DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 211 



SPASMS. 



Perhaps few affections are so common among horses as 

 spasms, and yet no veterinary Writer has thought proper to 

 introduce them in his classification of diseases. The reason 

 probably is, that, although well-known to all who possess 

 any familiarity with the ailments of horse-flesh, they so often 

 occur in connection with other diseases that they have been 

 regarded as merely symptomatic in all cases. But sometimes 

 we find them entirely disconnected with any other disorder, 

 under circumstances that forbid the intelligent practitioner 

 referring them to any local affection. 



Spasms may be of three kinds — of the nerves, the muscles, 

 or the skin. Although only the second of these properly be- 

 longs to this chapter, it will be most convenient to consider 

 all of them in this connection. A minute description of each 

 IS a task not without some difficulty. Yet, where is the far- 

 mer that has not witnessed spasms of the muscles? For a 

 few minutes they contract violently, with sudden jerks ; then 

 the spasm passes away, leaving the animal apparently as well 

 as ever. 



ITervous spasms are still more common. The horse sud- 

 denly becomes much agitated, trembles all over, and has a 

 wild, frightened look, when there is not the 'least sign of 

 any cause of alarm. For a few moments his very frame 

 shakes with excitement ; but this passes off presently, and he 

 becomes perfectly tranquil again. Such a case is plainly 

 nothing else than one manifestation of nervous disturbance, 

 in which alone all his disquiet and fears have their origin. 



Every one knows that in human pathology nervous people 

 are usually very fearful, always imagining something wrong, 

 or some danger near. It is precisely the same with the horse. 

 Many a poor animal has been adjudged to be vicious, and has 

 received terrible beatings for his unaccountable excitement, 

 his reluctance to move, or his supposed perversity, when all 

 this was the result simply of nervous derangement, manifested 

 in the form of spasms, which affected the whole body. 



