198 DISEASES OF HORSES. 



of a school for the veterinary art, has disseminated ar 

 improve i practice, and spread improved practitioners 

 throughout the country ; and we would earnestly re- 

 commend an application to one of established reputa- 

 tion in all cases of difficulty and danger. But as it is 

 not always that such a one is within reach, to enable 

 the agriculturalist to have in his own hands the means 

 of informing himself, or to being a check to others, 

 we submit a concise view of the diseases of the head, 

 neck, trunk, and extremities, preceded by some general 

 observations. 



GENERAL REMARKS ^ 



On the Ht'ulihy and Diseased State of the Horse. 



2. Condition of Horses. — Being in condition, in stable language, 



signifies not only perfect health internally, but such an appear- 



ance externally, as the philosopher would call unnatural, or at 



least artificial : while the amateur considers it as an essential requi. 



site to the other qualities of the horse. This external condition 



is denoted by a sleek, short, shining coat, with a degree of flesh 



neither bordering on fatness nor emaciation. Even in this sense of 



tne -term, condition must be varied according to the uses of the 



aiimal. In the cart horse, provided there be a sleekness of coat, 



looseness of hide, sound wind, freedom from grease or swelled 



legs with good digestion ; a fulness and rotundity of bulk, instead 



of detracting from his beauty or impeding his exertions, will add 



to the one and assist the other. In the coach horse, the hackney, 



the hunter, and the racer, a different condition is expected, varying 



in different degrees from that of the cart horse. In both cart horse 



and racer, it is equally necessary -that the various internal organs 



sliouid be in a state to act uninterruptedly for the ben-sfit of the 



whole ; but in addition to this, it is necessary to the racer, 'Jiat 



the greatest possible quantity of animal fibres should be condensed 



into the smallest possible bulk, and that the absorption of all 



tiseless fat and other interstitial matter should be promoted by every 



possible means, as essentially necessary to unite lightness of body 



«vith full strength and elasticity. It is in the attempts to produce 



Buch a state in its full perfection, that all the secrets of training 



eoii-^i'^t' "nut. whether a total departure from natural rules, by 



