iNFi.AMMATioys.l AT(M)ERN VETERINARY TliACTlCK. fiNKLVM.MAnoNs. 



dry food; so large sometimes in quantity, that , TIuto is notliin<^ except excesaive exertion, 



it is ilifliciilt to concL'ivo liow it couUl havo sus- 

 taiiiod tlio load. 



The disease may exist in a great variety of 

 degrees ; for it may go on until tlio stomach 

 contains from fifty to sixty pounds ; but, iu 

 such a v-Mso, we consider it to bo of the worst 

 description, and absolutely incurable. The 

 same disease, however, tliough in a consider- 

 ablv less degree, occurs much more tVequently 

 than the public are aware of. It is often 

 curable by simple means, and without diffi- 

 culty ; and yet often terminates fatally, 

 through ignorance, or unskilful management. 

 As the degree in which the disease happens is 

 various, so are the symptoms diversiiied, and 

 distinguished by a variety of names. They all 

 originate, however, in the same cause, and 

 that is indigestion. The name staggers has 

 been applied, when the disease exists iu a 

 sufiicient degree to disturb the functions of 

 the brain : but this does not happen until the 

 vital power of the stomach has, to a certain 

 exteut, been impaired by a continuance, or a 

 frequent repetition of improper feeding ; and 

 this morbid state is more rapidly induced, 

 when, in addition to improper feeding, the 

 animal is worked hard, and generally ill- 

 treated. How often do we see a great num- 

 ber of horses confined the greater part of 

 a market-day iu the court or stable of a 

 public-house, without food, and none given to 

 them until they return home, probably a dis- 

 tance of many miles, when they are permitted 

 to eat, even to repletion, nothing but bad hay. 

 Thus is a load of indigestible food taken into 

 the stomach, at a time when its vital power 

 has been diminished by fasting ; but such is 

 the power of this important organ, that it will 

 resist for a time even this treatment ; and it 

 is only by a repetition of such injuries that it is 

 at length rendered incapable of digesting suffi- 

 cient food to restore itself and sustain the body. 

 Tliat degree of exhaustion, or diminished 

 power, or, rather, that debilitated condition of 

 the btomach which gives rise to staggers, is 

 seldom curable. If the animal docs recover 

 from the disease, the morbid state of the 

 stomach is such, that unless he is afterwards 

 fed in the most careful manner, he generally 

 dies suddenly; and the supposition is that 

 this is the result of some other disorder. 



perhaps, that does so much injury to the 

 8tt)maeh as bad hay ; and when tlie.xu cuusch 

 are combined, the most formidahlo diseases 

 are produced, and almost all of them depend 

 on the diminished energy of the stomach. 



If we consider the im|)()rtant odice of the 

 stomach — namely, the preparation of food in 

 order to form blood, and thereby repair the 

 waste or wear which all the muscles are con- 

 stantly undergoing —what can be expected 

 when it is su[)[)lied with food that contains 

 but little nutriment, and requires its utmost 

 exertions in order to digest it ? The exces- 

 sive exertions in which horses are commonly 

 employed in this country are sufficiently 

 known. Custom, we fear, has so familiarised 

 many avaricious horse proprietors to these 

 cruel exertions, as to prevent them from view- 

 ing the situation of the horse as they ouglit ; 

 and we frequently hear them boasting of their 

 driving or riding an animal so many miles iu 

 a short space of time, as if the merit of 

 the perfortnance was due to them instead of 

 to the quadruped The stomach-staggers, 

 however, is not so common as it used to be. 

 We have known farmers absolutely ruined by 

 the disease, from its having continued among 

 their horses until all of them have been de- 

 stroyed. The better feelings which have taken 

 place among this class, and which are still 

 spreading, render diseases among their horses 

 far less frequent than they used to be. A con- 

 currence of the causes before noticed — that is, 

 excessive exertion and improper feeding — were 

 wont to be most frequent amongst post and 

 stage-coach horses ; and it is here that 

 diseases of the digestive organs are oftenest 

 to be met with. Stomach-staggers, how- 

 ever, is not the symptom that occurs ; it is one 

 of a difiereut description ; that is, flatulent 

 colic, or gripes. The condition of the stomach, 

 which produces this, is exhaustion of its vital 

 power ; differing from that which produces 

 stomach-staggers, not only in degree, but also 

 in kind. In stomach-staggers, the power of 

 the stomach is so gradually diminished, that 

 the disorder almost imperceptibly takes place, 

 and is rarely observed until it is incurable. In 

 the other, the disease is more rapidly de- 

 veloped, and therefore the eflect is different. 



In most instances this disease has termi- 



289 



