9 o 



HORSE—DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



ter knows the danger of working his horses 

 without feeding them at intervals of five, or 

 at most six hours, the stomach staggers are 

 almost unknown. Even when the disease 

 shows itself at grass it is almost always 

 manifested directly after the horse is first 

 turned out, when he gorges himself with 

 much-coveted food, which has long been 

 withheld, and his brain is affected in a 

 manner similar to that which follows a 

 long fast from every kind of food. In a 

 short time, if the affection of the brain is 

 not relieved, that organ becomes still more 

 severely implicated, and convulsions or 

 paralysis put an end to the attack. Dur- 

 ing the course of the disease the breath- 

 ing is affected, and there is generally an 

 almost total cessation of the secretions of 

 bile and urine, which may either be the 

 cause or the effect of the condition of the 

 brain. With this state of uncertainty as 

 to the essence of the disease, it is some- 

 what empirical to lay down any rules for 

 its treatment; and, as we before remark- 

 ed, it is now so rare that they are scarce- 

 ly necessary. If care be taken to feed 

 the horse properly, he will never suffer 

 from stomach staggers in the stable; and 

 at grass, the attack is seldom observed 

 until he is beyond the reach of any reme- 

 dies. Still, it may be as well to observe, 

 that the usual plan of proceeding has 

 been to take away blood, so as to relieve 

 the brain, and to stimulate the stomach to 

 get rid of its load, by the use of warm 

 aperients, such as the following : 



Take of Barbadoes Aloes - - 4 to 6 drachms. 

 Tincture of Ginger - 3 drachms. 

 Dissolve the aloes in a pint of hot water, then 

 add the tincture, and when nearly cool give as a 

 drench. 



HORSE, Dyspepsia. — Every domestic 

 animal suffers in health if he is constantly 

 fed on the same articles, and man himself, 

 perhaps, more than they do. Partridges 

 are relished by him early in September, 

 but toujours perdrix would disgust the 

 most inveterate lover of that article of 

 food. Dogs are too often made to suffer 

 from being fed on the same meal, flavor- 

 ed with similar flesh or broth, from one 

 month to another. It is well known that 

 cattle and sheep must change their pas- 

 ture, or they soon lose condition; and 

 yet horses are expected to go on eating 

 oats and hay for years together without 

 injury to health; and at the same time 



are often exposed to the close air of a 

 confined stable, and to an irregular 

 amount of exercise. We cannot, there- 

 fore, wonder that the master is often told 

 that some one or other of his horses is 

 " a little off his feed ;" nor should we be 

 surprised that the constant repetition of 

 the panacea for this, " a dose of physic," 

 should at length permanently establish 

 the condition which at first it would 

 always alleviate. It is a source of won- 

 der that the appetite continues so good 

 as it does, in the majority of horses, 

 which are kept in the stable on the same 

 kind of food, always from July to May, 

 and often through the other months, 

 also. The use of a few small bundles of 

 vetches, lucerne, or clover in the spring 

 is supposed to be quite sufficient to re- 

 store tone to the stomach, and undoubt- 

 edly they are better than no change at 

 all; but at other seasons of the year 

 something may be done towards the pre- 

 vention of dyspepsia by varying the 

 quality of the hay, and by the use of a 

 few carrots once or twice a week. In 

 many stables, one rick of hay is made to 

 serve throughout the whole or a great 

 part of the year, which is a very bad 

 plan, as a change in this important article 

 of food is as much required as a change 

 of pasturage when the animal is at grass. 

 When attention is paid to this circum- 

 stance, the appetite will seldom fail in 

 horses of a good constitution, if they are 

 regularly worked; but without it, resort 

 must occasionally be had to a dose of 

 physic. It is from a neglect of this pre- 

 caution that so many horses take to eat 

 their litter, in preference to their hay ; for 

 if the same animal was placed in a straw- 

 yard for a month, without hay, and then 

 allowed access to both, there would be 

 little doubt that he would prefer the lat- 

 ter. Some horses are naturally so vora- 

 cious that they are always obliged to be 

 supplied with less than they desire, and 

 they seldom suffer from loss of appetite ; 

 but delicate feeders require the greatest 

 care in their management. When the 

 stomach suffers in this way it is always 

 desirable to try what a complete change 

 of food will do before resorting to medi- 

 cine; and, if it can be obtained, green 

 food of some kind should be chosen, or 

 if not, carroty or even steamed potatoes. 

 In place of hay, sound wheat or barley 



