DISEASES.
When I had nearly completed this little manual, chance placed in my way
a valuable work called the ‘Illustrated Horse-Doctor,’ by Edward Mayhew,
M.R.C.V.S., which has borne me out in many of my opinions regarding
various diseases, and given me some useful elucidation as to the latest
approved treatment of some ailments.
I would strenuously recommend the work for its simplicity and usefulness
to country gentlemen and other owners of valuable horses who can afford
to purchase it; they would derive great assistance from it, not only
as far as regards the written matter, but also from the spirited and
very characteristic illustrations, exemplifying more clearly than any
description possibly can do, matters connected with the treatment of
horses under disease.
As to this little work, any remedy herein advised to be used, without
reference to competent authorities, is practical and may be depended on,
though intended to be harmless in any event.
However, every one must be aware that doctors will differ, and some who
are critics may have pet theories of their own, which they might here and
there prefer to parts of the practice here recommended.
It may be borne in mind, nevertheless, that diseases, like politics, with
time and occasion are liable to change their character.
Many diseases are far more easily prevented than cured; and I must, in
the very first instance, protest against the unnatural and injurious
warmth by heated foul air, so much advocated by grooms, as a means of
giving _condition_, to produce which, food, work, and air are the safe
and natural agents.
Wherever a means of avoiding any disease herein touched upon has
suggested itself, it is prominently set forth, in just appreciation of
the golden rule, that “prevention is better than cure.”
OPERATIONS.
As all painful operations can now be performed under the influence
of chloroform, the least compensation an owner can make to his poor
beast for the tortures he is put to, in order to enhance his value and
usefulness to his master, is to lay an injunction on the professional
attendant to make use of this merciful provision, in cases where severe
pain must otherwise be inflicted on the animal.
Rarey’s method of casting for operations, or when a horse is so extremely
unruly as to require to be thrown down, may be thus quoted from his own
directions:—
“Everything that we want to teach a horse must be commenced in some way
to give him an idea of what you want him to do, and then be repeated till
he learns perfectly.
“To make a horse lie down, bend his left fore-leg and slip a loop over
it, so that he cannot get it down. Then put a surcingle round his body,
and fasten one end of a long strap around the other fore-leg, just above
the hoof. Place the other end under the surcingle so as to keep the strap
in the right direction; take a short hold of it with your right hand;
stand on the left side of the horse; grasp the bit in your left hand;
pull steadily on the strap with your right; bear against his shoulder
till you cause him to move. As soon as he lifts his weight, your pulling
will raise the other foot, and he will have to come on his knees.
“Keep the strap tight in your hand, so that he cannot straighten his leg
if he rises up. Hold him in this position, and turn his head towards you;
bear against his side with your shoulder, not hard, but with a steady
equal pressure, and in about ten minutes he will be down. As soon as he
lies down he will be completely conquered, and you can handle him at your
pleasure.
“Take off the straps and straighten out his legs; rub him lightly about
the face and neck with your hand the way the hair lies; handle all his
legs, and after he has lain ten or twenty minutes let him get up again.
After resting him a short time make him lie down and get up as before.
Repeat the operation three or four times, which will be sufficient for
one lesson.
“Give him two lessons a-day: and when you have given him four lessons he
will lie down by taking hold of one foot. As soon as he is well broken to
lie down in this way, tap him on the opposite leg with a stick when you
take hold of his foot, and in a few days he will lie down from the mere
motion of the stick.”
For the purpose of handling horses more easily _without casting them_,
when slight operations have to be performed, a twitch is used, made by
7 or 8 inches of cord formed into a noose, which is attached to about
2 feet of a strong stick. The noose is placed on the upper lip of the
horse, and by turning the stick round and round, it is tightened. The
pain thus occasioned to the animal subdues him to bear almost anything,
and he can thus be subjected to minor operations while standing, but
it is also as well to place a cloth over his eyes to prevent his being
too well informed of what is going on,—a precaution which may be used
with advantage under various other circumstances, such as measuring the
height, when the sight of the size-measure as placed against his shoulder
might alarm him;—in fact, upon any occasion when it maybe desirable that
a horse should not be aware of what is passing around him; for instance,
if he is unwilling to go on board ship or into a horse-van.
TO GIVE A BALL.
Turn the animal round in the stall so as to have his head to the light,
making the least possible fuss or noise.
Stand on a stool on the off side, and, gently putting your hand in the
mouth, draw the tongue a little out; place the fingers of the left hand
over it, and keep it firmly in this position by pressure _against the
jaw_—not holding the tongue by itself, as a restless horse, by suddenly
drawing back or sideways while his tongue is tightly held, may seriously
injure himself.
The ball, having been oiled to cause it to pass easily, is to be taken
between the tips of the fingers of the right hand, and then, making the
hand as small as possible, pass the ball up the mouth by the roof to
avoid injury from the teeth. Directly the ball is landed well up on the
root of the tongue, take away that hand, and as soon as it is out of the
mouth, let the left hand release the tongue, which, in the act of being
drawn to its proper place, will help the ball down.
An assistant standing at the near side may be useful to hand the ball to
the operator, and to _gently_ keep the jaws open while the ball is being
given.
Have a warm drink ready to give immediately after the ball is taken.
It may be remarked that in racing stables, where such things are
generally well done, young and small boys will, quite alone, coolly
take spirited, and often vicious animals, and in the most gentle manner
administer the ball, unsuspected by the beast himself, who is hardly made
aware of the operation he is undergoing.
_To give a Drench._—Turn the animal round in his stall as in
administering a ball. Use a cow’s horn, the wide end having been closed
up by a tinman.
Pour in the liquid at the narrow end, the mouth of which should be an
inch in diameter.
The operator, standing on the off side, should have an assistant; both
should be tall, or make themselves so by standing on _firm_ stools or a
form.
The assistant must raise the horse’s head till his mouth is above the
level of his forehead, and keep it in that elevated position _steadily_
while the drench is administered—such position being necessary to
facilitate the passage of the liquid down the throat by its own gravity,
the tongue not being here an available agent, as with the ball.
The operator, taking the wide end of the horn in his right hand, can
steady and assist himself by holding the upper jaw with his left, and,
leaving the tongue at liberty, will discharge the drench from the horn
_below_ the root of the tongue if possible.
A proper drenching-horn should be always kept at hand, and be well
cleaned after use.
A glass bottle should never on any account be substituted for the proper
instrument.
PURGING.
Whenever an animal accustomed to high feeding and hard work is from any
cause laid by, it is most desirable (in pursuance of the golden rule that
prevention is better than cure) to take such opportunity to relax the
hitherto tightly-strung bow, by administering a mild purge.
The object of this precaution is, that the absorbents, having been
accustomed to a perpetual call as the result of perspiration induced
by work, are liable, when the beast is left at rest for several days,
and this call is thus discontinued, to take on unhealthy action, and
engender diseases, the most fatal of which is that scourge “Farcy.”
How many a fine horse, to all appearance in the best condition, have I
seen stricken with this fell malady, from no other accountable cause
than that which it is hereby proposed to guard against; besides, every
one knows that any animal kept at rest and fed up is more predisposed to
all kinds of inflammatory attacks, and when thus visited the system more
readily succumbs.
More than this, every practical man is aware that an occasional aloetic
purge improves the health, condition, and vigour of a horse.
It seems as if the aloes acted as a powerful tonic and renovator as well
as purge.
What trainer will think of putting a lusty or ill-conditioned animal into
“fettle” without employing this purge as a partial means?
It is very dangerous to give a purging medicine to a horse without first
preparing the bowels by relaxing them moderately with bran mashes.
This is best done by giving about three or four sloppy mashes, three in
the course of the day preceding the administration of the purge (reducing
the quantity of hay to one-third the usual amount), and one the first
thing next morning, no water or hay being given beforehand that day;
about two or three hours after the mash, administer the purge, giving
just before and after it as much warm water as the beast will drink.
No hay should be allowed this day or night, but as many sloppy mashes as
will be accepted should be given.
Give two hours’ brisk walking exercise in clothes about six or eight
hours after the administration of the purge, and next morning, after a
mash and watering (always with warm water), two more hours of the same
exercise in clothes; but be careful _not_ to sweat the horse.—_See_ page
155.
If the evacuations be fully free, less exercise is necessary; otherwise,
in a couple of hours repeat the walking at a brisk pace. When the desired
effect of the medicine has been satisfactorily produced, hay and corn may
be _gradually_ resorted to.
While an animal is under the operation of purgative medicine the water
and mashes should be warmed, and the body well protected from cold by
clothing and the exclusion of draughts.
The ordinary purge, consisting of Barbadoes aloes 4 drachms, extract
gentian 2 drachms, is mixed into a mass by any chemist. With some
delicate horses, subject to looseness, this purge may be too strong, and
should be reduced by a drachm of aloes and half a drachm of gentian.
On the contrary, with large horses of a full habit, 5 drachms of
Barbadoes aloes, or even more, may be necessary, with 2 drachms of
gentian. In all cases where there is reason to suppose that the mucous
surfaces of the alimentary canal may be in a state of irritation, it is
much safer to give linseed-oil, say a pint at a time, to which may be
added, if speedy purging be essential, twenty drops of croton oil.
The use of old dry hay will be found the most simple and ready primary
resource to stop purging and steady the action of the bowels, and a very
little bruised oats may also be given in such cases.
Should the purge appear to gripe, copious clysters of warm water will
afford relief.
THE PULSE
is easily found by placing the two forefingers under the middle of the
horse’s jowl or cheek-bone. The novice can feel about here till he
discovers pulsation, and having once made himself acquainted with its
seat, he will be the better able to judge of a horse when apparently out
of sorts.
Inside the forearm, and in other spots, the pulse is equally superficial,
but under the edge of the cheek-bone is the most convenient place to find
it, or at the temple.
A horse’s pulse in health beats from about 32 to 38 a minute—the smaller
the animal the faster the circulation will be.
In brain affections the pulse is slower than natural, it is quickest
in inflammation of the serous and fibrous membranes—much slower in the
mucous ones.
DISEASES OF THE HEAD AND RESPIRATORY ORGANS.
_Glanders._—As there is really no cure for this horrible disease, I
will not attempt any dissertation upon it, but, merely referring to the
remarks upon nasal gleet, page 116, advise all, _whenever they have
the least suspicion about the latter_, to consult a veterinary surgeon
immediately.
The only preventive against the disease is to keep and work your horses
in a reasonable manner, give them plenty of pure air at all times, and to
guard them as carefully as possible from contagion.
_Sore Eyes_ should be treated mildly by stuping with tepid water, and the
use of laxatives, as mashes, green food, or a mild purge, according to
the severity of the case. Keep in darkness. If the affection is acute,
consult a professional veterinary surgeon.
_Common Cold and Influenza._—It should be remembered that cold air
seldom gives cold, but rather its action upon the exhalent vessels of
the skin when they are under the process of sweat, and when the exercise
that produced the latter has ceased. The superficial action of a low
temperature then proves an astringent, clogging the small exhalent and
exuding vessels, and by the derangement of the whole animal system,
immediately affects the respiratory organs, producing more or less fever.
When disease is thus contracted, it is self-evident that the best way to
meet it is by forcing these small vessels into exudation (or sweat) as
rapidly as possible, which may readily be done by exercise and clothing
upon the very first suspicion that a chill has been taken, and _before
the animal is positively affected_. Once, however, that the debility or
feverish symptoms incidental to the disease are manifesting themselves,
active but entirely different measures must be resorted to.
The premonitory symptoms of cold, and that scourge of the stud,
influenza, are, refusal of corn, staring coat, dull eyes, at first a thin
and soon a purulent discharge from one or both nostrils, with more or
less cough; pulse wired, sometimes very weak, but if highly inflammatory
symptoms be present, thin and rapid.
Under these circumstances, if a professional veterinary surgeon is
procurable, the case should be referred to him; but rather than suffer
an ordinary farrier to deal with the animal, I will take the liberty in
this, as in other cases, to offer simple remedies that can do no harm,
and have in my own experience been beneficial.
Bleeding is admissible only in extreme cases, and under professional
advice, at the commencement of an inflammatory attack, in affections
of the brain, or serous and fibrous membranes—_not in mucous ones_. In
cases, however, of sudden pulmonary congestion, or apoplexy of the lungs,
general depletion is indicated. Blood-letting should _never_ be had
recourse to in _distemper_ or _influenza_,[28] neither should purging
be thought of in such cases, as it lowers the system, which, on the
contrary, requires all the sustaining power possible.
