THE STOMACH, LIVER, ETC.--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.
SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM.
This is generally provoked by the heedlessness of the rider. A horse is
"overmarked," as the condition is technically called, when the animal is
urged onward to the point of falling. The person who may occupy the saddle
then becomes conscious of a strange and loud noise coming from the body
which he strides; it appears to the equestrian as though some demon were
located within the carcass, and were violently striking the sides. Should
the indication be observed, the noise will be found to proceed from behind
or immediately under, rather than from any part anterior to the rider.
[Illustration: THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN AND THE OLD HORSE.]
The noise is produced by =spasm of the diaphragm=. The horse must, as
the word "overmarked" seems to imply, have been pushed far beyond the
point where man should have pulled the rein. A little distance farther,
after the symptom is developed, will bring the animal to the ground; let
the check, therefore, be immediately given; the rider should dismount;
the loins be covered with the gentleman's coat, if nothing better be at
hand; he who has caused the misery is bound to make any sacrifice for
its alleviation. The girths should be loosened, the bridle removed, and
when time has passed for the system to become slightly tranquilized,
the sufferer should be very gently led to the nearest shelter. So soon
as it is under cover, the following drink should be administered, but
time should be taken to give the medicine, as the condition of the horse
forbids all haste:--
Sulphuric ether Two ounces.
Tincture of camphor Half an ounce.
Tincture of opium One ounce.
Cold water or gruel One pint.
This should be repeated every quarter of an hour, till four drinks are
swallowed; then the intervals should be lengthened to half an hour, and,
as the symptom decreases, the medicine ought to be administered at still
longer periods, and ultimately, but gradually, withdrawn.
There are, however, other things to be done. When the animal is first
brought in, procure five quiet assistants; give a leg-bandage each to
four of the helpers, and a sponge, with a basin of cold water, to the
fifth. Order the men to perform their ministration silently; the four are
to bandage the four legs while the fifth sponges out the mouth, nose,
eyes, and anus; this done, the body is to be superficially cleaned. Sweat
is to be removed and dirt taken off; the ears pulled, and the head made
comfortable; the tail and mane having been previously combed, a hood and
body clothing should be put on.
All this should be well understood beforehand; while it is being
accomplished not a word should be spoken; nothing is more soothing to an
agitated system than perfect silence. Wet swabs should then be placed upon
the feet, a pail of gruel suspended from the manger, and a man left to
warn off all noisy strangers from the exterior of the building; for during
spasm from overexertion perfect quietude is quite as essential as medicine.
Spasm of the diaphragm, if taken in time, is not generally fatal; and no
man, however determined a "Nimrod" he may be, is justified in proceeding
after having recognized so mysterious a warning. The sound before alluded
to must emphatically inform him all is not right with the animal on which
he is seated. It is folly to urge that the horse enjoys the chase as
much as the rider; no life would, for its own pleasure, run itself to a
spasmodic exhaustion. Old hunters may have left the field to follow the
hounds; the animals, however, obey only the impulse of education, and did
what they imagined would gratify their superiors. The horse is given as a
servant to man; the creature is obedient to its destiny; to serve is its
lot, to please is its reward. Body and soul it devotes to the heartless
being who is assigned its appointed lord; it will spend its last breath
in the gratification of its master; such affection surely merits better
treatment than the quadruped generally receives.
When spasm of the diaphragm terminates fatally, approaching dissolution
is announced by easily recognized signs. The pulse cannot be felt at the
jaw; the heart only flutters; the feet are icy cold; a yellow discharge
drains from the nostrils; the breath becomes fetid; the pupil of the eye
enlarges; the horse wanders round and round its box; it soon sinks and
perishes.
ACUTE GASTRITIS.
[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM ACUTE GASTRITIS.]
This most painful affliction is only known in the horse as the consequence
of some poisonous substance being swallowed. Poisoning entire teams of
valuable horses has followed the use of certain powders, these being mixed
with the corn; the intention was to improve the personal appearance of the
animals to which the drug was administered. Carters have a large faith in
condition powders, and a distant belief in the _magic_ of medicine; in
their ignorance, they spend their hard-earned wages to procure the stuff,
too often compounded of agents which never should be trusted in the hands
of the uneducated. The men argue, if these powders, say one spoonful given
each night, will make the horse bloom in a fortnight, two spoonfuls must
do the same thing in a week; the spoonful possibly contains the utmost
limits of the dose; that quantity exceeded may endanger or destroy life.
But ignorance is always impatient; it ever desires the speediest results;
and if accident attends its eagerness, indignation should be visited upon
those who put responsible trusts in such keeping; upon the men who for
gain sell poisonous drugs to the obviously uninformed.
Books and charts are published, explaining the various antidotes and
tests to be employed for the detection and counteraction of the different
poisons. Such authorities are of little service in the stable; the tests
require care and time for their application; the symptoms are mostly so
urgent as to permit no leisure for scientific inquiry. In an acute case,
dependence must be placed on general principles, and fortune must be
relied on to guide the result.
