DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 277 



CHAPTER XI. 

 DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 



Diseases of the throat and respiratory organs are very 

 common among the horses of our climate, which is so vari- 

 able, and subject to such great extremes of temperature in a 

 short time, that twenty-four hours is sometimes enough to 

 plunge one from summer heat into the severity of winter. 

 Perhaps the valley of the Mississippi has, in this respect, one 

 of the least desirable climates within the temperate zone. 

 During much of the year, also, the atmosphere is very damp, 

 especially in the winter and spring seasons. The horse has 

 nothing but the superior strength of his system, enabling 

 him better to resist unfavorable influences, to entitle him to 

 any exemption from most of the diseases of humanity, and 

 this advantage is apt to be fully overbalanced by the greater 

 exposure he is compelled to undergo. Hence we find that 

 the horse's throat and air-passages are as subject to disease 

 as most other parts of his body, and nearly as much so as 

 those of the human being in the same latitudes. 



COLDS. 



This is the simplest and most common of the class of dis-^ 

 orders under consideration, as well in the horse as with his 

 master. When we consider the great and sometimes pro- 

 longed exposure of the horse, it is astonishing that he does 

 not take cold more frequently than he does. There are 

 many farmers — and it is something for which every humane 

 person must be thankful that their number is constantly in- 

 creasing — who are as careful concerning their teams as the 

 nature of their duties will permit ; and who, knowing the 

 advantages of good, sufficient, and regular feeding, of com- 