Give at once in the most inviting small mash of bran, or in the form of a
ball,—
2 drachms of nitre;
giving little or no hay, and nothing but warm mashes of bran or linseed,
if they will be taken. If the symptoms are urgent, give in a ball,—
3 drachms of nitre, with
1 drachm of camphor.
Also _well hand-rub_, with a liniment composed of equal parts spirits
of turpentine and oil mixed, all under the windpipe, the gullet, within
three inches of the ear, by the parotid glands, and inside the jowls. Use
the liniment twice the first day if the symptoms are severe, and once
each day subsequently—abating its use according to the disappearance of
the disease.
The horse should be placed if possible in a loose-box, and being kept
warm with plenty of sheets, hoods, and bandages, the door and window of
his stable should be thrown open during a considerable portion of the
warmer part of the day, to give him _plenty of fresh pure air_.
The head should be kept as pendant as possible, in order to induce
the throwing of the nasal discharge, which will be further assisted
by steaming the nostrils, using a very large nose-bag (if possible of
haircloth), half-filled with common yellow deal sawdust, having an ounce
of spirits of turpentine well mixed through it; or better, hot bran
mashes, of which the poor beast may be tempted to pick a little when
first applied.
Either application must be kept at a high temperature by the frequent
addition of hot water.
The nose-bag must be used several times a day—kept on for twenty minutes
at a time, and never suffered to remain on the animal till its contents
(which should of course be frequently changed) become cold or offensive.
Or the nostrils may be steamed as well, in a more simple way, thus:—Fill
a bucket full of hay, stamp it down with the foot, pour _boiling_ water
upon it, renew the boiling water every ten minutes. Let a man hold the
horse’s head in the bucket over the steam for about half an hour at a
time, three or four times a day.
As recovery progresses, _gradually_ resume ordinary feeding—remembering
that in this, as in all cases of illness where the constitution has been
debilitated, it has to be carefully rebuilt by food and suitable exercise
to fit the animal for work. It should be borne in mind that respiratory
diseases appear to be _very contagious_, for which reason, if for no
other, the patient on the first outbreak of distemper should be removed
away from the rest of the stud to a loose-box, if practicable; the
stall he leaves should be cleansed, and all his utensils kept _rigidly
separate_.
White-wash and chloride of lime are useful and simple as disinfectants.
This disease is more easily prevented than cured, and horse-owners do
well to avoid leaving an animal when heated, or after exercise, standing
unclothed in the cold or in a chilly draught. Also be careful about
transferring a horse suddenly from total exposure at grass, or from a
healthy airy stable to an ill-ventilated and crowded one.
Though influenza or distemper are often considered to be epidemic,
contagion should be, as before observed, most carefully guarded against.
Some professional men hold these two designations to represent distinct
diseases. In influenza the animal becomes speedily attenuated, and the
whole system appears disordered and debilitated, occasionally with
lameness, as if from fever of the feet.
There is generally one mark which may be permitted to be peculiar as
distinguishing some forms of influenza, particularly in certain seasons
during its prevalence, which is that of the mucous surfaces assuming a
yellow colour all over the body, and the white of the eye being also
tinged with that hue.
When influenza assumes a serious character, the professional man must
be left to deal with it; but pending the arrival of such assistance,
the treatment here recommended can do no harm, the primary seat of the
disease being that of the respiratory organ.
_Laryngitis, Bronchitis, Pleurisy._—I will not attempt to enter into
descriptions or prescribe separate modes of treatment for these and other
diseases of the respiratory organs, such delicate distinctions belonging
exclusively to the professional man; but while awaiting his advice, the
treatment recommended for common cold and influenza can do no harm in any
attacks of the upper air-passages; and when the lungs or cavity of the
chest appear to be affected, that advised as follows for inflammation of
the lungs is equally harmless:—
_Inflammation of the Lungs_ or _Pneumonia_ is indicated by great
prostration and high fever, heaving of the flanks (an evidence of great
internal anguish); the legs are spread out to their fullest extent, as
if to prop up the body and prevent it from falling; the breathing is
difficult, and respiration quick; extremities cold; pulse quick and
hard, like wire to the touch; a look of pain and wretchedness marks the
countenance.[29]
Such symptoms can be safely treated by a professional man only; but if
his services cannot possibly be procured, rub in a powerful mustard
poultice over the lungs, the seat of which I cannot better describe
to the uninitiated than as situated beneath that portion of a horse’s
surface which would be covered by a saddle if placed on his belly
directly underneath the situation it would have occupied on his back,
the pommel being close to the fore legs, omitting to blister the portion
of the belly which would be covered by the cantel of the saddle when
reversed, but continuing the blister between the fore legs to the front
of the chest.
The hair need not be clipped off before the application of this poultice.
Give every six hours, till the arrival of the veterinary surgeon, from 30
to 40 grains of ordinary grey powder mixed and administered in the form
of a ball.[30] Or, in place of grey powder, give Fleming’s tincture of
aconite, eight drops every hour in half a pint of cold water, until the
arrival of a veterinary surgeon.
Let the animal have an _additional quantity_ of the purest air, with an
increased supply of clothing, and in cold weather the temperature should
be slightly moderated. The symptoms of recovery are denoted by gradual
cessation of heaving at the flanks; the extremities getting warmer; the
pulse less quick—softer to feel; and the animal appearing more lively.
His strength must be kept up after the first day or two by drenches of
gruel, till mashes will be accepted.
_Cough_, as before observed, generally accompanies influenza, distemper,
and common cold, but there are instances where cough may be present with
little or no fever or other derangement, in which case change of food
from corn to bran or linseed mashes, with a limited allowance of wetted
hay or chaff, may be sufficient to cure.
As a rule, grooms should understand that when coughing is heard, they
are to give bran or linseed mashes till further orders; nor should an
animal suffering from cough be expected to do any but very light work or
exercise (every care being taken to avoid his being chilled), bran mashes
not affording sufficient sustenance to do heavy work upon.
No person or owner should be satisfied with the state of his horses’
health while they cough. Linseed mashes daily (page 23) will be found
excellent to ease and cure cough, also carrots and green food; but when
the cough is accompanied by fever, or other symptoms of ailment, treat
as for influenza, distemper, cold, or sore throat, as the indications of
derangement may direct you.
_Nasal Gleet_ may possibly be occasioned by protracted irritation of
diseased molar teeth; but if persistent, especially of a thin, ichorous,
glairy, or size-like character, and confined to one nostril, generally
the left, the glands under the jaw being swollen and tender, the
Schneiderian membrane or mucous lining of the nose having a dull, pale,
or leaden hue, it should be looked on with suspicion, particularly if
confined to one nostril, and more so if the discharge adhere round the
rim of it. Cough is seldom present with glanders.
In such cases consult a veterinary surgeon without a moment’s delay, and
be careful to prevent any part of your own body, or that of any other
person, coming in contact with such a discharge. It is very probably
incipient glanders of the most insidious and dangerous character.
To more clearly distinguish the dangerous from the harmless gleet, it may
be remarked that when the discharge is thick and purulent, yellow, and in
full flow, and without a disposition to adhere to the nostril, though the
most alarming in appearance, it is least to be apprehended, proceeding
naturally from a heavy cold in the head, which, however, should of
course meet with immediate attention.—(_See_ “Cold, Influenza,” page
110.) For the prevention of nasal gleet, observe the same precautions as
those recommended against cold, &c. (page 109), and keep your horses as
much as possible to themselves.
In travelling, horses run great risks, and, of course, such diseases are
less likely to be contracted in first-class hostelries than in inferior
and hack stabling.
_Poll-Evil_ is generally occasioned by a bruise on the head, behind
the ears, near the neck, by pressure of the head-stall, &c. (_see_
“Haltering,” page 16), when, if great care be not exercised to cure
the sore promptly, sinuses or cavities will form, eating away into the
more important parts of the adjacent structure. Here, also, unless an
immediate cure be effected by the means directed for the treatment of
sores (_see_ “Water-dressing,” page 160, and “Zinc Lotion,” page 158),
accompanied with the removal of the head-stall or any aggravating
pressure, the veterinary surgeon ought to be consulted at once.
Avoiding the causes will be the best preventive of this disease.
_Shivering Fits_ in general precede or are the commencement of a feverish
attack; therefore, in such cases, no heating food must be allowed.
Substitute hot mashes, increase the clothing, and administer a febrifuge,
as nitre, 2 drachms, repeated in two hours. Or, if nitre in the mash will
not be accepted, give two ounces of sweet spirits of nitre in half a pint
of cold water.
_Shivers_ in the stable, proceeding from nervous sensibility, are
frequently the result of recent excitement, caused by a band, an organ,
or other unusual noise, or even by the sudden entrance of the beast’s own
attendant, the bounding of a cat, &c.
_Strangles_ generally attacks young horses about the age of maturity, or
when first stabled. Debility gradually possesses them; the throat, and
particularly the parotid glands under the ears, are sore and swelled,
tending to distinguish this disease from ordinary cold and influenza;
a discharge from the nose is also present. The sooner the suppurative
process can be induced in the throat the better.
For this purpose rub in turpentine and oil (one part turpentine to two
parts oil) once or twice a-day, which, when the skin becomes tender, must
be carefully done with a sponge.
When the suppuration is ripe, a professional man should let it out with a
knife, and recovery speedily ensues.
As great debility is attendant on this disease, the system should be kept
up by bruised and scalded corn, and the appetite tempted in every way by
green meats, minced carrots, &c., if requisite. Plenty of air is also
essential.
It ought to be superfluous to remark that under such circumstances
neither bleeding, purging, nor reducing means of any kind should be
adopted, the bowels being merely kept open by bran and occasional linseed
mashes, which will assist the mucous surfaces. The chill to be taken off
the drink.
_Soreness of the Throat_ frequently accompanies distemper or cold, and is
indicated by want of appetite, constant endeavour to swallow the saliva,
_difficulty in imbibing liquids_, which, instead of going down the
throat, appear to be returned through the nostrils, noisy gulping, &c.
Rub the throat at once with a mixture of equal parts turpentine and oil,
and keep up the irritation on the skin.
Administer 2 drachms of nitre once or twice the first twenty-four hours,
the animal being, of course, laid by from all work, and placed in a
loose-box; let him be fed on bran and linseed mashes, and given green
food, carrots, and anything that will tempt his appetite.
Avoid purging, bleeding, or anything that will lower the system—a rule to
be most particularly observed in all diseases of the respiratory organs,
unless severe inflammation be present, when a professional man only can
judge to what extent the lowering process may be necessary.
_Broken Wind_ is caused by a large number of the air-cells of the lungs
becoming fused, as it were, into one large air-cell, thus diminishing the
aërating surface, and rendering the lungs weaker. It is indicated by a
sudden inspiration and a long, almost double, expiration; the flanks and
abdomen are observed to suddenly fall down, instead of being gradually
expanded.
Broken wind is, in fact, emphysema of the lung, and there is said to be
no absolute cure for it; but it may be alleviated by restricting the
animal in hay and water, and giving the latter only in small quantities,
not more than half-a-pint at a time, and moistening all food.
Take care he does not eat his bed, which he will make every effort to do.
He should have no straw about him in the day, and be muzzled at night.
_Lampas_ does not belong properly to these diseases, indicating some
derangement in the alimentary canal, but is here mentioned to guard
against a brutal practice commonly resorted to by farriers as a cure for
the disorder.
The groom complains that his charge is “off his feed,” and fancies that
the palate is swollen more than usual—the fact being that he never
examined it at any other time; and the farrier proceeds to cure the
rejection of food by searing the poor beast’s mouth with a red-hot iron,
or scarifying it with a knife. The reasonable treatment of an ailment
proceeding from heat or disorder of the stomach will be to withhold all
heating food, at all events to a great extent, giving occasional mashes,
also tonics and alteratives, the latter to those of full habit, the
former in cases of evident debility.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE AND URINARY ORGANS.
_Diarrhœa_ and _Dysentery_.—The first (diarrhœa, or mere looseness) is,
in the horse, seldom more than a temporary debility. In many cases it is
an effort of nature to relieve herself, and will probably effect its own
cure.