Certain poisons act instantaneously and without any warning sufficiently
energetic to be interpreted, as the twigs or leaves of the yew-tree.
Other agents immediately establish the lesson which sometimes speedily
kills, but more often produces consequences which will ultimately destroy
life, though death may be some time before it occurs, as the mineral
acids, etc.
The presence of particular kinds is announced only by violent disorder, as
powerful diuretics and potent purgatives.
The symptoms, therefore, are not decided; the carter has his motives for
silence, and the inability of the horse to vomit forbids the earliest
announcement of deranged stomach. The time for antidotes has generally
passed before attention is excited; to support the life, in the hope that
it may survive the destroyer, is evidently the best thing which can, under
such circumstance, be adopted. Chloroform, ether, and opium render the
body insensible, and, by sparing the nervous system, certainly existence
will be prolonged. Purgatives had better be withheld they may already have
been administered in enormous doses; fearful amounts of aloes destroy life
without purgation being exhibited.
Against alkalies there does not exist the same objection; carbonate of
magnesia, carbonate of soda or of potash may, in quantity, be mixed with
gruel and horned down; both opium and ether may be blended with the drink.
Should the pulse be low, a drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be added to
each dose of the other ingredients. Should corrosive sublimate be in any
degree suspected to be the agent employed, mix one dozen eggs with the
other components; these will in no way detract from the operation of the
drench.
The mixture should be given in as large quantities as the animal can be
induced to swallow. The gruel should be quite cold, and one quart should
constitute a dose. No bleeding should be permitted the abstraction of
blood promotes absorption; to prevent the absorption of the poison is
the present endeavor. The following draught contains all that can be
recommended, so long as ignorance of the actual poison it is desired to
counteract, exists. When the information is positive, of course Morton's
Toxological Chart will be a far better guide than any observations the
author has ability to offer.
Sulphuric ether and tincture of opium Of each three ounces.
Carbonate of magnesia, of soda or potash Four ounces.
Gruel (quite cold) One quart.
To these may be added, should the pulse be of a sinking character:--
Carbonate of ammonia One drachm.
If corrosive sublimate is known to have caused the agony, one dozen raw
eggs ought to be blended with the drench.
Use discretion in the administration; but repeat the drinks as often and
as quickly as can be accomplished without adding to the distress of the
horse. Regard the state of the animal, and, if weakness be present, take
time when giving the drench. Should delirium be displayed, do not trust
to the natural functions; employ Read's pump, with the horse catheter
attached, and inject, with all dispatch, the whole quantity at once
through the nostril.
[Illustration: HOW TO GIVE PHYSIC, WHEN THE USUAL MODE OF ITS EXHIBITION
IS ATTENDED WITH DANGER.]
The symptoms of poisoning are various; they are also modified by the
strength upon which they act. The annexed list, however, contains the
general appearances by which poisoning is announced, though the whole of
the symptoms are never simultaneously exhibited: Loathing of all food;
extreme thirst; redness of the nasal and conjunctival membranes; discharge
of ropy saliva; frequent eructations, which smell pungently fetid;
colic, rolling on the ground, pawing, striking at the abdomen, etc.;
tucked-up flanks; heaving; panting; small, quick pulse; superpurgation;
violent straining; passing of mucus in large quantities; protrusion and
inflammation of the opening; glances at the abdomen; prostration of
strength; convulsions; madness and death.
And now, whence is derived the source of this evil? It springs from the
ignorance of the age. Is it not, at the present day, a common saying, that
"intelligence goes begging, while handicraft finds employment?" Goodness,
education, and industry cannot, at this time, insure the bread which will
support existence. The cunning and the knowingness of the uninformed is
much preferred. There is no mystery in the groom's office which might not
be acquired in a week. The horse would fare better and be more safe in
the custody of a person who possibly might sympathize with its solitude
and appreciate its disposition. A higher class of servants would involve
a higher rate of wages. But these might be paid, and notwithstanding, the
horse proprietor be, in the long run, an evident gainer. To put the wounds
inflicted on the sensibility of a feeling man out of the question, it is a
heavy misfortune to look upon three or four valuable horses stretched out
in death. Add to this, there are other accidents that ignorance, without
malice, commits, and all of which must be paid for by the master. Then
there are the petty frauds and understandings in which cunning delights,
and all of which are indulged at the master's cost. On the other hand,
there is the certainty, or all but certainty, that intelligence would
perform its duty. The horses would thrive better and last longer when
confided to proper custody. The losses, attendant upon ignorance, would
be avoided,--not to mention the ease of mind secured by confidence in the
probity of the person to whom authority is intrusted. What a mockery it
is, to cry up education and then to shun the educated! A stimulus would
be given to the ignorant, when it is recognized that the informed will be
alone engaged to fill offices of trust.
