MULE — MUSCLES 



painful disease, and although not exactly a dangerous one, 

 is quite serious enough to lay up a horse for some time 

 should the attack be a bad one. 



Symptoms. — The belly becomes very hot and sometimes 

 swollen ; the coat on it stares, and if it is touched the horse 

 shows signs of pain. The skin under the hair on the belly 

 becomes rough, and an eruption appears, which if not treated 

 will develop into sore places and bring off the coat. Mud 

 fever is always associated with a high temperature, and 

 generally with lameness, or an inability to move with any 

 freedom even at a walk. 



Treatment. — Give a mild dose of physic and feed on 

 mashes and green food to reduce the fever, and dress the 

 belly with a mixture of glycerine four parts, and Goulard's 

 Extract one part, which will generally prove effective. Pre- 

 vention is, however, always better than cure, and therefore 

 it may be observed that mud fever is produced by the hair 

 of the belly being wetted. Consequently, it is a most unwise 

 practice to wash the mud off the coat of a horse, as it is far 

 better left to dry on after the worst of it has been removed 

 by wisping. (See Heated Hoises.) 



Mule. — The result of crossing an ass stallion with a 

 horse or pony mare. All mules and hybrids are sterile, and 

 consequently no importance should hj attached to the state- 

 ments which refer to known cases of a mule having produced 

 a foal. These have been, doubtless, made under some mis- 

 conception, probably owing to the pony or horse which bred 

 so strongly resembling a mule in appearance, as some do, 

 that a mistake occurred. (See Bardot, Hinny, Hybrid, 

 Jennet^ 



Muscles may be briefly, and unscientifically, defined as 

 fibres, attached to one bone which can be moved and another 

 that is fixed by sinews, which by their contraction or 

 expansion regulate the movements of the joints. The longer 

 the muscle, the greater is its power to contract or expand, 



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