The symptoms require no definition, except that it may be remarked
that they are almost invariably unaccompanied by pain or any other
inconvenience. Rest, and the use of more astringent food, and leaving a
piece of chalk in the manger (which, with horses subject to diarrhœa,
should never be absent), will in all probability arrest the attack, which
may, to a certain extent, proceed from a predisposition to acidity.
Animals disposed to this disease should be fed on a drier description of
food.
_Dysentery_ is, on the contrary, a highly dangerous illness, accompanied
with pain.
It mostly commences with excessive purgation, the evacuations being mere
foul water in appearance, and stinking. The beast will drink greedily;
the pulse is weak; great anguish of body perceptible, the perspiration
breaking out in patches.
On the first appearance of such dangerous symptoms, procure the
assistance of a professional man; but in the interval the following
drench may be given:—
Laudanum, 1 oz. } Mix.
Powdered chalk, ½ oz. }
or,
Catechu, powdered, 1 drachm. } Mix.
Chalk, ½ oz. }
or,
Sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one ounce.
Also injections of cold linseed-tea. The dose may be repeated in three
or four hours, if medical assistance does not arrive. As great care
is necessary in the diet, as well as general treatment, after partial
recovery, everything should be done under professional advice.
An attack of dysentery is very likely to be caused by the existence of
some acrid matter in the intestines, or by an overdose, or too constant
use, of aloes.
As with diarrhœa, horses predisposed to dysentery ought always to have a
lump of chalk in the manger, and constant or over-doses of aloes should
be avoided.
COLIC AND GRIPES.
As these diseases are sudden, and require prompt treatment, it is well to
have some idea of the kind of remedy to be employed, pending the arrival
of the veterinary surgeon. Some animals are peculiarly subject to them,
from a susceptible state of the alimentary canal. Cold water, taken on an
empty stomach, or when a beast is heated, will cause the malady.
The symptoms are distress, evinced by pawing, lifting of the fore and
hind feet towards the stomach, the head being turned towards the sides,
with a look of anguish; a cold sweat will sometimes bedew the body. A
desire to lie down may be exhibited, and when on the ground the animal
rolls about in evident agony. The upper lip is strained upwards from the
teeth, almost closing the nostrils, and the pulse indicates derangement
of the system.
When the true character of the ailment has been ascertained, it is well
to inquire as to the character of the evacuations. If they are in a lax
state, and a cause for the same can be discovered, of course discontinue
it, and use astringent clysters for the bowels (page 159). If there
be reason to apprehend that some offending matter is retained in the
alimentary canal, use emollient laxatives and clysters (pages 158 and
159). But if anything like costiveness is present, and other remedies
fail, recourse must be had to that of “back-raking,” a process which
need not be here explained, being well known to every experienced groom,
any one of whom may safely be intrusted with the operation, the only
necessary precaution being to have rather a small hand used, and that
_well_ lubricated with lard or oil. Let all the fæcal matter that can be
reached be carefully extracted. Afterwards a warm enema, composed of one
pint of turpentine mixed in two quarts of hot soap-suds, and a soothing
drench of
1 oz. sulphuric ether,
1 oz. laudanum,
1 pint oil,
will be found efficacious.
In the early stages, “gripes,” as they are called, may be cured by simply
“back-raking,” followed by a drench of a bottle of ale, warmed and mixed
with one ounce of powdered ginger, and a brisk trot in heavy clothing.
Under highly inflammatory symptoms, the professional man attending will
probably bleed.
To guard against colic, avoid giving cold water when the beast is heated,
or on a fasting stomach. With horses subject to gripes the water should
always be given with the chill off, if possible, or just previous to a
good grooming or other gentle exercise tending to circulate internal
warmth. Never allow any animal the opportunity of gorging himself with
any kind of food after the stomach has been weakened by extra-severe work
and long fasting.
For costiveness only give soft bran or linseed mashes, or green feeding;
and see treatment for excessive or painful costiveness, page 122.
DIABETES,
or profuse staling, is unfortunately a common disease, and is generally
attributed to something wrong in the water, but bad provender may
occasion it.
Thirst is generally very great.
Give catechu, 2 drachms at a time, two or three times daily, in mashes.
Change the food or water, whichever on examination seems most
objectionable. Give no hay or grass, but plenty of linseed tea to drink;
give _good_ bruised or scalded oats, with a small quantity of warm bran
mixed in each feed, and leave a lump of chalk in manger: or administer
diluted phosphoric acid, one ounce to one pint lukewarm water, twice
daily, till the symptoms abate, then gradually reduce the dose.[31]
A horse once found to be subject to this disease should be very carefully
fed and watered.
WORMS
are indicated by a state of the coat called “hide-bound” and “staring,”
with loss of condition and indisposition to work; by a slimy mucus
covering the dung-balls; also occasionally by the adherence of the
parasites round the anus, and thin evacuation in the fæces.
They cling so pertinaceously to the internals, that they will eat through
the coat of the stomach, and are never likely to be removed by a single
dose of any medicine. Spirit of turpentine is highly recommended as a
cure, but if given it must be diluted largely—one part turpentine to four
parts oil.
Practical experience of various remedies for worms justifies me in
recommending one to two grains of arsenic and twenty grains of kamela
twice daily (each dose mixed in a handful of wet bran, and given with
oats or other feeding) for eighteen days, and a purge the nineteenth
morning.
The horse may get _moderate_ work during the administration of the
_powders_.
Common salt is also considered a good remedy: about a tablespoonful daily
mixed with the food.
To guard against these pests, avoid the use of Egyptian beans; but
as “bots” are mostly taken in at grass by the animal licking off and
swallowing their larvæ laid in the hair of the legs, it is almost
impossible to exclude them. In a few cases they are bred in the internals
without any accountable cause, and against this no precaution can avail.
_Liver Diseases_, or the farriers’ “Yellows,” so called from the fact
that such cases are marked by the eyelids, linings of the nose, and lips
when turned up, being found to be tinged more or less with yellow.
Here mercury must be administered, and aided by subsequent purging, as is
necessary with the human subject.
Thus, give half a drachm to a drachm of calomel mixed in a little flour,
and put in a mash of bran one evening, and next morning follow it up with
the aloes purge-ball (page 108).
If the “yellows” be very marked, with other derangement of the system,
give for two days one drachm of calomel daily in doses of half a drachm
each, mixed in mashes as described above; and after two drachms have been
taken in this way, administer on the third morning the aloetic purge.
_Inflammation of the Kidneys and Bladder._—With regard to internal
inflammation arising from various causes, the symptoms of distress
bear a general resemblance to each other: legs spread out, extremities
cold, breathing accelerated, and a look of pain pervading the animal’s
whole appearance, except that in diseases of the urinary organs there
is generally a straddling gait; and on observance of the genitals, some
marked action in this region on the part of the beast will be discovered.
Such attacks can only be properly treated by a professional man,
therefore lose no time in procuring his services; but, in the meanwhile,
I shall observe that inflammation of the kidneys is, sad to say, too
common to admit of its being passed by without offering some caution and
advice regarding it, more for the purpose of prevention than cure.
Disease of the kidneys is generally brought on by the _misuse_ by grooms
of their favourite diuretics; a dose of nitre to “fine his legs,” or
“bloom his coat,” or for any other purpose to save themselves trouble,
is the groom’s specific for the poor creatures under their care; but
so injurious are diuretics that masters ought to make their secret
administration, as commonly practised by the class referred to, a case of
instant dismissal.
The kidneys of the horse are peculiarly susceptible of action; so much
so, that purges frequently, in place of acting as intended, will take
effect on them.
It should, besides, be borne in mind that while the kidneys are in
artificial action and secreting an extra quantity of urine which is being
passed away, the creature should have the same opportunity of rest, and
as much consideration given him, as if he were in a state of purgation.
The secretion is blood in its changed form, and is a serious call on the
system. All this does not enter into the head of an ignorant groom, who,
on the contrary, will work or treat the poor suffering creature as if he
was in his best vigour.
Inflammation of the kidneys is marked by an appearance of general
distress—hind legs straddled, the backbone hogged, urine small in
quantity, tenderness over the loins when pressed.
If a practitioner be not procurable, immediately place warm mustard
poultices over the loins, and cover them with sheepskins.
Give half a drachm extract of belladonna with half an ounce laudanum in
a pint of linseed tea every four hours, and inject constantly with warm
linseed tea.
_Inflammation of the Bladder_ presents very similar symptoms to that of
the kidneys, only that the bladder being farther away from the backbone,
instead of the latter being hogged, it is rather depressed. In this
case, as in inflammation of the kidneys, call in the veterinary surgeon;
meanwhile give the drink recommended for the kidneys, and though the
surgeon’s decision is desirable with regard to mustard blistering, the
use of this counter-irritant should not be too long delayed; therefore,
in the event of his non-arrival within an hour or so, apply mustard
blister to the stomach far back (between the flanks), as being nearest
the seat of this disease.
DISEASES OF THE FEET AND LEGS.
Once more the old proverb that “prevention is better than cure” deserves
to be dwelt upon, for very many diseases under this head can be
prevented, and very few can ever be cured.
Generally speaking, the fore feet and hocks of a horse are the most
susceptible of disease induced by wear and tear—the fore feet, because
the greater part of the weight of the animal is borne upon them; and the
hocks behind, because they are the propelling power.
It is remarkable in cases of lameness, that when the disease is seated in
the feet, the lameness becomes temporarily aggravated on work; whereas
if it proceed from disease in the legs, it becomes apparently less after
the limbs have been worked a while. With regard to animals keeping their
condition while labouring under lameness, experience has taught me that
horses lame in the fore feet will, if able to work at all, continue to
do so without apparently losing condition from the fret of lameness; but
when the hind legs are the seat of disease, the condition evaporates very
rapidly. This, I imagine, is because an animal lame in the fore feet will
lie down and take more rest than when sound; whereas if lame behind, he
will not take sufficient rest, as rising and lying down cause him pain;
hence he continually stands, and, of course, aggravates the disease.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.—Section of Foot.]
The foot is thus sectionised and described by Delaware P. Elaine, Esq.:—
“On examining a perpendicular section of the foot and pasterns, there
appear the coffin-bone (_a_), the navicular or nut bone (_b_), the
coronary or little pastern bone (_c_), the large pastern bone (_d_), the
back sinew or great flexor tendon of the foot (_e_), the same tendon
sliding over the navicular bone (_f_), its termination or insertion into
the bottom of the coffin-bone (_g_), the elastic matter of the sensible
frog (_h_), the insensible or horny frog (_i_), the horny sole (_k_),
which includes the parts of the sensible foot; the outer wall of the hoof
(_l_), the elastic processes (_m_), the attachment of the extensor tendon
to the coffin-bone (_n_), and its attachment to the coronary bone (_o_),
which completes the section.
“The coffin-bone (_a_) adapts itself to the figure of the hoof, or rather
is adapted by nature to this eligible form. The eminence in its front
receives the insertion of the tendon of the great extensor muscle of the
foot. This important muscle has its upper attachment to the humerus or
arm-bone, where it is principally fleshy; but as it passes downwards it
becomes tendinous, expanding over every joint, both to prevent friction
and to embrace and give firm attachment to each bone with its opposed
bone, by which a firm connection of the various parts is maintained, and
a simultaneous movement of the whole limb is effected. In the hinder limb
this extensor tendon and its two less or tendinous adjuncts arise from
the tibia, and in part from the femur, but in their origin are fleshy.
“In the sides of the coffin-bone are attached lateral cartilages, and
around its surface are marks of the attachment of the laminated substance.
“The coronary, or small pastern bone (_c_), is seen to rest on the
coffin-bone (_a_), with which it articulates by its lower end; its
posterior part also may be seen to be closely articulated both with the
coffin and with the navicular or nut bones (_f_), whose attachments to
them are effected by ligaments of great power and some elasticity. Nor is
it possible to view this horny box and its contents without being struck
with the admirable display of mechanism and contrivance which meets our
eye. We are apt to say, ‘as strong as a horse,’ and some of us use horses
as though they were made of imperishable stuff; but surely, when we well
consider the subject, we shall see both the necessity and the morality of
using them with discretion.”
