263 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



DOCTORING. 



In all cases where a horse falls sick, or meets with an acci- 

 dent, the proper course to pursue is to send at once for a 

 thoroughly competent veterinary surgeon. To delay about 

 doing so may be to lose a valuable animal, or at all events 

 to involve a much longer attendance than would otherwise 

 have been necessary, and therefore the mistaken effort at 

 economy which tardiness generally represents, wall, in 

 nine cases out or ten, be entirely defeated. 



There may be times, however — in country districts, for 

 instance — when to send for a surgeon will involve a very 

 long and wearisome delay, and when to keep an ailing or 

 injured animal altogether without assistance or relief until 

 his arrival, may be productive of most serious results ; it 

 will, therefore, be apparent that, although a little know- 

 ledge is in many instances esteemed " a dangerous thing," 

 it is certainly not so with regard to the subject which 

 we have now in hand. For my own part, my knowledge 

 of horse-doctoring is decidedly limited, and my surgical 

 education still more incomplete, yet there have been 

 occasions on which I was able to prescribe for horses, both 

 my own and others', with perfect success, and to keep pain 



