342 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



We have been called ou to examine perhaps fifty poor, 

 broken-down animals, from whose sheaths putrid, offensive 

 matter had been running for months,. and the horse was so 

 stiff from its effects that he could hardly move at all ; and 

 all this time the stupid attendant " could not tell, for the life 

 of him," what was the trouble. 



Foul sheath is intimately associated with fever and dis- 

 ease of the urinary organs, and, in many cases, is caused by 

 them. But it is oftener a promoter of them. Old horses are 

 much more subject to it than younger ones, the mucous 

 secretion which Nature furnishes to lubricate the parts and 

 facilitate their movements being apparently more thick and 

 waxy in old age. 



The symptoms will be easily recognized by an observant 

 spectator. The horse does not protrude the penis at all in 

 the act of urinating, but lets the water run out of his sheath. 

 Such an indication invariably points to something wrong 

 in this quarter. There is also considerable soreness of the 

 parts, stiffness of the hips, and a disposition to straddle out 

 the hind legs, in order to give as much room and as free 

 play as possible to the irritated surfaces. When in health, 

 the hor^ usually throws back the hind limbs and drops the 

 hips, in which position he sometimes makes two or three 

 efforts before the stream begins to flow; but, in the case 

 under consideration, he hardly moves at all, and seems 

 rather to permit" than force the urination. The explanation 

 of this is, that every motion and the ordinary contraction 

 of the muscles concerned in this operation necessarily give 

 him pain. 



TREATMENT. 



The treatment is very simple. The first thing to be done 

 is to clean the sheath. Remove the lumps, if there be any, 

 with the hands ; then wash out thoroughly with some clean 

 soap-suds; after which, grease with a spoonful of lard in 

 which has been mixed half as much fine salt. Be certain 

 that this is applied to all partb of the inside of the sheath, 