This description of the structure of the foot will probably better enable
the uninitiated to understand the seat and nature of various ailments of
that part of the horse which are here touched upon.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Blaine further describes the construction of the hoof thus:—
“The hoof itself is conical, or rather, as Clark observes, slightly
truncated, and is a secretion as well from the vascular parts of the foot
as from the skin, as our nails are formed from the portion of skin called
quick. The structure of the hoof is firm and fibrous. Externally it is
plane and convex, but internally concave and laminated. The quarters
are the lateral parts. As the horn approaches the heels it becomes soft
and is reflected inwards. The heels are parted by the horny frog (_b_,
fig. 3); and without, the frog on each side the hoof inflects its fibres
to form the bars which are seen on the under surface (_c_, fig. 4). In
a healthy foot, fig. 4, the heels are round, wide, and smooth (_a_,
_a_), the frog fully expanded, the bars or binders distinct (_c_, _c_),
no corns in the usual angle (_d_), the sole broad and concave (_d_).
In a diseased foot, fig. 3, the heels are high, and drawn together
by contraction (_a_, _a_), the frog narrow, and filled with fissures
from contraction and thrush (_b_), corn frequently present (_d_), the
sole greatly shortened in its transverse diameter, which is morbidly
counterbalanced by the increased heights in the truncated form (_c_).
When the hoof is removed, the sensible or fleshy sole (_h_, section of
foot), above which it immediately lies, presents itself, covering the
whole of the horny sole, except so much as is taken up by the sensible
frog (_h_). This part is exquisitely sensible and vascular, and thus
we learn why injuries to it from puncture produce such serious effect,
and why very slight pressure from contraction of the hoof gives so much
pain. The sensible frog and the sensible sole form the insensible frog
and sole; but when from pressure, too much moisture, or other causes,
the sensible frog, instead of forming horn, secretes pus or matter as in
thrush, the structure of the whole becomes injured, and the frog, thus
losing its support, gradually wastes and decays. It is therefore evident
that no thrush can be entirely harmless, as is erroneously supposed.
“Above the sensible frog is the great flexor tendon, or back sinew,
inserting itself into the vaulted arch of the coffin (_a_, section of
foot). This important tendon, arising from its parent muscle above the
knee, whose origin is taken from the humerus and ulna, in its passage
unites with an assistant flexor, but which latter is principally
distributed to the pastern bones, while the perforans, so called because
it is perforated by the assistant flexor tendon, is inserted into _the
vault_ of the coffin; in the posterior extremities the attachments of
these two leading flexors and a smaller _lateral_ one are from the femur
and tibia.
“_The Sensible Laminæ._—Around the surface of the coffin-bone, it has
been noticed that there are linear indentations to which about five
hundred fibro-cartilaginous leaves are attached. Each of these is
received between two of the horny lamellæ, which line the interior of the
horny hoof; and when it is considered what a vast surface of attachment
is formed by these means, the strength of the union will not be wondered
at. No common violence can separate these parts, and their use as a
spring (for they are extensile) to support the action of an animal at
once weighty, strong, and extremely agile, must be apparent.
“The vessels and nerves of the foot are derived from the metacarpal
arteries, veins, and nerves, which pass behind the pastern, when the
main trunks divide to proceed to each side of the foot, and are ramified
from thence throughout. It is a division of the metacarpal nerve on each
side of the lesser pastern, or on each side of the larger, as occasion
suits, which forms the nerve operation now in vogue as a remedy (?) for
navicular disease.”
_Laminitis_, or _Fever of the Feet_, although generally the result of too
long a journey, or any exercise where excessive and continuous concussion
has been occasioned to the feet, frequently arises from other causes. It
is often what is termed secondary, as one of the sequelæ of inflammatory
diseases of a more constitutional character.—(_See_ “Metastasis,” page
155.) The laminæ are plates (technically, semi-cartilaginous leaves
received between the horny lamellæ which line the interior of the hoof)
resting on the inside of the horny hoof, and giving an elastic support,
whereby the whole weight of the horse’s structure is thrown against the
wall of the hoof and kept off the side. It is not surprising, therefore,
that these causes should produce derangement here.
As laminitis generally attacks the fore feet, the poor beast in his
anguish endeavours to throw his weight off them by resting on his hind
quarters, which are tucked under him, with the fore legs and feet pushed
out before him merely to keep him from falling; he can barely hobble if
he attempts to move. If the fever be only slight and in one foot, he will
point it, while extreme lameness and unnatural heat in the foot mark the
disease. The shoe should (in this as in all cases of foot-lameness) be
instantly removed by a smith brought to the stable instead of giving the
poor creature the pain of limping to the forge.
The foot should be put into cold water, constantly renewed, and kept in
it all day; at night a bran poultice or water-dressing should be left on
(_see_ “Water-dressing” and “Poultices,” page 160). Also administer a
purge.
In acute cases, bleeding at the toe is sometimes practised by paring
away there till the veins appear. This is a very questionable remedy,
and there is little doubt that the use of the knife only aggravates the
inflammation.
The fact is, that beyond its incipient stage none but the veterinary
surgeon is competent to deal with this disease.
Its prevention is best secured by requiring moderate work only, and at
the proper road-paces—viz., walking and trotting—keeping the feet moist,
wetting them occasionally during a long journey, and _regularly stopping
them directly after each day’s severe work_.—_See_ “Grooming,” page 12.
_Navicular Disease_ is, unfortunately, a very common one with horses; and
when the delicate structure of the foot is considered in connection with
the rough usage the creature gets on hard roads while carrying a heavy
weight on his back, it is only surprising that the feet bear such jarring
at all.
The navicular is the small pulley-bone over which the flexor tendon
passes, and being the most active of any of the foot-bones, is the most
likely to be injured by ill usage (_see_ page 128). The symptoms are
lameness, with more or less pointing of the foot when at rest, and heat
towards the quarters of the lame foot.
Unlike laminitis, the lameness is inconsiderable at first, and increases
as the disease progresses.
Being so deep-seated, it is very difficult to cure. In the incipient
stages the most effectual remedy appears to be the insertion of
frog-setons, requiring the assistance of a veterinary surgeon. In most
instances the case is hopeless, and many a fine horse is sold to limp out
a life of misery, drawing a hack cab, or, with a refinement of cruelty,
is subject to the operation of unnerving the foot, which, by destroying
sensation in that part, enables the animal to travel without apparent
lameness, though the disease continues to progress till part of the foot
has been known to drop off in work. Being a result of work to which all
horses are liable, no mode of prevention can be recommended.
_Lateral Cartilages._—Another ailment of the foot is more common than
is generally supposed, called “Disease of the Lateral Cartilages.” It
requires the skill of an anatomist to decide upon its presence. In fact,
this and navicular disease are both very obscure in their origin and
diagnostics, and a surgeon only can properly deal with them, as well as
with all other diseases that are not very distinctly marked, and in their
early stages not important.
_Thrush._—A disease of the frog: the cleft becomes eaten away, and a foul
matter is secreted. It more frequently attacks the hind than the fore
feet.
By some it is said to be constitutional, but it is much more probably the
result of neglect of the foot in the stable, the hind feet being oftener
affected, from the fact of the urine and fæces coming more immediately
under their tread.
At every shoeing or removing, the frog should be perfectly cleared
of all defective parts by the knife, and where the disease has once
manifested itself the cleft should be kept continually stopped with tar
and tow. A return to a healthy state is likely to be tedious, therefore
continued attention to these directions is necessary. If a severe case,
use a bar-shoe, to avoid the wear and tear of the road, and which
will also help to keep the pledgets of tar and tow in their place. To
prevent thrush, let the litter and bedding be completely removed from
the horse every morning till bedtime at night; let the pavement be kept
scrupulously clean through the day; attend and wash the feet, examine
them frequently, and upon the slightest sign of the disease use the
remedial means.
_Quittor._—This is a disease of the feet, wherein, either from delicacy
of or accident to the sole, the sensible part becomes affected. A
suppurative sinus is formed, eating away till it often comes out at the
coronet. Once it reaches this, the animal, unless of great value, might
as well be destroyed, the restorative process being of a most tedious and
expensive character, requiring continual manipulation by a surgeon.
By careful shoeing (where nails are not driven out of their proper
direction) and a most exact examination of the foot where any extraneous
matter, such as glass, gravel, &c., is suspected of having entered or
damaged it, quittor will most probably be avoided.
_Canker_ seldom attacks gentlemen’s horses, or well-bred ones. It is
literally a change of a portion of the foot into a kind of fungus,
sometimes commencing in the sole, sometimes in the frogs, and is
aggravated by foul litter, bad stabling, and general bad care.
As no dressing or external application will restore the foot without
manipulation, a surgeon only can deal with it.
_Cracked and Greasy Heels._—Animals of languid circulation in the
extremities are more susceptible of such diseases, which are induced and
aggravated by lazy ignorant grooms pursuing their objectionable practice
of wetting the legs, and leaving them to dry themselves.—_See_ page 13.
Symptoms are tumefaction and soreness of the hinder part of the pasterns,
even to fissures emitting matter.
Clip away the hair in the first instance, so as to be able to cleanse the
sore by washing it with warm water and soft soap, drying it perfectly.
Then apply glycerine lotion (page 158).
If the sore seems likely to incapacitate the animal from work,
administer a mild aloetic purge (page 108). Very serious consequences
may result from the indolence of grooms in neglecting this ailment. In
acute cases, the sore, eating into the tendon, produces mortification and
death. I have myself lost a valuable animal from this disease, through
the gross neglect of my grooms in my absence.
Except in the very earliest stages, and in palpably trifling cases, a
veterinary surgeon should be consulted, especially in what is called
“grease,” or matter running from these cracks. The preventive means
are, never to allow water to your horses’ legs above the coronet on any
pretence whatever, and if by accident or work they get wet, to have them
rubbed dry as promptly as possible.
_Shelly Hoofs_ (or splitting open of the external part of the horny
hoof).—The feet of some horses are more subject to this disease than
those of others, from the fibrous structure being more dry with them.
This fibrous structure forming the hoof is found, on microscopic
examination, to resemble a lot of hairs all glued together into a
hardened mass, and where the adhesive matter is of a drier character
than usual, the hoofs are more brittle. With some horses this results in
“shelly hoofs;” they don’t split, but are perpetually breaking away. With
this description of hoofs, tar is the best possible application. Neither
grease nor oil should ever be used—these only aggravate the disease, as
on close observation they will be found to act as powerful astringents,
excluding the healthy action of air and moisture upon the part most in
need of them. Strange to say, tar, from its pungent properties, induces
healthy action in the part, and is peculiarly adapted to promote the
growth of the fibrous structure as well as lubricating it.
_Sand-Cracks_ seldom go diagonally, but are either horizontal or
vertical. I shall endeavour to exemplify the simple principle of this
disease with a simple principle of remedy, dealing with it like a split
in a board on which I desired to put an effectual stopper. In such a
case I should carefully gouge out a small hole at each end of the split,
beyond which hole the fissure would be certain not to pass. With the hoof
the same principle can be carried out by filing an indentation directly
across each end of the crack, only taking care not to file deeper than
the insensible part of the hoof; or the end will be answered by using a
red-hot firing-iron instead of a file, taking the same precaution not
to touch the sensible part. I should also weaken along the edges of the
crack itself by rasping them down. Over the crack, if deep, should be
strapped a thin pad of tow and tar, to induce reproduction and prevent
foreign substances from entering the fissure.
Unless by the grossest neglect, no sand-crack will have been allowed
to go beyond the reach of the foregoing treatment, but in some cases
the effect of negligence and ignorance is seen in the horizontal crack
running almost round the foot. In such cases it will generally be found
that with a flat foot (inclined to greater malformation) the toes have
been suffered to extend, shoeing after shoeing, by the smith allowing
a great accumulation of wall over the toe, until the centre has become
weakened into a fissure. Such a state of things seldom or never occurs in
a gentleman’s stable, but is to be met with among farm-horses or those
accustomed to heavy draught.
The careful strapping-up with tar and tow, which must be constantly
attended to, rest, and the indentation process, will, with _time_ and
_care_, effect a cure.