CHRONIC GASTRITIS.
This affection is more general than is commonly understood. The horse
being unable to vomit, of course the first positive proof of disordered
stomach cannot be exhibited. Thus, little attention is generally paid to
its digestion, when primarily diseased.
=Chronic gastritis= is usually said to be provoked by rearing upon sour or
soft land; but well-bred animals are very often subject to the malady. The
ailment is frequently first displayed at the period when the services are
esteemed most valuable, or between the fifth and sixth years, long after
the mode of rearing must have ceased to operate. The symptoms are various,
and hardly ever alike. The stomach may affect the nervous symptom; then,
its complications become difficult to disentangle. The affection is
mostly declared by an irregularity of bowels and a capriciousness of
appetite. The animal starts off violently purging. The looseness stops
as suddenly as it commenced. Obstinate costiveness then sets in, and
each state can be traced to no obvious reason. The straw or litter may be
eaten ravenously, but all the wholesome provender obstinately refused.
The dung shows the condition of the appropriating functions; it crumbles
upon the slightest force being imposed; it appears to consist of fibers
not agglutinated together. Sometimes it is coated with mucus, and always
smells abhorrently. A dry cough may be present; the visible membranes are
pallid; the mouth feels cool; the breath is tainted; the eyes are sunken;
the respiration is catching; the belly is pendulous; the anus is lax
and prominent; the coat dry and ragged; while the body quickly becomes
emaciated.
[Illustration: A HORSE WITH CHRONIC GASTRITIS INDULGING ITS MORBID
APPETITE.]
The slightest exertion produces a thick and copious sweat. The symptom,
however, which is most remarkable, when the cleanly habits natural to
the animal are considered, is the peculiarity of the appetite. The rack
and manger are generally neglected; but every unnatural or offensive
substance, within reach of the extended jaws, is devoured with avidity.
Woodwork has largely disappeared. Soil and stones have been removed from
the stomachs of creatures destroyed for incurable disease. Either of the
substances last named, however, are usually spared, so long as a morsel of
plaster, a portion of mortar or of brick, is within reach. Animals, when
in the field, will leave the grass and enter any ditch to gnaw at bricks
and mortar. When confined, they will, under the morbid influence of this
affection, employ themselves for hours searching for a morsel of either
among the straw.
The old custom of purging and bleeding for a case of this kind is
positively injurious. It is better to administer bitters, alkalies, and
sedatives;--the first, to amend the appetite; the second, to correct
the acidity of the morbid secretion; the third, to destroy the uneasy
sensation which provokes too many of the symptoms.
Powdered nux vomica One scruple.
Carbonate of potash One drachm.
Extract of belladonna Half a drachm.
Extract of gentian and powdered quassia Of each a sufficiency.
Or,
Strychnia Half a grain.
Bicarbonate of ammonia One drachm.
Extract of belladonna Half a drachm.
Sulphate of zinc Half a drachm.
Extract of gentian and powdered quassia Of each a sufficiency.
Give, morning and night.
One of the above balls may be given daily. When their benefits seem
exhausted, give, instead of a ball, half an ounce each of liquor
arsenicalis, the same of tincture of ipecacuanha, with one ounce of
muriated tincture of iron and of laudanum, in a pint of water. Also, damp
the food and sprinkle magnesia freely upon it. Then, as the strength
improves, introduce sulphuric ether, one ounce; water, one pint, daily and
ultimately change this last for a quart of good ale or stout.
Before concluding, there remains to point out the cause of this lamentable
affection. Ignorance views each part of the body as distinct; it cannot
see the various components are connected, and, in the mass, constitute
one whole. Thus, medicine appears to the uninformed as thrown away, when
internally administered for a skin disease. So it may to such persons
appear strange how the air inhaled can disorder the digestion! To those
better informed, however, it will only seem a natural consequence that
impure atmosphere, inspired day and night, should impair the body's
health. It will, with such people, be recognized as likely that the
disorder should break forth when the frame is on the eve of being matured.
The cause of indigestion is close and unhealthy stables. What loss will
instruct mankind, that they cannot enslave life and treat it according
to their convenience? Life has its natural rights: these cannot be
disregarded--the requirements of breathing creatures must be fulfilled.
The ability of the enslaver to use according to his pleasure, must not
be selfishly regarded; else nature is outraged, and in its deprivation,
pride learns the impossibility of forcing all things to conform with its
inclinations.
BOTS.
No animal which has not been turned out to graze during the summer months
can possibly be troubled with these parasites. Such annoyances form no
light argument against the benefits accomplished by that which is in
slang phrase termed "_Dr. Green_." The appearance of the coat and aspect
of unthriftiness, after a run at grass, generally declare =bots= to be
present within the body.
