HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT, 



109 



sympathy with the stomach. It rarely 

 occurs in any horse but one sadly out of 

 health, from a deficiency either in the 

 quantity or quality of the food. Some- 

 times it comes on in the latter stages of 

 consumption or dysentery, without any 

 previous mismanagement ; but in the vast 

 majority of cases, the cause may be laid 

 to the food. The skin of a horse in 

 health feels supple, and on his sides it may 

 readily be gathered up by the hand into 

 a large fold, but in hidebound, it is as if 

 it were glued to the ribs, and were also 

 too tight for the carcass which it invests. 

 The name, indeed, is expressive of this 

 state, and the disease can scarcely be 

 mistaken when once seen, or rather felt. 

 Coincident with this condition of the skin, 

 there is also, generally, either a distended 

 state of the abdomen from flatulence, or 

 a contracted and "tucked up" appear- 

 ance from diarrhoea. The treatment should 

 be addressed to the digestive organs, the 

 state of which must be carefully exam- 

 ined, and, if possible, rectified. A pint 

 of linseed, scalded, and mixed with a 

 bran mash every night, or scalded malt 

 given in equal quantities with the corn ; 

 or, in the spring time, vetches, clover, or 

 lucerne, will do more than any medicine; 

 but when there is a deficient appetite, or 

 the bowels or stomach, or either of them, 

 are evidently much weakened and disor- 

 dered, a stomachic ball once or twice a 

 week will do good. The remedies appro- 

 priate to these several conditions will be 

 found under their respective heads. (See 

 Horse, Diarrhoea.) 



HORSE, Mange. — Mange corresponds 

 with the itch of the human subject in 

 being produced by a parasitic insect, 

 which is an acarus, but of a different spe- 

 cies to that of man, and of a much larger 

 size, so as to be readily visible to the 

 naked eye. It is generally produced by 

 contact with horses previously affected 

 with the same disease, but it appears 

 highly probable that a poor, half-starved 

 animal, allowed to accumulate all kinds 

 of dirt on his skin, will develop the para- 

 site, though how this is done is not 

 clearly made out. The whole subject of 

 parasites is wrapt in mystery, which mod- 

 ern researches appear likely to fathom, 

 but hitherto little progress has been made 

 except in the history of the metamor- 

 phoses of the tape-worm, from the anal- 



ogy of which some idea may be formed 

 of the probable modes of production of 

 other parasites. When caused by conta- 

 gion, as certainly happens in the vast 

 majority of cases, the first symptoms no- 

 ticed will be an excessive itching of the 

 skin, which is soon followed by a bare- 

 ness of the hair in patches, partly caused 

 by constant friction. The disease usually 

 shows itself on the side of the neck, just 

 at the edges of the mane, and on the 

 insides of the quarters near the root of 

 the tail. From these parts the eruption 

 extends along the back and down the 

 sides, seldom involving the extremities 

 excepting in very confirmed cases. After 

 a time the hair almost entirely falls off, 

 leaving the skin at first bare and smooth, 

 with a few small red pimples scattered 

 over it, each of which contains an acarus, 

 and these are connected by furrows, 

 along which the acari have worked their 

 way to their present habitation. In pro- 

 cess of time, the pimples increase in num- 

 ber and size, and from them a matter ex- 

 udes which hardens into a scab, beneath 

 which, on examination, several acari may 

 readily be seen, moving their legs like 

 mites in a cheese, to which they are 

 closely allied. At first the mangy horse 

 may keep his health, but after a time the 

 constant irritation makes him feverish; 

 he loses flesh, and becomes a most miser- 

 able object; but such cases of neglect 

 are happily rare in the present day. The 

 treatment must be addressed to the de- 

 struction of the life 01 the acarus, which, 

 as in the human subject, is rapidly de- 

 stroyed by sulphur, turpentine, arsenic, 

 hellebore, and corrosive sublimate. Some 

 of these drugs are, however, objectiona- 

 ble, from being poisonous to the horse, 

 as well as to the parasite which preys 

 upon him, and they are, therefore, not to 

 be employed without great and urgent 

 necessity, in consequence of the failure of 

 milder remedies. The following recipes 

 may be relied on as perfectly efficacious,, 

 the former being sufficient in mild cases, 

 and the latter being strong enough in any : 



1. Take of Common Sulphur - 6 ounces. 



Sperm or Train Oil - I pint. 

 Spirits of Turpentine - 3 ounces. 

 Mix and rub well into the skin with a flannel, or 

 in preference with a painter's brush. 



2. Take of Compound Sulphur Ointment, 8 ounces. 



Train or Sperm Oil - - I pint. 

 Spirit of Turpentine - - 3 ounces. 

 Mix and use as above. 