Sand-crack, especially the vertical, is more dangerous and tedious the
nearer it is to the coronet. This once divided, the case becomes serious,
the coronet being very vascular, and a split here requires a great deal
of care to induce it to take on union. Unless the closing commences
at the coronet, and continues as the hoof grows _down_, it will never
close _at all_; in fact, if the coronet be divided, it is fortunate if
the crack does not go the whole way down to the shoe. If it does not,
the lower end should be weakened by filing an indentation at its lower
extremity, weakening the sides of the crack by rasping them, and keeping
the hoof strapped round with dressings of tar and tow, also (a most
_important_ part of the treatment) paring away the wall of the foot
(above the shoe and immediately under the crack) an inch—that is, half an
inch on each side of it—making as large a vacuum as can with safety to
the sensible parts of the foot be pared away, directly under the crack
and over the shoe; the object of this being that all parts of the wall
except that under the crack shall press on the shoe. It is obvious that
by the above means every movement of the horse, in place of aggravation,
will tend towards alleviation of the disease, by pressing the weakened
sides of the fissure together. For the foregoing reasons, in the case of
a vertical crack the shoes had better remain on, while in the worst cases
of the horizontal crack, as its weight round the bottom tends to weaken
the centre of the hoof where the crack is likely to be situated, it had
better be removed (or light tips worn), its absence also enabling the
wall of the hoof under the crack to be rasped as thin as possible. In
vertical cracks the use of a bar-shoe will tend to keep the foot together
(page 81).
_Corns_ are occasioned by the inflexible shoe pressing on that part
of the sole, or possibly from friction of the bones upon its internal
surface. They present the appearance of a red effused bruise, almost
invariably situated on the heel of the sole of the inside quarter of the
fore feet.—_See_ illustration, fig. 3, page 130.
When neglected, they occasion severe lameness, and go on to suppuration.
Broken knees are also frequently the result of neglected corns.
A horse that is habitually properly shod is never likely to have a corn.
It arises entirely from want of attention and judgment in the smith.
The groom, who should always stand by when a horse is shoeing, ought to
be instructed to see that the farrier with his drawing-knife invariably
pares out the sole at the seat of corn; it can be no injury whatever
to the foot when properly done, and is the best preventive of corns.
Also take proper care that the shoes are so put on that they cannot by
possibility press upon the sole.
For prevention, keep the seat of corn well pared away, and dress with
tar, unless in the suppurating state, when it requires poultices (page
160), and the ordinary treatment for that state, and full rest.
_Over-reach_ or _Tread_ proceeds from the shoe of one foot coming in
contact with the soft or sensible part above the hoof of the other. As
the parts likely to be affected round the coronet are full of vessels,
the simplest remedial means are the safest—viz., water-dressing (page
160) in the first instance, and afterwards chloride of zinc lotion (one
grain to the ounce of water), or glycerine.
_Broken Knees._—Most travellers on the road know what style of thing this
is, so it is needless to describe it.
In bad cases, where the bones are exposed, and there is any appearance of
synovia or joint-oil, place the horse in the nearest convenient stable,
and leave him there to be attended to by a professional man as soon
as possible. When the abrasion is merely superficial, take the animal
quietly to his stable, if near.
In any event, wash the wound with warm water, which, if it be at all
deep, should be done by squeezing the water _above_ the wound, and
allowing it to run down, as this part of the leg is very delicate and
sensitive, and rough handling with a cloth or sponge should be avoided.
Afterwards apply a lotion of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of
water.
Tie the creature’s head up in such a way as that he cannot possibly lie
down, until the healing process has assumed sufficient health to render
it safe to allow of the knee being used in lying down and getting up.
Give one or two mild purges, according to the time he is laid up and the
healthiness of the wound. To promote the growth of hair, use, when the
knee is perfectly healed, hog’s lard mixed with very finely powdered
burnt leather to colour it; it is as good and safe a thing as can be
employed for the purpose. Otherwise use _weak_ mercurial ointment. For
prevention, avoid the use of bearing-reins in harness; in shafts, keep
the weight off your horse’s back; keep out of the way of ruts and stones
upon the road, and be very careful of your beast when the work you are
giving him is calculated to make him leg-weary.
In riding, teach your bearer to depend on himself, _not_ on you: at the
same time, don’t leave him to himself altogether. Go gently round sharp
turns, and don’t ride fast down-hill on the road, though on the turf or
in harness the pace may be accelerated with impunity. Avoid inflicting
sudden, injudicious, and undeserved chastisement; restrain starts or
alarms; have your horses properly prepared in frosty weather; also be
sure that the seat of corn is kept well pared out in shoeing. If your
saddle has shifted forward out of its place, dismount and regirth it
where it fits, so that when you remount your weight will be properly
placed away from the shoulders.
When the road is the only place available to have your horses exercised,
see that your grooms put on the knee-caps.
_Splints_ are a well-known affection of the fore leg, presenting the
appearance of a bony protrusion along the canon or shank, which, though
unsightly, is not very important, unless when lameness ensues.
As it is not my intention to enter into professional technicalities in
this work, I shall merely remark that, by letting the horse continue
in moderate work, though lame, with the application of Stevens’s
ointment, according to the directions accompanying it, absorption of
the bony matter will be obtained, or, at all events, it will become so
far resolved that the surrounding structures being able to accommodate
themselves to what remains of it, their action will not be interfered
with, and lameness will consequently no longer appear. Veterinarians
sometimes perform a simple operation for splints which is said to be
efficacious—namely, that of dividing the periosteum with a bistuary, the
periosteum being that membrane which encases all bones like a skin. When
this is cleverly done, there is little or no disfiguration left. Setons
also are sometimes run over the exostosis or bony excrescence, but I deal
only with simple remedies. As splints cannot be prevented, being a common
result of work in young horses, the next best thing to be done is to
resolve them while in an incipient state.
_Clap of the Back Sinew_—_i.e._, inflammation of the sheath under which
the flexor tendon passes (as the most able practitioners deny that the
tendon itself can be stretched, though it is liable to rupture about
its insertions)—is best treated, according to some, by cold refrigerant
lotions, Goulard lotion, solution of acetate of lead, &c.
I prefer plain water-dressing (page 160) placed loosely round the
affected part of the leg, and the use of a high-heeled shoe (page
82). When the attack is beyond the reach of such mild treatment, the
veterinary surgeon will probably advise blistering and firing to act as a
perpetual bandage.
Moderate work on even surfaces will be the best preventive of this
disease, and having the pavement of your stables made nearly level, as
described under the head of “Stabling” (page 8).
_Wind-Galls_ are undue distensions of the bursæ or bags of synovia at
the back and sides of the lower part of the canon or shin intended to
lubricate the adjacent structure. Though unsightly, and no improvement
to the action of the horse, they can be reduced by external absorbents
(page 159), also by bandages with refrigerant repellants, such as vinegar
and water (_see_ “Grooming,” page 12).
_Riding-Bone_ is an unhealthy enlargement round the pastern above the
coronet, generally in front, and may be removed in the incipient stage
by external absorbents (page 159), beyond which a professional man had
better be consulted.
_Wrench_ or _Wrick_, occasioned by accident or strain in work over
a rough path by a slip, presents generally no external swelling or
indication of suffering beyond lameness in movement; but on close
examination, inflammation will be discovered by extra heat about the part
affected. Remove the shoe, give plenty of rest, and apply water-dressing
(page 160) round the affected part. A purge may be administered, as
recommended in all cases where the animal is laid up for several days. To
avoid wrench, care should be observed in starting, turning, and working a
horse, especially on uneven ground or when heavily laden.
_Mallenders_ and _Sallenders_ denote a scurvy state of the skin inside
the bend of the knees and hocks. Let the parts be cleansed with hot
water and soft soap, and rub in equal parts of hog’s lard and mercurial
ointment mixed; if there be a positive crack or sore, use the chloride of
zinc lotion (_see_ page 158) till healed. Keep a good attentive groom,
and see that he does his work, as such blemishes are occasioned by
carelessness and want of cleanliness.
_Spavin_ is like splint, a bony excrescence, but on the lower part of the
leg, at the inside of the _hock_ towards the front, occasioned by local
derangement from overwork of the structure.
If it does not produce lameness it had better be left alone; but
otherwise, the horse being placed in a loose-box, rest should be given,
and treatment with absorbents (page 159), the use of Stevens’s ointment,
&c., persisted in. A mild purge or two during the process will be
beneficial.
As in nearly all affections of the legs and feet, proper reasonable work
and due care will avert the disease or disfigurement.
_Curb_ is an enlargement of the tendon or its sheath at the lower part of
the back of the hock, with a good deal of local inflammation attending it.
It is greatly occasioned by the fashion some riders have of habitually
throwing their horses back on their hocks by severe use of the bit.
Use water-dressing to reduce inflammation, then absorbents, such as
Stevens’s ointment (page 159). Give rest, &c., as directed for Spavin.
_String-Halt_ is a well-known and only too conspicuous defect or
affection of the nerves of the hind limbs, or emanating from the spine.
As its local origin is obscure, so also is the method of dealing with it.
It is in no way dangerous, though unsightly, and seriously deteriorating
to the value of the animal, although it is said not to interfere much
with his working powers.
_Capped Hock_ is a pursy swelling over the _os calcis_ or heel-bone at
the end of the hock, generally produced by kicking either in the stable
or against some object in harness, or possibly in consequence of exertion
in getting up and lying down on a scanty bed, especially where the
paving-stones are uneven.
Use hot fomentations, loose water-dressing, followed by rubbing in
iodine ointment, if necessary, for reduction, but this must be done with
judgment and careful observance of the effect the iodine produces. Or,
after using hot fomentations for a week, apply gas water (which can be
obtained from any gas-works) with a sponge dabbed on every hour during
the day. This treatment, if persisted in, is said to be very efficacious.
For prevention, keep a good bed for your horse to lie on at night. See
“Kicking in the Stable” (page 85) and “Kicking-Strap” (page 58).
_Thorough-Pin_ and _Bog-Spavin_ are, like wind-galls, an undue distension
of the bursæ containing the synovia intended to keep the surrounding
parts of the leg lubricated; such distension interfering with the
circulation of the vein in front of the hock is denominated “Blood” (or
Bog) Spavin; at the back and sides of the hock these distensions are
called Thorough-Pin.
The treatment is with hot fomentations and gas water, as in “capped
hock,” or other absorbents, especially Stevens’s ointment, iodine
ointment, blisters, and actual cautery, which remedies had better be
tried in rotation, the three latter only by a practitioner; but unless
the distensions produce lameness, it is perhaps preferable not to meddle
with them at all.
There are other diseases of the feet and legs, but requiring very
delicate definitions: they must be left altogether to the professional
man.
As a rule, in all cases where it may be considered desirable to use
stimulating or strong absorbing treatment externally to cure lameness,
the inflammation should be first fully abated by _local_ cooling
applications; and in severe cases, purges administered before the
application of blisters or powerful absorbents.
FARCY.
This dreaded disease is, I believe, like glanders, incurable, and
generally ends in glanders itself.
Some practitioners seem to be under the impression that it only attacks
worn-out and ill-conditioned animals; but from personal losses and sad
experience I may venture to differ entirely from such an opinion, and
to state that I have seen horses in the finest condition lost by it.
No doubt feeble animals are very liable to it, but the disease is not
confined to such constitutions. I have remarked that, when contracted
by high-conditioned horses, it can be traced to their being called on
occasionally to do extra work, followed by entire rest for days together,
as a sort of equivalent for the spurt of work done, during which period
of rest (considered necessary on account of the beast’s supposed state of
exhaustion) his powers are taxed with the same amount of high feeding as
if he were in full work.
Thus the absorbent system seems to become diseased, and farcy-buds
appear, accompanied by craving thirst, in which case, or on the least
suspicion of the disease, reference should at once be made to a
professional man.
From these buds (whence after a time matter is seen to exude) small cords
may be traced leading to other swellings, rather serving to distinguish
the early stages of farcy from surfeit, besides that in surfeit the lumps
appear indolent and scabby.
To guard against this scourge of the stable, as the disease is
contagious, be careful what company your horses keep, and let reason be
used in the working, feeding, exercising, and general care of your stud.
What is called _Water Farcy_ is neither dangerous nor contagious, and
arises from debility of the system, occasioned probably by overwork and
indifferent feeding.
It is generally marked by a dropsical swelling of the legs, mostly the
hind ones. It is not common in gentlemen’s stables, where horses are less
worked and better cared for than their neighbours.
The best cure is friction to the swelling, moderate work, and improved
feeding; and give a ball twice a-day, each dose with
Sulphate of iron, 2 drachms.