Uninformed persons are always desirous to possess some medicine which
will destroy bots; they wonder that science lacks invention sufficient to
compound such an agent. An anecdote may probably dispel such astonishment.
A patron of the Royal Veterinary College was once conducted by a pupil
through the museum belonging to that establishment; the pair at last stood
before the preparation of a horse's stomach, eaten through by, and also
covered with, bots.
"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the visitor, after the nature of the
specimen had been explained. "What a spectacle! What a myriad of
tormentors! And have you no medicine to remove such nuisances? Can
veterinary science discover nothing capable of destroying those parasites?"
"Why, sir," replied the student, "only look at that preparation. To my
knowledge, it has been put up in spirits of wine, and corked air tight
for two years. The creatures must be either very dead or very drunk by
this time; yet, as you witness, they hold on. What sort of physic could
accomplish more than is already effected by the spirits of wine and close
confinement? I am at a loss to conjecture!"
For the above, the author is indebted to the admirable lectures delivered
by Professor Spooner; but the conclusion drawn by the student must be more
than satisfactory. Bots, once within the stomach, must remain there till
the following year, when, being matured, their hold of the lining membrane
of the viscus will relax, and, in the form of a chrysalis, they are
ejected from the system. No medicine can expedite the transformation. It
has hitherto appeared easier to kill the horse than to remove the parasite.
To the investigation of Bracy Clark, Esq., V. S., the public owe all
their knowledge of the fly whence the bot is derived. The common parent,
according to the above authority, is the œstrus equi; and the author
gladly avails himself of the original description by the above-named
talented gentleman.
"ON THE ŒSTRUS EQUI, OR THE STOMACH BOT.
"When the female has been impregnated, and the eggs sufficiently matured,
she seeks among the horses a subject for her purpose, and approaching him
on the wing, she carries her body nearly upright in the air, and her tail,
which is lengthened for the purpose, curved inward and upward: in this
way she approaches the part where she designs to deposit the egg and,
suspending herself for a few seconds before it, suddenly darts upon it,
and leaves the egg adhering to the hair: she hardly appears to settle,
but merely touches the hair with the egg held out on the projected point
of the abdomen. The egg is made to adhere by means of a glutinous liquor
secreted with it. She then leaves the horse at a small distance, and
prepares a second egg, and, poising herself before the part, deposits it
in the same way. The liquor dries, and the egg becomes firmly glued to the
hair: this is repeated by these flies till four or five hundred eggs are
sometimes placed on one horse.
[Illustration: THE ŒSTRUS EQUI.
Copied from the Work on Bots, by Bracy Clark, Esq.
1. The female fly about to deposit an egg.
2. The male fly.
3. The egg, its natural size.
4. The egg, magnified.
5. The newly-hatched bot.
6. The bot full grown.
7. The head of a bot magnified.
8. The chrysalis.
]
"The skin of the horse is usually thrown into a tremulous motion on the
touch of this insect, which merely arises from the very great irritability
of the skin and cutaneous muscles at this season of the year, occasioned
by the heat and continual teasing of the flies, till at length these
muscles appear to act involuntarily on the slightest touch of any body
whatever.
"The inside of the knee is the part on which these flies are most fond
of depositing their eggs, and next to this on the side and back part of
the shoulder, and less frequently on the extreme ends of the hairs of the
mane. But it is a fact worthy of attention, that the fly does not place
them promiscuously about the body, but constantly on those parts which
are most liable to be licked with the tongue; and the _ova_, therefore,
are always scrupulously placed within its reach.
"The eggs thus deposited I at first supposed were loosened from the hairs
by the moisture of the tongue, aided by its roughness, and were conveyed
to the stomach, where they were hatched: but on more minute search I do
not find this to be the case, or at least only by accident; for when they
have remained on the hairs four or five days, they become ripe, after
which time the slightest application of warmth and moisture is sufficient
to bring forth in an instant the latent _larva_. At this time, if the
tongue of the horse touches the egg, its _operculum_ is thrown open, and a
small active worm is produced, which readily adheres to the moist surface
of the tongue, and is from thence conveyed with the food to the stomach.
"At its first hatching is is, as we have observed, a small active worm,
long in proportion to its thickness, but as its growth advances, it
becomes proportionably thicker and broader, and beset with bristles.
"They are very frequent in horses that have been at grass, and are in
general found adhering to the white insensible tissue or coat of the
stomach.
"They usually hang in dense clusters to this white cuticular lining of
the stomach, and maintain their hold by means of two dark-brown hooks,
between which a longitudinal slit or fissure is seen, which is the mouth
of the larva. When removed from the stomach by the fingers by a sudden
jerk, so as not to injure them, they will, if fresh and healthy, attach
themselves to any loose membrane, and even to the skin of the hand. For
this purpose they sheath or draw back the hooks almost entirely within the
skin, till the two points come close to each other they then present them
to the membrane, and keeping them parallel till it is pierced through,
they expand them in a lateral direction, and afterward, by bringing the
points downward toward themselves, they include a sufficient piece of the
membrane, to remain firmly fixed for any length of time as at anchor,
without requiring any further exertion.
