102 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



only remedy which can be safely resorted 

 to, and as it is supposed that worms will 

 sometimes produce these convulsive at- 

 tacks, it is on that account to be selected. 

 Epilepsy is so very rarely met with in the 

 adult, and of its causes and treatment so 

 little is known, that we shall not trouble 

 our readers with any account of them. 



HORSE, Megrims. — This term is used 

 to conceal our ignorance of the exact 

 nature of several disordered conditions of 

 the brain and heart. In fact, any kind 

 of fit, not attended with convulsions, and 

 only lasting a short time, is called by this 

 name. The cause may be fatty condition 

 of the heart, by which sudden faintness 

 and sometimes death are produced, or it 

 may consist in congestion of the vessels 

 of the brain, arising from over-work on a 

 hot day, or from the pressure of the col- 

 lar, or from disease of the valves of the 

 heart. Attacks reputed to be megrims 

 have been traced to each of these causes, 

 and as in every case the horse, while ap- 

 parently in good health, staggers and falls, 

 and after lying still for a few minutes 

 (during which there is seldom an oppor- 

 tunity of examining the state of the cir- 

 culation) rises as well as before, there is 

 no chance of distinguishing the one from 

 the other. The most usual symptoms are 

 the following : The horse is perhaps trot- 

 ting along, when all at once he begins 

 shaking his head as if the bridle chaf- 

 ed his ears, which are drawn back 

 close to the poll. The driver gets down 

 to examine these facts, and observes the 

 eyelids quivering, and the nostrils affected 

 with a trembling kind ot spasm. Some- 

 times the rest will allow of the attack go- 

 ing off, but most frequently the head is 

 drawn to one side, the legs, of that half 

 of the body seem to be paralyzed, and 

 the horse making a segment of a circle 

 goes down, lies a few minutes on the 

 ground, and then rises as if nothing had 

 happened beyond a slight sweating, and 

 disturbance of the respiration. Treat- 

 ment can be of little avail, however, un- 

 less a correct diagnosis is made, for rem- 

 edies which would be suited to congestion 

 would be prejudicial to a diseased heart. 

 If the attack has happened while in har- 

 ness, the collar should always be carefully 

 inspected, and if at all tight it should be 

 replaced by a deeper one. A diseased 

 state of the valves of the heart .ought lo 



be discoverable by auscultation, but it re- 

 quires a practised ear to do this, and the 

 directions for ascertaining its presence 

 are beyond the scope of this book. The 

 only plan which can safely be adopted, is 

 to take the subject of megrims quietly 

 home to his stable, and carefully examine 

 into the condition of all his functions, 

 with a view to improve the action of any 

 organ which appears to be out of order, 

 whatever it may be. If all seems to be 

 going on well — if the appetite is good, 

 and the heart acts with regularity and 

 with due force, while the brain seems 

 clear, and the eye is not either dull or 

 suffused with blood — nothing should be 

 attempted; but the horse being subject tc* 

 a second attack, as proved by manifold 

 experience, should be put to work in 

 which no great danger can be appre- 

 hended from them. He is not safe in any 

 kind of carriage, for it can never be 

 known where the fall will take place; 

 and as a saddle-horse he is still more ob- 

 jectionable, and should therefore be put 

 to some commercial purpose, in executing 

 which, if he falls, the only injury he can 

 effect is to property, and not to human 

 life. 



HORSE, Rabies, Hydrophobia or Mad- 

 ness. — One reason only can be given for 

 describing this disease, which is wholly 

 beyond the reach of art; but as the horse 

 attacked by it is most dangerous, the 

 sooner he is destroyed the better ; and 

 for this reason, every person who is likely 

 to have any control over him should be 

 aware of the symptoms. As far as is- 

 known at present, Rabies is not idiopath- 

 ically developed in the horse, but must 

 follow the bite of a rabid individual be- 

 longing to one or other of the genera. 

 canis and felis. The dog, being con- 

 stantly about" our stables, is the usual 

 cause of the development of the disease,, 

 and it may supervene upon the absorp- 

 tion of the salivary virus without any 

 malicious bite, as has happened accord- 

 ing to more than one carefully recorded 

 case. The lips of the horse are liable to 

 be ulcerated from the action of the bit, 

 and there is reason to believe that in the 

 early stages of rabies, these parts have 

 been licked by a dog, the saliva has been 

 absorbed, and the inoculation has taken 

 place just as it would do from any other 

 wound. It is difficult to prove that this. 



