318 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



his ears, as if angry, he swiftly starts off, turns around two 

 or three times, and drops to the ground. All his motions 

 are rapid, and he continues switching and jerking his tail 

 almost incessantly. Ko signs of swelling are discoverable; 

 but the lips and ears are very cold, and the pulse ranges from 

 65 to 80 per minute, whereas it should not be more than 

 from 30 to 36. 



All these manifestations of acute suffering are caused by 

 the severe inflammation and attendant contraction of the 

 bowels, which are in imminent danger of becoming ruptured. 

 This catastrophe nearly always forms .the fatal climax in 

 those cases where the horse suddenly drops dead. 



Sometimes, when the stricture occurs at a considerable 

 distance from the stomach, the intestines become perforated 

 with small holes, over which, however, the mucus of the 

 bowels may slough so as to fill them up, when, for a time, 

 the patient appears to be growing better. But nothing can 

 save him. He wastes away with fever, continuing for days, 

 or, it may be, for even weeks, and inevitably dies at last. 



The small intestines are much the most sensitive part of 

 the alimentary canal, and, when affected by disease, they are 

 the seat of pain proportionately acute. They are, also, the 

 ones most subject to attacks of enteritis, and of irritation 

 ending in stricture ; and as they are situated so far forward 

 in the abdominal cavity as to be principally incased by the 

 ribs, it is almost impossible to discover any swelling, even 

 in the advanced stages of disease. 



Yet irritation and stricture often happen in the large 

 bowels also. These swell, and become greatly distended ; the 

 sides are pressed out, and the disease at once betrays its 

 character as colic. 



There is no difference between this case and the one we 

 have described more at length, except that the location is not 

 the same. One is no more the colic than the other. In nearly 

 all instances the attack is brought on, no matter which form 

 it assumes, by immoderate eating or drinking, or, what Is still 

 worse, by both together. If in perfect health, the horse may 