"These bots, as is also the case with two or three other species, pass the
autumn, winter, and spring months in the stomach, and arrive about the
commencement or middle of the summer at their full growth, requiring a
twelvemonth fully to complete their structure."
"ON THE ŒSTRUS HEMORRHOIDALIS, OR FUNDAMENT BOT.
"The part chosen by this insect for this purpose is the lips of the horse,
which is very distressing to the animal from the excessive titillation it
occasions; for he immediately after rubs his mouth against the ground,
his fore legs, or sometimes against a tree, with great emotion; till the
animal at length finding this mode of defense insufficient, enraged he
quits the spot, and endeavors to avoid it by galloping away to a distant
part of the field; and if the fly still continues to follow and tease him,
his last resource is in the water, where the œstrus never is observed to
pursue him. These flies appear sometimes to hide themselves in the grass;
and as the horse stoops to graze, they dart on the mouth or lips, and are
always observed to poise themselves during a few seconds in the air, while
the egg is preparing on the extended point of the abdomen.
[Illustration: THE ŒSTRUS HEMORRHOIDALIS.
Copied from the Work by Bracy Clark, Esq.
1. The female fly about to deposit an egg.
2. The egg, magnified.
3. The bot.
4. The chrysalis.
5. The male fly.
]
"When several of these flies are confined in a close place, they have
a particularly strong, musty smell; and I have observed both sheep and
horses, when teased by them, to look into the grass and smell it very
anxiously; and if they by these means discover the fly, they immediately
turn aside and hasten to a distant part of the field.
"I once saw in a meadow or field upon the cliffs at Margate, a fly of this
sort teasing a horse that was confined to a small space by a spike stuck
in the ground, to which a cord was tied. He could not get away from its
attack, and became quite furious, for in kicking at the fly with his fore
foot, which he did vehemently, he often struck the bone of the lower jaw,
creating excessive pain; for in that direction while grazing, the fly
comes to the beard of the lower lip.
"The eggs of this species are difficult to be seen upon the horse's skin
or beard, owing to the agitation of the beast, and from the color of
the egg being dark like that of the skin of the horse. The animal has
been generally too impatient, while undergoing this operation, to let me
examine them very well. I ascertained, however, its form by pressing one
of these eggs from the abdomen.
"The larva or grub of this species inhabits the stomach as the former,
generally adhering to the white lining, and is disposed promiscuously in
dense clusters, after the same manner; they may, however, be distinguished
from them by being in general smaller and longer in proportion to their
bulk.
"The larva of this species may be obtained from almost any horse that has
been much the preceding year at grass, and exposed to these flies, and
will be found during the summer months sticking more or less within the
verge or opening of the anus, adhering to its soft lining, and producing
considerable irritation and uneasiness. Indeed, I once well remember
being on a tour of pleasure in the Isle of Wight, and experiencing much
annoyance from these larvæ. The little horse I had hired for the journey
became so lazy and unwilling to go on, and moved so awkwardly, that I
could not keep pace with my company, and I was at a loss how to proceed;
but on casually taking up the tail, I discovered three or four of these
insects hanging to the rectum, and their removal instantly proved a cure."
For more ample particulars, the reader is referred to the book itself,
which is entitled "AN ESSAY ON BOTS IN THE HORSE AND OTHER ANIMALS." It
will, in the pages of the original work, be seen that Mr. Clark more than
suspected the existence of other species of the same family; but, as
no positive knowledge has yet been gained, we must await patiently the
inquiries of those to whom this branch of science belongs.
However, the writer must dissent to Mr. Clark's conclusion, that "bots
are harmless, if not beneficial." How far does such a supposition agree
with the perforated stomach, preserved at the Royal Veterinary College?
How far does it accord with the ragged coat and unthrifty aspect by which
the presence of the parasites is ascertained? How, when crediting such a
conjecture, are we to account for the horror exhibited by the horse at the
approach of the fly; and how can we interpret Mr. Clark's experience in
the Isle of Wight?
