In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 139 



having their horses watered and fed at proper intervals, 

 and save the trouble, annoyance, and expense of having 

 to call in the aid of the veterinary surgeon for a malady 

 which by a trifling expense and a little judgment could 

 be prevented. If nothing else is effective, self-interest 

 ought to induce proper treatment. Staggers are said by 

 some writers to often affect the horse when at grass. If 

 the horse has previously been stinted with food, the author 

 has never seen a well-defined case of staggers at grass 

 and feels inclined to think that the so-called cases ot 

 stagers have been mistaken cases of ranunculacce 

 poisoning, especially as he can find no case recorded of 

 an animal dying of staggers at grass. Horses that have 

 stomach staggers repeatedly are almost sure to go blind 

 either partially or totally, from the effect of the gases 

 engendered in the stomach acting on the nervous system 

 and the optic nerve in particular. The symptoms of sleepy 

 or stomach staggers is indicated by the dull, stupid, sleepy 

 appearance of the horse, and the manner in which it stag- 

 gers about in its stall. It seems unconscious of what it is 

 doing, and if roused from its lethargy will probably take a 

 mouthful of hay, and in a few seconds will desist from 

 chewing it, the hay falling from its mouth. Many 

 instances have occurred where the disease has been 

 allowed to acquire such an ascendancy that the horse 

 will drop down and die while in the act of eating. In 

 other cases the drowsiness goes off, and is succeeded by 

 delirium, and after falling, rising, and staggering about^ 

 will die in convulsions. The stomach staggers are in- 

 dicated by a twitching of the muscles of the breast, and 

 a yellowness of the eyes. Before a remedy is attempted, 



