26 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



ters swaying from side to side, and when 

 compelled to retrograde suddenly he ap- 

 pears as if about to fall, he has received 

 some injury. Some horses cannot be 

 made to back, but when urged, rear on 

 their hind legs. His loins should be 

 searched for marks of setons, or blisters. 

 Among stable-men it is termed " chinked 

 in the chine," or rigged in the hock. 



A singular symptom of diseased spine 

 sometimes shows itself where nothing had 

 been previously suspected; that is, of 

 sometimes dropping when turned sud- 

 denly in the trot, the hinder quarters ap- 

 pearing as if paralyzed; in one case, after 

 several ineffectual attempts to reproduce 

 it, it was developed by a man startling 

 him from a stable door as he trotted past 

 it up the ride. 



There are many blemishes and defects 

 that render a hack unserviceable, which 

 are of little or no consequence in harness. 

 The greatest virtue in a gig horse is 

 steadiness, which can only be ascertained 

 by trial ; and do not trust to the steadi- 

 ness he evinces while the reins are in his 

 owner's hands. The author of that ad- 

 mirable little work, " The Adventures of 

 a Gentleman in search of a Horse," truly 

 says, " whoever buys a carriage horse 

 without first driving him himself, is a fit 

 subject for a commission of lunacy; it 

 is not enough to put him on the break, 

 he should be harnessed at once to the 

 carriage, and it is prudent to observe 

 how he bears the ceremony of harness- 

 ing, and what kind of start he makes. 

 Much may be predicted by his qualifica- 

 tions for draught, or at all events his fa- 

 miliarity with the collar, by the degree of 

 quiet with which he allows himself to be 

 put to. 



If the ostler runs alongside of him at 

 setting off, as is often the case, you may 

 be sure the horse is distrusted; if you 

 distrust it yourself, have nothing to do 

 with him. 



The horse should now be returned to 

 the stable for the purpose of examining 

 his eyes, the most favorable position for 

 which is about half a foot within the sta- 

 ble door. There should be no back or 

 side lights, or the rays, falling between 

 the eyes of the examiner and the animal, 

 will prevent him seeing distinctly. The 

 head should be so placed that a mode- 

 rate light should fall on the eye of the 



horse, and the quantity of light can be 

 easily regulated by bringing the horse's 

 head more or less forward, until it is 

 placed in the most favorable direction 

 for observation. 



Though every horseman can detect 

 absolute blindness, yet the eye of the 

 horse is susceptible of so many diseases, 

 in which defective vision or partial blind- 

 ness exists in such a form, long before 

 the sight is lost, that it requires not only 

 more observation than most people imag- 

 ine, but a person unacquainted with its 

 anatomical structure, and the different 

 appearances it assumes, cannot perceive 

 it at all. There are certain forms of the 

 eye, and structural peculiarities, that 

 show a constitutional predisposition to 

 disease — thus, small sleepy eyes, of a 

 blueish grey color, or when they have a 

 flat, retracted, and sunken appearance, 

 or those of a longish, oval figure, are 

 predisposed to ophthalmia, or when the 

 eyes appear full, with a fleshy circle 

 around them, these are all symptoms of 

 badness of eye, and are the forerunners 

 of blindness, particularly in the heads of 

 coarse and fleshy horses, with heavy 

 countenances, who usually go blind with 

 cataracts at seven years old. 



Slight thickenings of the lid or pucker- 

 ing towards the inner corner of the eye, 

 a difference in size, a cloudiness, or dull- 

 ness of the iris, are several indications of 

 disease, that a purchaser should beware 

 of. 



In examining the eyes, both must have 

 an equal degree of light ; if any differ- 

 ence is apparent between them, one must 

 be diseased. The cornea, or transparent 

 part of the eye, should be perfectly clear. 



Specks are best detected by standing 

 at the shoulder ; if one is evident, and it 

 can be clearly proved to be no more 

 than the effect of accident, no import- 

 ance need be placed on it. But it is im- 

 possible to ascertain this, and therefore 

 the safest course is to assume that natural 

 irritability and consequent inflammation 

 of the eye is the cause. 



Specks on the transparent cornea are 

 generally the result of external injury; 

 there is seldom more than one; when 

 very small and near the circumference,, 

 they are of no consequence ; but if large,, 

 or near the centre, they interfere with 

 distinctness of vision, and make the horse 