Bots are known to be injurious; healthy bodies are seldom troubled with
parasites. The parched and innutritions grass of the summer's heat
cannot support the life accustomed to artificially saved and carefully
prepared food. It is the meanness of the master which dooms the slave to
starvation; he begrudges the keep of the animal, therefore, he disguises
the ugliness of his feeling under a pretense of giving the horse a month's
freedom and its natural food! In spring, when the herbage is young, one
hour night and morning might be excused; but those hours must be before
the flies are up, and after these pests are asleep. In the height of
summer, when the grass has perished and the ground is hard, the health
soon yields to constant exposure and to unwholesome food. The flies
torment the animal, and from the shed it is often driven by its companions
in the field. A large portion of the accidents which horses are liable
to, occur while out at grass; many an animal is released from the stable
blooming and valuable; it is, at the expiration of the month, brought
home looking ragged, with a huge belly, and is never fit for a day's
service subsequently. If the matter is to be regarded only in a money
point of view, it would have been a saving to the owner to have paid a
twelvemonth's keep, rather than lose his servant, and notwithstanding,
afterward have to pay for food and treatment till experience had
instructed him in the inutility of expecting restoration. But when the
matter is considered in a moral sense, what right has that individual who
has, for his own pleasure, accustomed a life to a particular form of diet,
at his will, or for his convenience, to snatch the food from the creature
and drive it forth to gnaw at stalks which had shed their seeds, and to be
exposed to all the variations of the season? It is no excuse to talk about
there being no work to be done while the master is at the sea-side; the
devotion of a life should have earned a brief support, and the gentleman
whose avarice thinks otherwise has no just reason to complain of the
punishment which the indulgence of his greed will probably insure.
CHRONIC HEPATITIS.
=Acute hepatitis= is unknown among horses in England. The late Professor
Sewell thought he had witnessed one case. Other people know they have not
seen a single instance of such a disease.
=Chronic hepatitis= is peculiar to maturity. Brewers' horses--huge
animals, fattened upon refuse of the mash-tub, and which are paraded,
in all the pride of obesity, drawing one small cask over the stones of
London--are often attacked by this malady. All horses which consume much
provender, without absolute regard to work, are exposed to it. Gentlemen's
carriage horses are very liable to it. A private vehicle is started,
and at first much used; but after a time it is equally neglected. The
individual does not want the carriage to-day, when the coachman comes
round "for orders." Neither is it required on the next occasion. Often
a week passes without the fashionable plaything being uncovered. The
animals, during that time, depend on the groom for exercise. The coachman
may be fond of his horses, and, in his ignorance, may think they cannot
have too much rest, or himself too little work. Let the master neglect his
duty, and the servant soon follows the example.
The word "duty" was employed in the last sentence. It is of an unpleasant
signification, and was used in its harshest sense. Kings owe a duty to
their subjects; the rich owe a duty to the poor. All authority has some
obligation connected with it. There is nothing like perfect freedom in
this world of dependence. Man is the king over living things. He may claim
his rights, but he at the same time must adopt the weight of his office:
he cannot assume the one and discard the other. A monarch is invested
with dominion and authority over men; but the stability of the throne is
dependent upon the righteousness of the ruler. If he who wears the crown
abuses his trust, he may possess "a right divine," but he is speedily
without subjects. So, if man is unjust to the creatures ever which he is
placed, nature snatches them from his grasp; and he may be invested with
every power, but he soon wants animals upon which to exercise it.
View the matter in another light, as an affair only of worldly prudence.
Knives, formed of the hardest steel, if purchased and put away, in a short
time are worthless, because of rust. A house wears faster when untenanted
than when properly inhabited.
A horse cannot remain for days in the stable and retain its condition. The
carriage proprietor has not only to find food, but he is equally bound to
support the health of his animals, or the service for which he bargained
will be rudely terminated. Too many do not think of this. Too many take
out the carriage to-day, only because it accords with their convenience.
All, however, complain of the uncertainty which appertains to horse-flesh.
The frame of the horse is stronger than machinery; but it cannot resist
the willfulness of human misrule. Let that man, whose stable troubles
him, question his own conduct. Let him examine the house in which he has
thrust life. Let him see to the servants he has engaged, and to the food
for which he pays; and after all, let him inquire into his own behavior:
the error will be found, not in the creatures over which he exercises
dominion, but in those who are invested with authority.
If people will start carriages, the vehicle must be taken out every day,
let the weather freeze, rain, or shine. The hard earth of sunshine is
frequently more injurious to the feet than either cold or wet are to
the body. The lady, when out visiting, has more than her own pleasure
to consult; for all horses fed on the best and underworked, or retained
standing long before the street door, are exposed to chronic hepatitis.
The gentleman's delight is almost as liable as the brewer's pride. Even
moderate food and too little work will engender the disease. The author,
when he quitted the veterinary college, left in that establishment an
Arab, which, from a year's stagnation, was obviously thus disordered.
The primary symptoms are not well marked, and do not, generally, attract
attention. The animal is dull and averse to move. It appears to have
imbibed a fondness for the inactivity to which it has been accustomed. The
appetite is either nice, altogether lost, or unscrupulously ravenous; the
bowels are constipated; the dung is black, and coated with bilious-looking
mucus; it is friable, and imperfectly digested. If a white paper be
pressed upon it, a greenish-yellow stain is imparted. The urine is scanty,
and, commonly, highly colored; while the pulse has a heavy beat, as though
treacle, instead of blood, circulated within the artery.
