



. * 



370 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



and through the part, the ready way to abate it is to lessen 

 the quantity of blood. If we take away the fuel, the fire 

 will go out. All other means are comparatively unimportant, 

 contrasted with bleeding. * * * It is a principle in the^ 

 animal frame which should never be lost sight of by the vet- 

 erinary surgeon or the horseman, that if by bleeding the 

 process of inflammation can once be checked — if it can be 

 suspended but for a little while — although it may return, it 

 is never with the same degree of violence, and, in many 

 cases, it is got rid of entirely. Hence the necessity of bleed- 

 ing early, and bleeding largely, in inflammation of the lungs, 

 or of the bowels, or of the brain, or of any important organ. 

 Many horses are lost for want or insufliciency of bleeding ; 

 but we never knew one materially injured by the most copious 

 extraction of blood in the early stage of acute inflammation. 

 The horse will bear, and with advantage, the loss of an almost 

 incredible quantity of blood. Four quarts taken from him 

 will be comparatively little more than one pound taken from 

 the human being. We can scarcely conceive of a consider- 

 able inflammation of any part of the horse, whether proceed- 

 ing from sprains, contusions, or any other cause in which 

 bleeding, local (if possible), or general, or both, will not be 

 of essential service." 



As before stated, it is not necessary to bleed in all diseases. 

 The operation is to be resorted to only in cases of acute in- 

 flammation and old chronic complaints. To prevent mis- 

 takes, we give the following rule : If, when the vein is 

 opened, the blood flows freely from the first and looks red, 

 with but a slightly dark tinge, close the vein at once — the 

 horse does not need blood-letting. !N^ever bleed to improve 

 condition, but only to attack disease. If your horse is sick, 

 you can seldom go amiss to bleed him, unless his disorder 

 belongs to the class referred to a few pages back, that waste 

 the system away by constant defluxions. We only recom- 

 mend bleeding in cases where experience has taught us its 

 necessity, where the blood is in a diseased, disorganizing con- 

 dition, and free communication between it and the alimen- 



