DISEASES OF THE TEETH AND MOUTH. 265 



essential to the health an^ natural power of the horse of all 



Salting is another important matter. Salt is medicine to 

 the horse, and to the colt especially. If fed in a trough or 

 manger, give the unthrifty colt some sulphur, from time to 

 time. It will aid much to restore health and condition. Be- 

 fore this, however, it will have been w^ell to examine his 

 mouth, and, if there is marked heat and soreness about 

 the gums, it is pretty surely an indication of teething. 

 Two incisions, at right angles, made by drawing a sharp 

 knife across the gum, just above the tooth, will give great 

 relief. 



The very frequent belching of wind, which may be noticed 

 in some horses and colts, betrays a very common source of 

 annoyance and suffering. This is a sour stomach. Per- 

 haps the teething colt is, most of all, subject to it, caused by 

 the action of the changed saliva, which is continually flow- 

 ing from the feverish mouth into the stomach. Fermenta- 

 tion of the food is one of the evil effects of this action. To 

 correct this, it is desirable that some good wood ashes be 

 kept in the animal's trough with his oats. In a majority of 

 cases, their alkaline properties would entirely neutralize the 

 acid condition of the stomach, in the same manner as the 

 milk of the mother does this for the- colt before he is weaned. 



• BLIND TEETH. 



Blind teeth are still, to many uninformed persons, the 

 source of an anxiety amounting almost to terror. Yet they 

 seldom do any material injury, and never in the way that 

 they are supposed to do. It is not probable that they are 

 ever the real cause of any kind of disease. Some farmers 

 imagine that they bring on the peculiar enlargement of big 

 head, especially in the colt; and. if the eyes are at all sus- 

 pected, the first thing done is to look for blind teeth, and 

 the next to knock them out. Many a blind tooth has the 

 writer removed at the imperative bidding of credulous own- 

 ers, whom no amount of argument could satisfy that such an 