Powdered ginger, 2 ”
Powdered gentian, 2 ”
To be mixed with palm-oil or lard.
RINGWORM.
Ringworm is characterised by one or more scurfy or scaly circular patches
on the skin where the hair has fallen off. As soon as discovered, let
the parts be washed with soap and tepid water twice a-day; and when they
have been gently but perfectly dried, apply rather thickly the following
ointment over the spots:—
Animal glycerine, 1 ounce.
Spermaceti, 1 ”
Iodide of lead, 2 drachms.
Rub the glycerine and spermaceti together, and when thoroughly
incorporated, add the iodide of lead; give also every night the following
drink:—
Liquor arsenicalis, 1 ounce.
Tincture of muriate of iron, 1½ ”
Water, 1 quart.
Mix.—Dose, half a pint.
Continue this drink until the disease has disappeared.
Should ulceration remain about the circumferent edges after the central
bare spot has been apparently cured, apply to the affected circuit six
times a-day persistently the following lotion:—
Chloride of zinc, 2 scruples.
Water, 1 pint.
The animal should be thrown up from work during this treatment, which may
be requisite for a month, and good food given.
Administer also a powerful alterative or two during the course of
treatment, more particularly if the case is obstinate.[32]
Other practitioners recommend, with the administration of alteratives,
the simple application of a solution of nitrate of silver, 30 grains to
1 ounce of water (distilled), applied every second day to the eruptions,
until they are destroyed.
SURFEIT
is an eruption on the skin, and generally gives way, if attended to
immediately on its appearance, by relaxing the bowels mildly, giving
partly green food instead of hay and bran mashes; at the same time keep
up the strength by feeding with the best oats and a little beans,
alternately with the laxative treatment.
Should these means not suffice, or the disease become worse, consult a
medical practitioner, who will probably administer diuretics; or if you
cannot procure a professional man, give the following excellent tonic and
alterative drink, recommended by Mr Mayhew:—
Liquor arsenicalis, 1 ounce.
Tincture of muriate of iron, 1½ ”
Water, 1 quart.
Mix, and give daily half a pint for a dose.
_Hidebound_ requires the same treatment as surfeit.
_Mange_ is generally the result of insufficient food and other privations
endured at grass, and of the neglect of the skin consequent on animals
being turned out for a time to take care of themselves.
It is highly contagious, and is now admitted to be occasioned by an
insect which is engendered in the foul coat.
A capital wash is recommended by Mr Mayhew, viz.:—
Animal glycerine, four parts.
Creosote, half a part.
Oil of turpentine, one part.
Oil of juniper, half a part.
About a pint and a half is said to be the quantity required to make one
dressing. Every portion of the entire coat should be saturated with this
wash, and thus left for two clear days, when it should be washed clean
with soft soap and warm water, equal care being taken to omit no part of
the body, which should afterwards be thoroughly dried and the coat well
dressed or whisked.
When all is dry and clean apply a second dressing, proceeding as directed
for the first, and a third after the two days have elapsed and the
second cleaning process has been thoroughly gone through, after which
the disease ought to be eradicated. A mere disposition to scratching is
generally successfully treated by giving bran mashes night and morning
for some days, and part green food instead of hay. Others recommend for
mange, as most successful, the following application, to be well rubbed
in once a-week all over the animal with a stiff horse-brush:—
Barbadoes tar, 1 part.
Linseed oil, 3 parts.
To be mixed and gently warmed in a pan.
The whole of the horse’s body to be thoroughly washed with soft soap and
warm water, and PERFECTLY _dried_, previous to rubbing in the foregoing
application.
SORE BACK, WITHERS, AND SITFASTS,
should be carefully attended to with poultices or water-dressing (_see_
page 160), while a disposition to throw off pus is present, after which
the application of healing agents (among which chloride of zinc lotion
and glycerine are now prominent) is the proper course, but applicable
only to decidedly trifling and superficial cases. It is imperative, if
a cure be desired, that no pressure whatever from the saddle or any
other cause of irritation be permitted; therefore, unless a saddler can
effectually chamber and pack the saddle so as to prevent the possibility
of its touching on or near the sore, the saddle must not be used at all.
The worst and common result of sores on the back is, that sinuses or
cavities, with an almost imperceptible orifice, insidiously eat away like
poll-evil into the more important part of the adjacent structure. Here
the aid of the veterinary surgeon is indispensable.
(Being myself acquainted with anatomy, I used to get a
depending orifice as near as possible to the bottom of the
sinus (as discovered with a probe) by a bistuary, laying
the sinus open all the way; or if the direction were rather
superficial, by the insertion of a seton-needle about the width
of the sinus, run out at bottom, leaving the seton in to direct
the discharge. The latter operation, if carefully conducted, is
decidedly the simplest and best when practicable.)
For prevention of sore back avoid injurious pressure from an ill-fitting
saddle; also removing it too quickly from, the back of a heated animal
(_see_ “Work,” page 37). Pressure of the terret-pad (_see_ page 59), or
of the roller from not being properly chambered over the ridge of the
back (_see_ page 19), must also be carefully guarded against.
WOUNDS,
if deep or dangerous, should meet with the immediate attention of
a surgeon, as none but anatomists should deal with them. Generally
speaking, the loss of a moderate quantity of blood is rather beneficial
than otherwise, tending to avert inflammation. Where water-dressing
(_see_ page 160) can be applied, nothing is better in the first instance;
and when the wound is fairly cleansed and evidently healing, the chloride
of zinc lotion (_see_ page 158) will advance that process and help to dry
it up. When the surface is _perfectly_ healed and a new skin formed, the
growth of the hair will be promoted by the application of hog’s lard
coloured with very finely powdered burnt leather.
MEGRIMS OR EPILEPSY
may proceed from the effects of the sun in very hot weather, from
congestion of the blood-vessels of the brain and head, or from disordered
stomach or indigestion. The horse when at work suddenly evinces a
disinclination to proceed, appears bothered, and shows unaccountable
perverseness—sometimes staggers and falls. Release him at once from
whatever work he may be at; if the cause can be descried, treat in the
most reasonable way accordingly. If the illness is supposed to proceed
from the heat of the sun or congestion of the head, dash water on the
head and keep it enveloped in cold wet cloths; also cool the system by
aperients, giving rest for some time. If from indigestion, repeated mild
aperients should be administered.
It is a strange fact known to those who are experienced on the road, that
these fits are seldom or never taken during work at night. When such
attacks are habitual the animal is only fit for farm-work.
CRIB-BITING AND WIND-SUCKING.
Some able veterinarians declare these habits to be the result of an
endeavour to eject acidity from the stomach as the horse cannot vomit,
while others compare it to the human belch. It is almost impossible to
_cure_ a crib-biter; the only thing that can be done is, to palliate and
prevent it, which is essential, as the habit is not only injurious to
the horse himself, but one that, strange to say, is most readily imitated
by his companions; in whatever stable such an animal may be, the others
are liable to become crib-biters.
By leaving a lump of rock-salt in horses’ mangers many ailments may be
averted. Licking it is a resource to them in their hours of solitary
confinement. In the present instance a lump of chalk might be added,
for the animal to amuse himself at any moment that he is left without
a muzzle (which should be made for him by an experienced saddler, and
constantly used). The chalk being essentially antacid, is decidedly
useful if the habit is supposed to result from acidity.
As the muzzle should not be left off for any length of time, the food
should be prepared to be taken up in the most rapid form—viz., a small
quantity of chaff to bruised oats. When the beast finds by experience
that his feeding-time is limited, with starvation for the alternative, he
will probably prefer his food to gnawing the iron during the short space
allowed him without his muzzle. A simple remedy sometimes used with good
effect is, keeping a tightened strap round the creature’s neck when he
is not feeding; and I have known the covering of every portion of the
stall within his reach with rabbit or sheep skins, the hair outside,
to effectually check a crib-biter for the time being,—the habit being
resumed, however, on his removal to another stall.[33]
METASTASIS.
As this term is frequently used by practitioners, it may be well to
explain that it is a Greek word signifying a removal from one place to
another, employed as a technical designation in describing a change of
the seat of disease from one part of the animal structure to another,
which is by no means uncommon: for instance, when the feet are attacked
with fever, that malady will appear to remove itself to some other and
probably distant part, and fix itself on the lungs or other viscera, the
same way that inflammation of the lungs and other parts of the upper
structure will change amongst themselves, or from their own seat of
disease to the feet.[34] I have even known superpurgation (occasioned,
in a pair of horses, by _undue_, but not severe work when under the
irritation of the medicine) to cause fever of the feet, by a metastasis,
changing the seat of irritation from the internals to the extremities—a
very palpable case in point.
SETONS.
The insertion of a seton properly belongs to the professional man,
and only for the guidance of persons who, from living in remote
neighbourhoods or other causes, cannot possibly procure the assistance
of such, the following information is inserted, in order to obviate
the necessity for some ignorant farrier being permitted to perform the
operation after his own fashion. The skin is first divided, by surgical
scissors made for such purposes, to the width of the seton-needle to be
used, which must be wide or narrow, according to the orifice required,
with white linen tape passed through its eye, about the same width as
the needle and orifice. The needle is then inserted at the opening, and,
passing superficially under the skin, is directed towards the point where
the lower or depending orifice is intended to be, and where the needle
and tape are drawn out. Sufficient tape must be left at each extremity
to admit not only of its being tied round small rolls of tow which keep
the tape from running through at either side, but some inches of the tape
should be left in addition at one end, to allow of a portion being drawn
out at one orifice each day, and a fresh piece with dressing being drawn
in at the other.
In cases where there is already an upper orifice with sinuses, the
surgeon (if he does not lay the place entirely open with a knife, which,
if the sinuses are deep-seated, he will do) will insert the seton-needle
at such orifice, no incision with the scissors being necessary, the
direction of the sinuses having been first ascertained by the careful
use of the probe. The dressing to be applied to the tape will be either
chloride of zinc lotion, Venice turpentine, or tincture of arnica lotion
(_see_ “Lotions”), according as the healing or discharging process may
be desired, the first being the healing application. Farriers attempting
this operation will even now adopt an old and most objectionable practice
of tying the two ends of the seton-tape together, and turning it round at
each fresh dressing; the consequence being that, if anything happen to
catch in the loop thus made, the whole piece of skin may be dragged out.
LOTIONS, PURGES, BLISTERS, &c.
AS A RULE, ALL VOLATILE OILS OR TINCTURES SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED IN COLD
WATER, OR LIQUID.
_Strong Heeding Lotion._—Chloride of zinc, two scruples; water, one pint.
_Weaker, as for Sore Mouth, &c._—Chloride of zinc, one scruple; water,
one pint.
_To encourage Pus, and heal subsequently._—Tincture of arnica, one ounce;
water, one pint.
_To keep off Flies from Wounds or Bruises._—Apply a rag dipped in
solution of tar.
_Glycerine Lotion._—Glycerine, half pint; chloride of zinc, half ounce;
water, six quarts.
_To abate External Inflammation._—Vinegar, two ounces; Goulard lotion,
one ounce; water, two pints.
_Liniment for the Neck in Cold and Distemper, Sore Throat, &c._—One part
spirit of turpentine, two parts oil, mixed, or equal parts of each, and
rubbed in once or twice daily.
_Purges._—A mild purge is composed of—aloes, four drachms; extract of
gentian, two drachms.
_A very mild Laxative Drench._—Castor-oil, three ounces; linseed-oil, two
ounces; warm gruel, one pint—Mix.
Of linseed-oil alone the ordinary dose is one pint. If ineffectual, to be
repeated, with the addition of twenty drops of croton-oil.
_Alterative Ball_ (for surfeit and skin diseases).—Cream of tartar, half
drachm; nitre, two drachms; flowers of sulphur, half ounce—Mix in mass.
_External Absorbents._—Iodine ointment and tincture, Stevens’s
ointment,[35] water-dressing.
_Restoratives or Renovators—Drenches._—A quart of stout, morning or
evening; hay-tea, when mashes are refused; gruel properly prepared (page
161) and linseed mashes (page 22).
_Soothing Drench in Colic._—Sulphuric ether, one ounce; laudanum, one
ounce; linseed-oil, one pint.
_Astringent Drenches_ (for diabetes).—Diluted phosphoric acid, one ounce;
chilled water, one pint.
