440 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



point, often fails him here, for though he may not fall, but deliberately 

 walk into a ditch, he forgets how to return, and, wandering hopelessly up 

 and down in the dee^) mud, becomes exhausted and chilled, so that he soon 

 succumbs if not released from his unfortunate predicament. 



If he is discovered while al)le to make an eflbrt, the first thing to do is 

 to administer a stimulant while sending for ropes and another horse. He 

 may be in mid-stream, but can be reached by placing a ladder or gate 

 across or into it. A halter should be put on, and if there is room to turn 

 him, and the shelving portion of the bank not so far off but that the 

 almost exhausted animal could walk to it, he should be carefully led, with 

 words of encouragement, to the spot. He may, taking hope again, have 

 sufficient strength to get out when the opportunity is presented to him, 

 and especially if assisted by a rope jiassed under the buttocks. Rare, 

 indeed, is it to meet with any bad result from the apjoarently bar])arous 

 plan of roping the neck and pulling on it with great force. The ligaments 

 of this part are very powerful, as will be remembered, and the animal no 

 doubt adds resistance to the strain by rendering the muscles rigid and so 

 bracing up the bones. We know that when suddenly applied while the 

 animal is unprepared, less force has caused a broken neck; for instance, 

 when frightened in a forge, a horse has been known to break his neck by 

 throwing himself back in the halter. In urgent cases, roping the neck 

 should be resorted to without hesitation, even though the power of a horse 

 be required to extricate the unfortunate animal from his awkward position. 



Collapse is a condition calling for first aid. It is usually the result of 

 some serious injury, and may be recognized by pallor of the membranes, 

 coldness of the skin, sighing, trembling, reeling, and anxiety of counte- 

 nance. When the result of previous illness, loss of blood, or serious injury, 

 any alcoholic stimulant will prove serviceable, but whisky is to be preferred 

 if at hand. The reader may be reminded that water is a restorative too 

 often forgotten in cases of coUajise. It quickly fills up the vessels, and if 

 the patient will not drink it it should in that case be administered by the 

 drenching-bottle — not, however, if the animal is unconscious. In that 

 state any attempt to administer fluids by the mouth involves danger of 

 suffocating the patient, and must be abandoned. 



Cold affusions to the head are also restoratives, and, as we have pointed 

 out elsewhere, are commonly employed to re-establish consciousness after 

 chloroform has been given to the extent of producing total anaesthesia. 



Much of the first aid required by horses belongs neither to the depart- 

 ment of medicine nor that of surgery, but to practical horse management 

 and the tact of experience. 



Much of the damage done to or by a runaway occurs after the animal 