The signs which indicate a confirmation of the disorder are: the mouth
feels cold; the nasal membranes are unnaturally pallid; the whites of the
eyes are ghastly, displaying a yellow tinge; sometimes the horse looks at
the right side; usually, it lies upon the left ribs, but never for any
long time; tenderness may be exhibited, if the right side be pressed upon.
However, the last symptom is rarely present, and lameness in either fore
leg is seldom witnessed.
The disease is, for the most part, obscure, and is best recognized
when medicine has become powerless. If early detected, a limited, but
sufficient supply of nutritious food; plenty of, but not exhausting labor,
with a long course of iodine in alterative doses, are calculated to work
some beneficial change.
Iodide of potassium Two ounces.
Liquor potassæ One quart.
Mix, and give two tablespoonfuls night and morning, in a pint
of water.
Commonly, however, bleeding from the liver is the earliest recognized
indication of disease. Then the horse, with depressed head, is found
standing before untouched food; often it staggers; sometimes it supports
itself against the partition to the stall; it always maintains the erect
position with extreme difficulty; the pupil of the eyes are enlarged; if
the hand be moved before the sight, the lid does not close; the vision is
lost; the pupils are much dilated; the breath, denoting weakness, is short
and catching; the jaw is pulseless, and the heart flutters; the visible
membranes are deathly; and the bilious nature of the disorder is, in these
last parts, apparent. Should the head, only for a minute, be raised, the
animal threatens to fall.
The first attack is seldom fatal, and possibly might, by proper usage, be
recovered from. The bleeding, then, is from the substance of the gland,
and does not generally burst Glisson's capsule, or the first and fibrous
covering of the liver. Glisson's capsule, however, is, by the pressure of
fluid, bulged out. The hemorrhage stretches the peritoneum, which is the
second or last envelope; and nature, striving to repair the injury, causes
the serous investment to inflame,--to become white, opaque, considerably
thicker, and altogether stronger than in its normal condition.
[Illustration: THE HEAD OF A HORSE SUFFERING FROM INTERNAL HEMORRHAGE.]
[Illustration: THE TEST FOR HEMORRHAGE FROM THE LIVER.]
There may be an indefinite number of attacks; or the horse, possibly, may
succumb to the first assault. Commonly, there are several fits of the
same character. Treatment is generally adopted. A dose of aloes is given,
though with what intention the author is not aware. Quiet is enjoined; and
styptics, as sugar of lead, alum, etc., are administered; and the horse,
commonly, under such treatment, seems to recover.
It is, however, difficult to change a fixed habit, or to perceive the
reason for an alteration after all danger has disappeared. The gentleman
again indulges his inclinations. The coachman, to keep up his horse's
flesh, fills the manger; the master very rarely orders the carriage; now
he can ride, walking is preferred for his own exercise. Soon, a second
fit takes place; this time, Glisson's capsule usually yields; but the
thickened peritoneum, although pushed farther out, still resists, and now
remains the single stay between human perversity and certain death.
With recovery, the former custom is again resumed; the man chooses to
think a sick horse must require support; the master pleases to imagine
rest must be beneficial to an animal which has been seriously ill. Another
fit ensues; no one is much alarmed this time. The people have become
accustomed to the sort of thing; men soon grow used to other's agony.
However, something is now present which has not been witnessed before;
that circumstance rather disturbs the reigning equanimity; the horse is
evidently much disposed to quietude, but some hidden cause excites it;
it rolls, flings itself down, struggles up again, paws with the fore
feet, kicks with the hind legs at the belly, and breathes with much more
difficulty than formerly.
Often it lies upon the back for some minutes; the result, when such
symptoms are observed, generally is invariable. After death, the abdomen
is opened; the cavity is full of black blood, which, commonly, does not
coagulate; though, should death occur upon the first attack, dark clots
may be found among the intestines.
With regard to the treatment, which the author approves, it consists of
the drink previously recommended; sufficient but nutritious food, and,
above all things, abundant exercise. The horse should also be removed
from the heated stable and allowed a large, roomy, loose box. Purgative
medicine is too debilitating for such a disease; but the bowels should be
regulated by green meat or by bran mashes, when such agents are required.
CRIB-BITING.
Nothing more forcibly illustrates the ignorance by which the horse is
surrounded, than the manner any trivial but visible fact is magnified
into vast and mysterious importance. The untutored always have active
imaginations; thus, what is at worst, in the author's opinion, the
declaration of acidity within the stomach, is by most horsemen dreaded
more than an actual disease.
=Cribbing= is very common among horses which have been long inhabitants of
the stable; the many hours of stagnation the domesticated horse is doomed
to pass, may induce the animal readily to seize upon any solitary pastime.
Or the perpetual consumption of oats and hay may disarrange the digestion,
which, experience teaches, is in ourselves much benefited by a moderate
change of diet. Or, the constant inhalation of close and impure air, such
as will taint the clothes of the groom, who is much exposed to it, may
disorder that part of the body which is the most sympathetic of the entire
frame.