Or—Oak-bark, one ounce; alum, quarter ounce; camomile tea, one pint—Made
into a drench.
Feeding on old hay is generally effectual to check purging.
_Clysters_[36] (for diarrhœa, dysentery, or over-purgation).—Laudanum,
one ounce—Mixed in three pints warm thin starch, repeated every
half-hour, as long as necessary. (The above is soothing and _astringent_.)
(For inflammation of the bladder or kidneys.)—Injections of warm
linseed-tea constantly repeated.
(For dysentery.)—Injections of cold linseed-tea.
(For colic.)—Injection of one pint of turpentine mixed in two quarts of
hot soap-suds. (Soothing and _laxative_.)
_Ointment_ (to recover hair).—Equal parts hogs’ lard and mercurial
ointment, with _very finely powdered_ burnt leather to colour it.
_Poultices_ are made of bran or linseed-meal, with boiling water, and
applied as hot as bearable. They are seldom used except for the feet, in
which cases the leather shoe is useful.
_Water-dressing_ (for sores, &c.)—Pads of linen kept _continually fully_
saturated with water, and entirely over them is kept fixed a waterproof
covering of oiled silk or calico (gutta-percha is too liable to tear),
to prevent evaporation. The pads should be changed every three or four
hours, and cleansed where they are intended to promote effusion of matter.
_For Acidity._—A lump of chalk kept in the manger.
_For General Health._—A lump of rock-salt always in the manger.
_For Worms._—One to two grains of arsenic and twenty grains of kamela
twice daily (each dose mixed in a handful of wet bran, and given with
oats or other feeding) for eighteen days, and a purge the nineteenth
morning. The horse may get _moderate_ work during the administration of
the powders. Or, common salt, a tablespoonful daily, to be mixed with the
food.
_Strong Mustard Blister._—For cases of acute inflammation, mustard to be
made into a paste, eight ounces; oil of turpentine, two ounces—To be well
rubbed into the chest or belly in severe inflammation.
_Blisters_ should never be applied to a horse’s four legs at the same
time, as is the practice with some farriers. Two legs only should be
blistered at once, and an interval of three or four days suffered to
elapse before the application of the remaining blisters. The animal’s
head should be tied up for at least thirty hours after the blister is put
on, to prevent his gnawing the part; but if a cradle round the neck can
effect the same purpose in cases where other parts are blistered, its use
is preferable to tying up the head.
_Sedative._—To allay excitement after a wound, &c.: tincture of aconite,
ten to twenty drops, in drench of one pint of water with chill off.
_To make Gruel._—Mix well a pound of oatmeal in a quart of cold water;
put this mixture in a stew-pan containing three quarts of boiling water,
stir all well over the fire till it becomes thick, then leave it aside to
cool sufficiently to be eatable.
_Disinfectant._—As it will perhaps be useful to any proprietor of
horse-flesh, who may unfortunately have had contagious disease in
his stables, such as farcy or glanders, to know how premises should
be disinfected according to the most approved means, the following
recommendations of Government for purifying the holds of ships, during
the prevalence of rinderpest, are appended:—
_Suggestions for Disinfecting Holds of Ships._—The Government has issued
the following circular to the shipowners and veterinary inspectors of
Irish ports. It must not be forgotten that the importation of raw hides
is still permitted.
“_23d August 1865._
“The usual means had recourse to for the purpose of
disinfecting the holds of vessels (such as washing and
subsequently applying diluted disinfecting solutions, the most
generally used of which is chloride of lime), do not possess
sufficient efficacy, particularly within the limited time that
can be devoted to that purpose, without interfering with the
commercial interests of the vessels.
“It would occupy too much time to carefully scour and
afterwards apply a disinfecting fluid to the entire surface of
a ship’s hold, in which, generally, there are many crevices
and parts that cannot be reached by the hand or brush. Such
crevices and parts are capable of retaining the contagious and
infectious principles in all their virulence.
“Holds of vessels, and all other chambers from which the
external air can be excluded for a time, can be, comparatively
speaking, most effectually disinfected by filling them with
chlorine gas, the great disinfecting principle of chloride of
lime. The gas insinuates itself into every chink, crevice,
and part of the chamber in which it is confined, and more
effectually decomposes the contagious and infectious compounds,
whether they be solid, fluid, or aeriform, than any other
disinfectant equally easy of application, and as cheap. The
mode of disinfecting the hold of a vessel with chlorine is, to
place a quantity of common salt and black oxide of manganese in
a strong basin, which may be put into a bucket, to the handle
of which a rope has been attached. Pour on the salt and black
oxide of manganese their combined weight of sulphuric acid;
then let the bucket containing the basin a little way down into
the hold by the rope attached to its handle. The chlorine gas,
being heavier than the atmospheric air, will quickly displace
the latter and fill the hold. In a short time, when the hold
has become filled with chlorine, the hatches may be battened
down for about half an hour.
“Previous to using the hold again for live freight, a current
of air should be admitted through it to remove the chlorine.
“Many recommend the use of charcoal; but it is not alone
more difficult of application, but it is much less of a
disinfectant than a deodoriser. Charcoal will not, like the
chlorides, decompose the matter of disease. If the damp
matter of glanders, or sheep-pox, be well mixed with a strong
solution of chloride of lime, it will seldom produce bad
effects by inoculation; but if pure charcoal of any kind be
used, the contagious principle of the diseased matter is
not at all diminished in its virulence—quite the contrary;
similar results are found if cow-pox be the matter used in the
experiment.
“The cost of the readiest materials for the production of
chlorine gas is very trifling. The salt is not ¼d. per pound;
black oxide of manganese but 4d. per pound; and sulphuric acid
1½d. per pound. These are the retail prices. A couple of pounds
weight of each would suffice for a large-sized hold.
“The attention of the customs, shipowners, and veterinary
inspectors is directed to the above disinfecting means.
(Signed)
“HUGH FERGUSON,
Her Majesty’s Veterinary Surgeon,
Principal Government Veterinary Inspector, Ireland.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] It may be well to let my readers know how I became experienced
on the _road_. In the days when coaching was in its perfection (and
when many country gentlemen indulged in their fancy for the use of the
“ribbons”), I became, during a long interval from service, deeply and
actively concerned in a coaching establishment of the first order; and
those who, some years since, travelling between Dublin and Killarney
_via_ Limerick (a distance of about 185 miles), may have happened to hear
coachmen and helpers talking of the “Captain,” will recognise in the
writer the individual thus referred to, who was also in partnership with
the famous Bianconi in the staging on the Killarney line. Several years
spent in such a school will probably be considered a good apprenticeship
to the study of one branch of the subject herein treated upon—viz., the
management of horses on the road.
[2] The soubriquet by which the Author is known in his regiment.
[3] It, however, is treated more fully in a new section, page 93, which,
at the request of many readers, and in consequence of its increasing
interest to a large portion of the community, has been added to this
edition.
[4] The French dealers of the present day choose, for gentlemen’s
hack-horses, chestnuts with legs white half-way up, causing the action to
look more remarkable. “There’s no accounting for taste.”
[5] It is to be remarked of bays, mouse-colours, and chestnuts, having
a streak of a darker colour over the backbone from mane to tail (which
sometimes, as with the donkey, crosses the shoulder)—that animals thus
marked generally possess peculiar powers of endurance; and rat-tailed
ones, though ugly, prove very serviceable.
[6] The extremes of various bad positions of the head when the bit is put
in operation are—the throwing up the nose horizontal with the forehead,
a trick denominated “stargazing,” at which ewe-necked horses are very
ready, and getting the bit up to the angles of the jaws. Such a horse can
easily run away, and cannot be commanded without a martingal. Another
bad point is when the animal leans his jaw firmly against the bit, and,
placing his head between his fore legs, the neck being over-arched, goes
where he pleases: such is called by horsemen “a borer.”
[7] The racer not coming within the province, of this little work, I
will only offer one maxim with reference to such horses in general—viz.,
never race any horse unless you make up your mind to have most probably a
fretful, bad-tempered animal ever after. The course of training and the
excitement of contest will induce such a result.
[8] If you happen to buy a low-priced animal, and depend upon your own
opinion as to soundness, it is well to feel and look closely at the back
part of the fore leg, above the fetlock, and along the pasterns, for
cicatrices left after the performance of the operation of unnerving, by
means of which a horse will go perhaps apparently sound while navicular
disease is progressing in his foot, to terminate in most serious
consequences.—_See_ “Navicular Disease,” page 134.
[9] The old-fashioned pattern, with leather gear, is, after all, the
best, as proved by the most practical men of the day.
[10] It has been truly said by the well-known Mr Elmore, that there is a
key to every horse’s mouth, requiring only proper hands to apply it.
[11] The famous Irish jumper “Distiller” was notorious among many
other good fencers as a bungler on the road, though he would jump a
six-foot-six stone wall with ease, sporting two large broken knees in
consequence of his performance in that line; and in fencing he was also
first-rate.
[12] I may recommend Gibson, 6 Coventry Street, Leicester Square, as an
excellent, intelligent, and experienced saddler.
[13] Latchford, 11 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London, and all saddlers.
[14] All the foregoing observations on saddlery apply equally to ladies’
saddles. Marked attention should be paid before they mount to the girths,
which should be very tight, to prevent the saddle from turning, a lady’s
weight being often altogether on one side.
[15] As a good shoulder, such as will keep a saddle in its place, is
one of the great essentials in a gentleman’s hack, or indeed in an
officer’s charger, giving him leverage to lift his legs safely and
showily, it stands to reason that not many such will pass into the ranks
at the Government price for remounts, which, however, is _ample_ to
supply animals suitable for the service, and does so in regiments where
the class of horse provided at once proves that the whole sum allowed
is invested in the remount itself, and proper judgment exercised in
purchasing.
[16] It might not be out of place to mention, for the information of
those who desire to be well taught, that, to my own knowledge, Allen’s,
in Seymour Place, Bryanstone Square, and Clarendon’s, in Great Brunswick
Street, Dublin, are excellent riding-schools.
[17] Those who probably have never received a professional riding-lesson
in their lives, but still, from intuitive taste, ride with ease and
ability.
[18] Talking of a horse being self-dependent in his movement on the
road, puts me in mind of a challenge once accepted by a very practical
horseman, to ride a notorious stumbler (reduced by this defect to mere
farm-work) three times round Stephen’s Green, Dublin (a distance of over
three miles), without falling. Given his choice of bits, some being of
the severest kind, he rejected them all, desiring the groom to get him a
common hemp halter, and with this simple head-gear, riding bare-backed,
he accomplished the distance without the slightest mishap, and thereby
won a large bet. The groom, however, resumed the use of the bit to ride
the horse home (now feeling sufficient confidence to trust himself on his
back instead of leading him), when the animal fell on his knees before he
had gone a hundred yards.
[19] The incautious use of that rein, which has leverage on the curb,
is very apt, with young unformed horses, or such as have been only
accustomed to the bridoon or snaffle, to induce a notion of rearing,
especially in anything of a rough attempt to “rein back” with; indeed,
this latter point of training should be accomplished with the bridoon
only.
[20] One can scarcely repress a smile on hearing cross-country
misfortunes related, as they frequently are, in pretty nearly the
following terms:—“I found my horse going sluggishly at his fences; and
one place looking rather biggish, I shook him up with the bit, and put
both heels into him to rouse him, but somehow or other the brute took off
too soon, caught his fore feet, I suppose, against something, and came
such a cropper on the other side!” or, “The beast kept going at such a
bat at his fences that I brought him to book with my hands down, and with
a good pull steadied him; but the brute with his awkwardness missed his
footing on landing, dropped his hind legs into the brook somehow, and
fell back on me, giving me a regular sousing!”
[21] In obscure lameness, to aid towards discovery of the affected part,
having first decided which leg or foot is diseased, it is not a bad plan
to walk the animal into a stream above the knees and take him out again
(or have water dashed at once fully over the member), then kneel and
closely observe which spot on the surface dries first—that which does so
will probably prove to be the most inflamed part.
[22] In double harness, to increase your power in turning, shorten the
coupling-reins; and to ease your horses, lengthen these to let their
heads work more straight forward.
[23] Any one desiring hints in that line can have the benefit of my
experience in dealing with such cattle, by applying to my publisher.
[24] When a hame martingal strap is used, the pad belly-band should not
be finally buckled until it has been passed through the other.
