FIRST AID IN EMERGENCY 103 



CHAPTER XIV 



FIRST AID IN EMERGENCY 



Don't try to be too clever, but show cool common- 

 sense in the event of accident or sickness. I am not 

 going deeply into the work of a veterinary surgeon, 

 nor shall I use a lot of long words that you cannot 

 find in an ordinary dictionary ; but I want to tell you 

 in plain, simple terms, just what to do and how to 

 do it when the time comes. 



Symptoms 



The signs or symptoms of suffering in a horse, to 

 which I propose to draw your attention, any lad can 

 understand ; and we will leave all the rest to those 

 gentlemen who have paid their college fees, and by 

 hard work and study have earned their diploma to 

 practise as veterinary surgeons or animal doctors. 

 When I was a child I well remember hearing an 

 uncle, who was a veterinary surgeon, say to the 

 village doctor : ' Ah, doctor, you have the pull of us. 

 Your patients can tell you what is the matter ; with 

 our patients we have to find out /' ' Best thing, too,' 

 replied the doctor ; ' you'd be surprised what a lot 

 of lies some of them tell — and yours don't do that.' 

 No, horses may sometimes be bad patients, but they 

 are honest. 



First of all, we will take the most common form of 

 sickness, which in nine cases out of ten is the result 

 of carelessness or ignorance on the groom's part, 

 rather than the poor horse's fault, that is — 



Colic, 'belly-ache,' or 'fret,' as it is often called. 

 This is frequently caused by giving the animal a lot 

 of cold water the first thing in a morning on an 

 empty stomach, or immediately after his work is 



