I/O Ma7iageinent a7id Treatment of the Horse. 



occasionally so situated that they cannot unyoke 

 their horses at stated times for food and rest, they 

 ought to carry hay and a nosebag with a supply 

 of corn with them. Indeed, it is surprising, if 

 they do not do it on the score of humanity, that 

 they should be so blind to their own interests 

 as to neglect having their horses watered and 

 fed at proper intervals, and save the trouble, 

 annoyance, and expense of having to call in 

 the aid of the veterinary surgeon for a malady 

 which by a trifling expense and a little judg- 

 ment could be prevented. If nothing else is 

 effective, self-interest ought to induce proper 

 treatment. Staggers are said by some writers 

 to often afi'ect the horse when at grass, if the 

 horse has been previously stinted with food. 

 The author has never seen a well-defined case of 

 staggers at grass and feels inclined to think that 

 the so-called cases of staggers have been mis- 

 taken cases of ranunculacce poisoning, especially 

 as he can find no case recorded of an animal dying 

 of staggers at grass. Horses that have stomach 

 staggers repeatedly are almost sure to go blind 

 either partially or totally, from the efi'ect of the 

 gases engendered in the stomach acting on the 

 nervous system and the optic nerve in par- 

 ticular. The symptoms of sleepy or stomach 

 staggers are indicated by the dull, stupid, sleepy 

 appearance of the horse, and the manner in 

 which it staggers about in its stall. It seems 

 unconscious of what it is doing, and if roused 

 from its lethargy will probably take a mouthful 

 of hay, and in a few seconds will desist from 



