236 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



or bran, which compel him to eat by giving nothing else until 

 it is gone. • 



A horse with stiff complaint must have rest. ]N"o one pos- 

 sessed of any feeling would put such an animal to service, 

 when every movement must give him pain. 



WARTS. 



These are little tumors or excrescences, of various sizes and 

 shapes, that come upon the horse's skin, generally accom- 

 panying plethora, high feeding, and limited exercise. Young 

 horses are oftener annoyed by them than older ones. Jacks 

 are* seldom free from them. They are of two kinds — seed 

 and blood warts. 



Seed warts are generally small, and usually make their 

 appearance on the eyelids, the nose, and the sheath, and ad- 

 joining portions of the belly. They grow in patches, and 

 have little hard points, or grains, which are known by the 

 name of seeds. They have a connection with the cuticle, 

 and extend downward to the cellular membrane, which is 

 the source of supply to their growth. At the base of each seed,' 

 where it has its origin in this membrane, is what is popularly 

 called its root, which must be destroyed in order to remove 

 the wart. Seed warts indicate a morbid condition of the 

 humors of the skin, but do very little harm, and often go 

 away of themselves. 



Blood warts are more serious affairs. They are a fungous 

 growth of flesh from the cellular membrane, are of a spongy 

 texture, and filled with little vessicles from which blood ex- 

 udes freely upon every slight irritation. Their favorite loca- 

 tions are the hock and knee-joints and the pasterns. Some- 

 times they are found upon the sheath and neighboring parts. 

 They are most numerous upon those surfaces where there is 

 unusual irritation, or where foulness of any kind is permitted 

 to collect; but, like seed warts, they have been known to 

 grow on all parts of the body. 



The blood wart is always disposed to spread and enlarge, 

 and on the knee or pastern will sometimes extend entirely 



