PREFACE. 



In preparing this work, the author has kept constantly in view that it 

 is intended for the use of the farmer, and not for the professional horse 

 doctor or veterinary surgeon. Its object is to enable the owner of the 

 horse to give him that intelligent attention his worth and nobility deserve. 



The author has been for several years collecting and arranging the 

 facts necessary to the preparation of the work. He has carefully ob- 

 served the symptoms of the cases of each disease that has come under 

 his observation, and the effect of the remedies given. By this course it 

 is beheved nearly every thing contained in the work, whether relating to 

 the nature and symptoms of disease or to the treatment, has been sub- 

 jected to the unerring test of practical experience. 



The author has generally avoided theorizing, and relied on the state- 

 ment of known facts, believing that these will deceive nobody, while 

 theories, however plausible, are worth nothing, if not supported by ex- 

 perience. 



Nor has the author relied alone on his education in the profession of 



veterinary medicine, but he has consulted freely and critically the works 



of all the more distinguished European authors, as Blaine, Percival, 



White, Mayhew, Youatt, etc.; also, the works of Doctor Dadd, of the 



United States, especially his "Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse." 



All these works, though written for the professional horse doctor, have 



been of service to the author in preparing this work for the people. 



Such are the resources from which the material of this work have been 



Oii^ 



