to retract, if the head should
by accident pass the cardiac orifice.
BRONCHOCELE.
This disease, which entails much suffering upon the human species, under
the name of "goitre," is, in the horse, a very trivial affair. The cause
of its origin has not yet been made plain. It is, however, a sign that
nature suffers in some essential particular. In the sunless depths of the
valleys about the Alps, it is, with man, a frightful deformity. May not
the dark and close stables, in which horses too often are confined, have
something to do with its production in these animals?
It is an enlargement of a substance anatomically called the thyroid gland.
This body resides upon the larynx, immediately under the jaw. It is
occasionally as large as a hen's egg, but seldom is of greater magnitude.
Its natural size is that of half a chestnut. The enlargement appears
to occasion no inconvenience, and is only objected to because horsemen
consider it unsightly. Purchasers, moreover, are fastidious about buying
an animal which exhibits any unusual development.
It, however, generally yields to treatment, and the animal need not be
taken from gentle work during the time occupied by the cure. Let the
following drink be given night and morning:--
Iodide of potassium Half a drachm.
Liquor potassæ One drachm.
Distilled water Half a pint.
At the periods stated for giving the medicine, rub into the enlargement a
portion of the annexed ointment. Remember, any of the unguent being left
upon the hair is proof positive that sufficient friction has not been
employed. The ointment can in no way benefit the external covering. The
object of friction is to get the ointment absorbed. This it effects by
promoting warmth, and thereby inducing dryness, both of which stimulate
the pores of the skin to take up outward moisture.
When this is being accomplished, there is no necessity for extraordinary
care or excessive attention. The tumor, which constitutes =bronchocele=,
is certainly not endowed with morbid sensibility. Sufficient force for
the purpose in view, therefore, may be safely exerted; but, at the same
time, it is always well, where horses are concerned, to discard anything
approaching to violence. Consequently, exercise a proper discretion when
employing the following ointment:--
Iodide of lead One drachm.
Simple cerate One ounce.
[Illustration: A HORSE WITH BRONCHOCELE.]
Supposing the tumor to be present only upon one side, a piece of the
ointment as large as a hazelnut will be sufficient, if well rubbed in each
time. Twice the quantity will be necessary when the swelling is to be seen
upon both sides of the neck; and should the part become sore, of course
all application must be stopped for the time necessarily occupied by the
healing process.