Adopt which of these theories the reader may be inclined to, all of them
can be brought to bear upon the horse so affected. That cribbing is a
habit is seemingly proved by the young horse, stalled next to an old
cribber, soon acquiring the custom. That cribbing is provoked by idleness,
appears to be in some measure confirmed by the horse never exhibiting
the peculiarity before it has been handled and become an occupant of the
stable. That it arises from acrimony, induced by the food, is apparently
shown by the colt, while at grass, never displaying the symptom. That it
will be witnessed in the old horse, when turned out for a month's run at
grass, establishes nothing. The temporary visitor to the field may often
be seen galloping toward some gate, which, having reached, the horse
there commences a long game at crib-biting. This circumstance can settle
nothing, except that the digestion is chronically deranged--the stomach,
when thus affected, being peculiarly retentive of its morbid condition.
Crib-biting consists in resting the upper incisor teeth against any solid
or firm substance; a fixed point is thus gained, and, after much effort, a
small portion of gas is eructated. The perpetual emissions of heated air
is, in man, one of the symptoms attendant on indigestion; and the act, in
the horse, appears to be impelled by something stronger than habit; since
the animal will leave the most tempting provender for its indulgence.
[Illustration: A HORSE IN THE ACT OF CRIB-BITING.]
The premonitory symptoms, moreover, seem to declare heartburn to be the
cause of this much-dreaded indulgence. The custom is always preceded by
licking of the manger. If on that there should be iron, or should any
part be cooler than the rest, to that particular spot attention will be
paid. The licking of cold substances is a symptom of disordered stomach
with other dumb creatures. It is prominently displayed by the dog when the
viscus is inflamed. But crib-biting may be prevented, if attacked during
the premonitory stage. Any substance, which acts as a stimulant to the
stomach, is said to be beneficial. Salt is known as an almost necessary
condiment, aiding the healthfulness of human food. The deprivation of salt
was an old criminal punishment among the Dutch; and a lump of rock-salt
placed in the manger will often enable the horse's digestion to recover
its lost tone.
Crib-biting has, in submission to general opinion, been alluded to as a
habit, learned within the stable. But may not that which man designates a
habit in a dumb creature, be no more than the influence of one atmosphere
acting similarly on two bodies, both caged in the same stable? The air is
much more than inhaled. A large quantity is swallowed with the saliva.
No slight amount is deglutated with the masticated food. The water is
generally kept in the stable some hours before the horses are permitted
to imbibe it. Water has a large affinity for atmosphere. Air, therefore,
enters largely into the body, besides being continually absorbed by the
blood during respiration. And moreover, is it not strange that all horses,
when indulging an imitative faculty, should always precede the display by
the same licking of the manger, which assuredly is not learned, because
that stage has passed before the young horse is placed near the one it is
supposed to imitate? Is it not also surprising, that applying the tongue
to cool substances should, in other domesticated but dumb creatures, be a
symptom of derangement of the stomach?
When the horse cribs, the manger is not bitten. The upper incisors are
merely placed against the wood-work, and, from this fixed point, the
animal strains backward the body; thereby, the muscles of the neck are the
more readily excited, and a small portion of air, accompanied by a slight
sound, is forced up a canal which does not of itself favor regurgitation.
When the inability to vomit is considered, the necessity of some such
stratagem, to relieve the stomach of its burning acidity, must at once be
admitted. We are still further reconciled to the necessity which prompts
the action, when the ease afforded to human dyspeptic subjects, by the
expulsion of "the wind," is properly regarded.
To relieve crib-biting, first attend to the atmosphere of the stables;
render that pure by ample ventilation. Place a lump of rock-salt in the
manger; should that not effect a cure, add to it a large piece of chalk;
should these be unavailing, always damp the food, and, at each time of
feeding, sprinkle magnesia upon it, and mingle a large handful of ground
oak-bark with each feed of corn. Should none of these measures prove
beneficial, treat the case as one of =chronic indigestion= or =gastritis=.
Let every reader, however, remember dyspepsia is far easier acquired
than eradicated or even relieved; still, the vast majority of the fears
entertained concerning crib-biting are perfectly groundless. The habit,
certainly, does not round the edges of the front teeth; neither does
it predispose to spasm or to flatulent colic; a horse that cribs may
have either diseases; so, also, do many animals which are free from
the peculiarity. Cribbing can be no recommendation to a purchaser,
although the writer cannot honestly point to the direction in which it
is detrimental to the usefulness. The late Mr. Sewell had a brown horse:
this creature was eighteen years old, and an inveterate cribber; yet, it
would trot nine miles an hour, for its own pace, without ever needing the
whip. More than this, no horse master should require; but let those who
entertain a horror of crib-biting, pay extra attention to the means by
which the indulgence can be prevented.