WINKERS — WOUNDS 



Winkers. — See Blinkers. 



Withers. — The ridge of bone at the top of the shoulders 

 behind where the neck meets the back. The withers are 

 much more prominently defined in some horses than in 

 others, and hence the unreliability of many measurements. 

 Fairly high withers are necessary in a riding horse, as they 

 assist in keeping the saddle in its place ; whilst lean withers, 

 unloaded by a superabundance of shoulder muscles, are 

 usually associated with easy action. (See Height^ 



Wolf Teeth. — Additional teeth which appear in some 

 horses in front of the molars. They are not often found in 

 a horse's mouth, and when they appear they should be 

 extracted, as they interfere with the animal's feeding. 



Worms. — The existence of these pests can usually be 

 detected by the appearance of the horse, as his coat becomes 

 dull, and stares ; he often loses flesh from an otherwise 

 unaccountable cause, and sometimes keeps on perpetually 

 whisking his tail owing to the irritation of his rectum. In the 

 latter case the worms are probably of the so-called thread 

 or needle variety, such as are sometimes seen in the dung, 

 where they look like white threads about 2 inches long. 

 Sometimes these can be removed without physicking the 

 horse, but merely by administering an enema of salt and 

 water, or of turpentine and linseed oil. The larger or round 

 worm is more difficult to evict, and this can only be accom- 

 plished by medicine. First keep the horse without food for 

 twelve hours, if he is a full-grown animal, muzzling him to 

 prevent his eating his litter, and then give him a drench of 

 I pint of linseed oil and 2 ounces of turpentine. This will 

 usually expel the worms, but it may require more than one 

 dose at intervals of a week to effect a cure. Tapeworms are 

 generally very hard to deal with, and as they will usually only 

 yield to drugs of a dangerous nature it is safest to procure 

 professional advice. 



Wounds, — See Cuts. 



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