[25] Yankee fashion is to drive with a rein in each hand. This style in
Ireland is humorously described as “driving with a rein in each hand and
a whip in the other.”
[26] There is a useful and inexpensive contrivance for very temporary
roughing, patented and sold by John Coppard & Co., 24 Fleet Street, who,
on being communicated with, will forward descriptive particulars. There
is also a capital and more permanent arrangement prepared and sold by Mr
Morris of 21 Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, being an improvement on Mr
White’s plan of frosting horses’ shoes, by screwing three sharpened cogs
into each—one at each heel and one at the toe—the shoes when put on being
prepared to receive them.
[27] A suggestion has been made by one of the ablest reviewers of the
first edition of this work, to add a chapter on caprices of horses; and
doubtless such would be so extremely interesting, that the temptation to
insert notes under this head in my first edition was only overcome by the
determination to avoid being led into anecdote, which has been strictly
observed throughout, as being out of keeping with the concise style in
which it was intended that the book should be produced. A few practical
hints are, however, here classed under the head of “Caprice.”
[28] A little work on blood-letting, by Professor Hugh Ferguson of
Dublin, is well worthy of consultation on the subject.
[29] The difference between this disease and attacks of the lower viscera
is, that the animal does not kick about, but generally stands as if
hopeless and helpless.
[30] Practical men will tell you that the readiest and best way to mix
grey powder, as water will not make it adhere, is with saliva in the
palm of the hand, from whence it is transferred by a blunt knife to the
horse’s tongue near the root, the tongue being drawn out for the purpose.
I can vouch for the efficacy of this not very elegant proceeding where
expedition is an object, having witnessed it myself.
[31] This will be found almost a specific; it is recommended by Mr
Mayhew, and is said to have originated with Mr Woodyer, V.S., at
Paddington. Professor Dick is also reputed to have been very successful
in the treatment of this disease, by the use of small and repeated doses
of iodine or iodide of potassium.
[32] This treatment is recommended by Mr Mayhew.
[33] A few of the low class of horsedealers are very clever at passing
off a cribber or wind-sucker.
I have known cases where one might remain in a stable for hours with a
cribber and not detect him. By keeping a continual watch over the animal
and thrashing him directly he attempts to crib, he has been taught to
beware of transgressing in this style in the presence of any one, and
thus even a veterinary surgeon may be deceived, for he is not supposed to
lose his time looking after such details of trickery.
[34] For example, an animal is in nearly a hopeless state from
inflammation of the lungs and pleura, perhaps as a complication of
distemper. Suddenly there is an amelioration in the symptoms; the hurried
breathing resumes the characteristics of ordinary respiration—the owner,
or veterinary surgeon in attendance, pronounces the patient to be out
of danger—the improvement is regarded as almost miraculous. But in
about twenty-four hours, often less, the horse is observed to move with
difficulty in the stable; if he lies down, he is disinclined to get up;
when standing, the fore feet are kept considerably more in advance than
usual, the hind ones far forward under the body, so that they may as
much as possible relieve the fore feet and legs from the superincumbent
weight. In aggravated cases, as the heels of the fore feet are the parts
which bear the most weight in progression, the horse, when forced to
walk, which he can only accomplish with great difficulty, elevates the
toe at every step, bringing the heel, instead of it, to the ground. The
horse is then suffering from acute laminitis, or what is more generally
in horse-parlance termed “founder.”
[35] Prepared and sold by Mr H. R. Stevens, V.S., 8A Park Lane, London,
W., and all chemists.
[36] The use of the clyster syringe by unskilled hands is _very
dangerous_—serious injury to the rectum being the common result;
therefore great caution should be used to insert the pipe (well greased)
slowly and not too high up the channel.
INDEX.
Page
Absorbents 159
Absorbent system 106
Acidity 160
Aconite, tincture of 161
Age, to judge of 3
Ale and porter 24, 37
Alteratives 159
Ambling or pacing 34
American stabling 18
American carriages 74
Arabian horses 95
Arnica lotion 157, 158
Arsenic 124, 160
Auction 6, 89
Axle-boxes 74
Backing 71
Back-raking 122
Back, sore 38, 151
Ball, manner of giving 104
Bandaging 14
Bark of oak 159
Beans and pease 20, 21
Bearing-rein 63, 141
Bedding 9, 10, 27, 38
Belladonna 127
Belly-band, caution 59
Bits 38, 62, 70
Bladder, inflammation of 127, 159
Bleeding 111
Blinkers 62, 70
Blisters and absorbents 159, 160
Blood 94
Board ship 24, 104
Boot of leather 19
Bran mash 22
Break carriage 5, 30
Breaking or training 29
Breaking to harness 30
Breastplate 48
Breeding 1, 93
Bridling 38
Britching 58
Broken knees 141
Broken wind 119
Bronchitis 113
Bruised oats 21
Brushing 78
Buying 6
Calkins or cogs 80, 82
Calomel 125
Canker 136
Cantering 33, 52
Capped hock 145
Caprice 90
Carriages 73, 75
Carrots 23
Casting 102
Cavalry remounts 47
Cavesson 33
Chaff 10, 154
Chain fastenings 17
Chalk 15, 154, 160
Chifney bit 42
Chloride of zinc 158
Chloroform 102
Clap of the back sinew 143
Cleaning in-doors 12, 13
Climate 95
Clipping 16
Clothing 18
Clysters 159
Clysters, danger of using 15, 159
Cold and influenza 110
Colic and gripes 108, 121
Colic drench 159
Collar 60
Colour 2
Contagion 26, 112, 116
Contractors 25
Corns 79, 131, 140
Costiveness 123
Cough 115
Coupling-rein 56
Cracked and greasy heels 136
Crib-biting 153
Croton-oil 108, 159
Crupper 46, 63
Curb 145
Dandriff 14
Dealers 6, 7
Diabetes 123
Diabetes drench 159
Diarrhœa or dysentery 120, 159
Digestive organs, diseases of 120
Diseases 101
Disinfectants 113, 161
Diuretics, and danger of 126
Dogs and cats 11
Dragoons 36, 47, 48, 50
Drainage 8
Draught or traction 58, 72
Drench, way of giving 105
Driving 65
Dumb jockey 30
Dysentery 120, 159
Exercising 31, 107
Exhibitions 94, 97
Eyes, sore 110
Fairs 7
Falling in harness 70
Farcy 26, 107, 147
Febrifuges 117
Feeding 20
Feeding on board ship 24
Feet, diseases of 127
Fencing 53
Fever of the feet, or laminitis 132, 133, 155
Fits 117, 153
Flooring 10, 143
Fomentations 146
Foot, construction of 128
Foot-stopping 13, 38
French horses 1, 2, 96
Frosting 80
Gas water 146
Girthing 44
Glanders 26, 109
Glycerine 158
Goulard lotion 158
Grazing 26
Grey powder 115
Gripes 108, 121
Grooming 12
Grooms’ doctoring 12
Grooms’ requisites 15
Gruel, how to make 161
Hack for draught 5
Hack to ride 3
Halter-cast 17
Haltering 16
Hames 58, 61
Harnessing 56
Harness-room 56
Hay 21
Head, diseases of 109
Head-stall 16
Heels, cracked or greasy 136
Hidebound 150
Hills, to ascend or descend 67, 68
Hood 18
Horse shows 94, 97
Hunter 5, 94
Inflammation of bladder 125, 159
Inflammation of kidneys 125
Inflammation of lungs 114, 155
Influenza 110
Indian gram 22
Iodine ointment 159
Irish hunters 93
Jibbers 71, 87
Jumping 53
Kicking in harness 59, 71, 85
Kicking in stable 85
Kicking-strap 31, 59
Kidneys, inflammation of 125
Knee-caps 19, 31
Knees, broken 141
Lameness 55, 78, 128, 140
Lampas 119
Latches, danger of 10
Lateral cartilage, disease of 135
Laudanum 121, 159
Laxatives 158
Leather boot 19
Leather soles 82
Legs, diseases of 127
Light 9
Liniments 158
Linseed mash 22
Linseed-oil 108, 158
Litter 9, 135
Liver, diseases of 125
Logs to head, tie 17
Loose-boxes 9
Lotions 141, 158
Loungeing or ringing 33, 84
Lungs, inflammation of 114, 155
Mallenders and sallenders 144
Mane 14
Mange 150
Mangers 10
Martingals 40
Mash, to make 22
Megrims 153
Mercurial ointment 141, 160
Mercury.—See Calomel.
Metastasis 155
Mounting of lady in side-saddle 55
Mustard blister 160
Navicular disease 7, 134
Neck, sore 31
Nitre 117, 126
Nose, discharge from, or nasal gleet 110, 116
Noseband 42, 63
Numna or sweat-cloth 38
Oak bark 159
Oats, bruised 21
Ointments 141, 160
Operations 102
Operations, slight 104
Opium, tincture of 121, 123
Out of doors, cleaning 12, 13
Over-reach or tread 140
Pace, generally considered 34, 96
Partitions 10
Pavement 9, 10, 11, 143
Pease 20, 22
Peat or tan as bedding 10, 27
Phosphoric acid 124, 159
Picker 13, 15
Pole-chains and swinging-bars 73
Poll-evil 17, 117
Porter and ale 24, 37
Poultices 160
Private purchase 7, 90
Prizes 94, 97
Public troughs 26
Pulse 109
Purges 108, 158, 159
Purging 106
Purging, to stop 108, 121
Putting to, in draught 57
Quittor 135
Race-horses 1, 6
Racing laws 97
Racks and mangers 10
Rarey’s system 28, 102
Rearing up 52, 86
Restoratives, in work 24, 37
Riding 49
Ringing or loungeing 33
Ring-bone 144
Ringworm 148
Rollers 19, 152
Roughing and frosting 80
Runaways 71
Saddling 43
Sallenders 144
Salt 15, 125, 154, 160
Sand-cracks 138
Saving-collar 30, 61
Sedative 161
Selecting 2
Selling 89
Setons 152, 156
Sex 3
Shape 1, 3, 5, 6, 94
Sheet, shape 18
Shelly hoofs 137
Shipboard 24, 104
Shivering fits 117
Shoeing 75
Shying 88
Side-saddle, for mounting lady to 55
Side-saddle and girths 44, 45
Singeing 15
Sitfasts 151
Size 1, 2, 72, 95
Skin diseases 148, 149, 150
Smelling, sense of 89
Solitude 11, 93
Sore back 38, 151
Sore eyes 110
Sore heels 136
Sore mouth 24, 158
Sore neck 31
Sore throat 118
Sore withers 38, 151
Soundness 5
Spavin, blood 146
Spavin, bone 144
Splinter and swinging bars 73
Splints 142
Stable requisites 15
Stabling 8
Staggers 153
Staling, profuse 123
Stalls 9
Steaming the head 112
Stevens’s ointment 142, 145, 159
Stirrup irons and leathers 45, 46
Stonehenge 11, 30
Stones on the road 13, 40, 55
Stopping feet 13, 38, 76, 134
Strain of back sinew 11, 14, 82, 143
Strangles 118
Straw 9, 10
String-halt 145
Stubbornness 71, 87
Stumbling 40, 52
Surfeit 147, 149
Sweating 32
Synovia 141, 143, 146
Tar 15, 135, 138, 140, 158
Teeth 3, 24, 116
Terret-pad and belly-band 59, 61
Tinctures, administration of 158
Tips 83
Thorough-pin 146
Throat-lash or band 43
Throat, sore 118
Thrush 15, 131, 135
Traces 57
Training 28
Travelling 36, 84
Troop-horses 47, 50
Trotting 34
Turpentine 157, 158
Twitch 75, 104
Unnerving 7, 134
Urinary organs, diseases of 125, 127, 159
Ventilation 8, 18, 102, 109, 112, 115, 118
Vice 84
Vinegar 144, 158
Walking exercise 32
Warranty 5, 7
Water, externally 12, 136
Water-dressing 160
Water farcy 148
Watering 25
Wheels 73
Whip 65
Wind-galls 14, 143
Wind-sucking 153
Withers, sore 38, 151
Work 33
Worms 28, 124, 160
Worm-powder 124
Wounds 152
Wrick or wrench 144
Yellows 125
Young horses 94, 97
Zinc, chloride of 158
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Handy Horse-book, by Maurice Hartland Mahon