876 



DISEASES AND THEIR TEEATMENT. 



an exposure ; also breathing impure air in overcrowded, badly 

 ventilated stables, or standing in an open, draughty stable. 



"Any exposure to cold and wet, sudden chills, housing in very 

 cold, draughty stables. Horses kept in ill-ventilated stables are 

 imdoubtedly rendered susceptible to many diseases, and to pneu- 

 jnonia among the rest; but they will bear impure air even better 

 than cold draughts blowing directly upon them. I have repeatedly 

 observed that the slightest cold contracted by a horse kept in a 

 draughty stable has almost invariably been succeeded by pneu- 

 monia, and that if the animal was not removed to a more comfort- 

 able situation, the disease tended to a fatal termination." — Williams 



Si/mptoms. — Pneumonia is almost invariably ushered in by 

 shivering, and coldness of the surface of the body. The breathing 



becomes hard and full, pant- 

 ing like. The pulse is full 

 and oppressed, running up to 

 from sixty to eighty beats per 

 minute, differing in its char- 

 acter from the pulse of pleu- 

 risy, which is hard and wiry. 



The ears and legs are cold ; 

 the membranes of the eyes 

 and nose are reddened ; the 

 animal stands persistently 

 with his elbows turned out, 

 He stands with his nose to- 



FlG. 770. — As the horse usually stands 



when suffering from inflammation 



of the lungs. — From Mayhew. 



to give more freedom to the lungs. 



ward the window or door, where he can get fresh aii-. 



A healthy horse breathes at an average of ten times in a min- 

 ute, viz., ten inspirations and ten expirations ; and the time occu- 

 pied by the inspiratory movement is longer than the expiratory. 

 In pneumonia the expiration is as long, if not longer, than the in- 

 spiration, and these movements are very much quickened, being 

 an effort of nature to compensate for the impaired action of the 

 lungs. When a cough is present, it is freer and less painful than 

 the cough of pleurisy. By applying the ear to the sides of the 

 chest, in the early stage a crepitating sound is heard, which 

 becomes altered as the disease progresses ; but in a general sense it 

 is easily distinguished by the horse standing with the legs spread, 

 the head thrown forward, breathing quick and hard, and ears and 

 legs cold. 



