HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



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never moves his hind legs afterwards, but 

 lies with his fore legs in the position to 

 get up, groaning and expressing great 

 pain and distress, it may be concluded 

 that he has fractured or dislocated his 

 spine and that the case is hopeless. 

 Sometimes, however, after lying for a lew 

 seconds, he slowly and with difficulty 

 rises and is led to a stable, but after two 

 or three hours lies down and cannot be 

 got up again. Here there will be some 

 difficulty in ascertaining whether the mis- 

 chief is confined to a strain of the mus- 

 cles or is situated within the vertebral 

 canal. If the former is the case, the pain 

 is extreme, and generally there will be 

 some quivering or slight spasm of one or 

 more of the muscles of the hinder ex- 

 tremity, which feel naturally firm, while 

 in paralysis they feel soft and are as quiet 

 as they would be after death. By atten- 

 tion to these signs the two cases may be 

 distinguished, but when the case is made 

 out to be true paralysis the treatment is 

 not likely (even if successful in preserving 

 life) to bring about a useful restoration to 

 healthy action. In valuable horses an 

 attempt may be made by bleeding, phys- 

 icking and blistering to produce an ab- 

 isorption of the effused serum or blood, 

 but the recovered animal is seldom worth 

 the outlay, and too often as soon as he is 

 put to any kind of work is subject to a 

 relapse. The most humane, and certainly 

 the most economical plan is to put him 

 out of his misery at once by a pistol ball 

 or knife; but if it is determined to try 

 what can be done towards effecting a 

 cure, no better means can be adopted 

 than those we have alluded to. 



HOBSE, Sleepy Staggers— (See Horse, 

 Apoplexy.) 



HOBSE, String Halt.— This is a peculiar 

 snatching up of the hind leg, and is sup- 

 posed to depend upon some obscure dis- 

 ease of the sciatic nerve. It, however, is 

 very doubtful whether this explanation is 

 "well founded, and there is evidence that 

 in some cases the hock itself has been 

 -affected. The extensor pedis seems to be 

 the muscle most severely implicated, 

 though not the only one which is thrown 

 into spasmodic action. No treatment is 

 of the slightest avail. Horses with string 

 halt are able to do any kind of work, but 

 it is considered to be a form of unsound- 

 ness. 



HOBSE, Ear, Diseases of the. — Deaf- 

 ness is sometimes met with in the horse, 

 but we know of no symptoms by which 

 its precise nature can be made out ; and 

 without ascertaining the seat of the dis- 

 ease, it is useless to attempt to treat it. 



Sometimes from a blow on the external 

 ear inflammation is set up, and an abscess 

 forms ; but all that is necessary is to open 

 it, so that the matter can readily flow out 

 as fast as it forms, without which pre- 

 caution it will not readily heal. 



HOBSE, Eye, Inflammation of the. — 

 This important organ is subjected to three 

 forms of inflammation, to opacity of the 

 lens, and to paralysis of the nerve called 

 amaurosis 



Simple inflammation is the most com- 

 mon of all the diseases to which the 

 horse's eye is subject, and it precedes most 

 of the others. It is always the result of 

 any injury of this part, or of cold ; and 

 it shows itself if there is a tendency to 

 inflammation of this organ, whenever the 

 horse is in a state of plethora. The symp- 

 toms are an intolerance of light, so that the 

 eye is kept half closed, by which it looks 

 smaller than the other; a gummy secre- 

 tion glues the lids together at the angles ; 

 the eyelids are slightly swollen, showing 

 a distended state of their veins ; and there 

 is more or less watering or overflowing of 

 tears. When the lids are separated, their 

 internal surface looks more red than na- 

 tural, and the white of the eye is covered 

 with a net-work of fine red vessels. Af- 

 ter the second day the transparent cornea 

 loses it clearness, and becomes muddy, 

 sometimes over the whole surface, and 

 at others in specks. If the disease 

 is allowed to go on unchecked, the cornea 

 is involved, and the lining membrane of 

 the aqueous humour follows ; a secretion 

 of pus takes place into the chamber, or 

 the cornea ulcerates, and the contents of 

 the eye escapes. The treatment should 

 be a copious bleeding from the jugular 

 vein, followed by a ball, such as 

 Take of Common Physic Ball - - 2 drachms. 

 Tartar Emetic - - - - I drachm. 



Mix and give every six hours. 



This not only acts on the intestines, but 

 it keeps up a constant nausea, and so 

 tends to lower the action of the heart. 

 The eye should be bathed with warm 

 water frequently ; and, if the mischief be 

 [severe, a seton should at once be put into 



