32 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. 



Quitters, sand-cracks, and poll-evil, mange and other 

 cutaneous diseases, I never saw in my stables, and therefore 

 cannot pretend to prescribe for them ; but I am convinced 

 they should not exist where proper arrangements are in force. 

 Their appearance, like that of sore backs or crib-biting, is, in 

 my opinion, a sure sign of neglect. When cases do occur, 

 there is but one remedy — to hand them over to a veterinary 

 surgeon ; for, if unskilfully treated, the quittors and poll-evil 

 may assume an obstinate form, ending in death ; while most 

 skin diseases are contagious, and spread rapidly. 



Yearlings when taken up to break, as a rule cough, 

 (probably from the stable being hotter than the one pre- 

 viously occupied) ; have sore throats and influenza, the latter 

 often the cause of strangles. This disease, many people say, 

 horses never escape, in some form or other (like distemper in 

 dogs) ; but my experience teaches me to believe just the 

 reverse. Numbers pass from the side of their dam to the grave, 

 after years of racing, and do not have it, or any other disease. 

 They die from accident or old age, but not from sickness. 

 Strangles are however very common amongst young horses, 

 and may easily be detected by a cough, enlarged or sore throat, 

 and discharge of thick mucus, sometimes fetid, from one or 

 both nostrils, often attended with loss of appetite and ex- 

 treme debility. To blister the throat under the jaw with 

 " Day's " spavin liniment or some other vesicant, is as a rule 

 sufficient to arrest the complaint ; if not, the application 

 should be extended down to the chest, when there is no 

 suppuration under the jaw. This will localize the disease 

 and prevent its reaching the lungs. After suppuration takes 

 place, little may be feared if the orifice be kept open, and a 

 little digestive ointment on a pledget of tow be applied after 

 being washed clean with warm water three times a day. 



