282 REPORT ON THE DISEASES OF FARM HORSES. 



DISEASES OF THE MASTICATORY AND DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 



It is not uncommon that disease follows closely upon dis- 

 order of one or more organs, and particularly so with reference 

 to those whose office is to provide the nutriment for the body — 

 the digestive organs. Disease also follows closely on apparently 

 slight injuries to the masticatory apparatus — the mouth, tongue, 

 and fauces. To these I shall first direct attention. 



In this nineteenth century, when we would consider, in ac- 

 cordance with the march of intellect, any subject which minis- 

 ters to the wants and profit of men, the welfare of that useful 

 animal, the horse, would in common claim an equal share of 

 enlightened consideration. Such, however, is not the case. 

 He is left to the care of those who should know better, but 

 unfortunately do not — to those whose meddling propensities are 

 of the most reprehensible kind, and whose judgment effectively 

 carried out is of the most expensive character. 



Nearly every groom possesses unbounded confidence in his 

 powers of breaking horses, and in his operations feels it neces- 

 sary to give the animal a mouth. This is quite as indispensable 

 with the professional breaker. To effect this, that relic of a 

 barbarous age is made use of — the lungeing bit — by the use of 

 which I have seen the animal suffer excruciating pain. The 

 angles of the mouth are under extraordinary pressure, owing to 

 the size of the bit and tight strapping from behind ; inflamma- 

 tion succeeds, abscesses form, and, after discharging their con- 

 tents, terminate in an established opening through the cheek 

 into the mouth, large enough to admit of the passage of a finger. 

 The same state also results from nails, thorns, and splinters of 

 wood being taken up in the food and becoming lodged in the 

 substance of the cheek. 



In the vicinity of a large manufacturing town where I re- 

 sided I had many cases of this kind, and not unfrequently 

 opened abscesses in which such substances were found. The 

 same have also been found tightly wedged between the teeth, 

 giving rise to indefinite injury to the tongue and cheek. In one 

 instance I found the tongue half divided by the use of the sharp 

 bit which had been placed in the mouth, with tight straps from 

 the roller — the animal having been kept for hours by the 

 breaker in that position in a loose box. Cords have been tied 

 to the tongue, to cause the animal to proceed at a faster pace, 

 and sometimes tied to the gate, rails, &c, with the tongue and 

 jaw included in a hitch knot ; the end is stoppage of circulation, 

 mortification or death of the parts, and loss of a portion of 

 that useful organ. I have known death ensue ; but in cases of 



