DISEASES AND TREATMENT OF THE HORSE. 95 



Causes. — Bots are caused by the bot-fly stinging and laying 

 Its eggs under the horse's head, neck and legs. These flies, while 

 they are laying their eggs on the horse, seem to annoy him very 

 much, and he will be seen to jerk his head as if they had stung 

 him. These little eggs are taken into the horse's mouth by him 

 biting and rubbing his legs with his mouth in the fall of the year. 

 They pass from the mouth down into the stomach, where they 

 lodge for the winter by hanging on to the lining membrane of the 

 stomach and develop and grow until spring comes, when they 

 will let go their hold, pass through the bowels and out with the 

 manure, where they soon become developed into a regular bot-fly, 

 and fly off^ to bother the horse during the summer. This is the 

 way they reproduce. 



Symptoms. — The horse will be noticed not to be doing well, 

 and has a ravenous appetite, but the feed does not seem to do 

 him much good. He will also be noticed to hold his head up and 

 be moving and twisting his upper lip. 



Treatment. — Give him the following mixture : 



Raw Linseed Oil 1 pint. 



Spirits of Turpentine 1 ounce or 4 tablespoonfuls. 



Shake well and give as a drench. Give this drench once a 



week until the animal seems reliev^ed, allowing him to stand a day 



after each drench ; also give him a teaspoonful of ground sulphate 



of iron in his feed twice a day. 



DISEASES OF THE BOWELS. 



SPASMODIC COLIC. 



This is a spasmodic contraction of the muscular fibres of the 

 coats of the • bowels, or in other words, cramps of the bowels. 

 The small bowels are the ones usually affected, but the large ones 

 might, too, be aff"ected. 



Causes. — The principal cause is a change of food, such as 

 giving a feed of roots when the animal is not used to it, and 

 especially when frozen, or a cold drink of water when the animal 

 is hot. Sometimes it comes on after giving the horse a physic. 

 A sudden change in the weather' will sometimes bring it on. 

 Some horses become, as it were, subjected to this disease, more 

 especially if the stomach is not digesting the food properly. Al- 

 though this disease is very painful while it lasts, it is not very 



