HINTS TO THE PURCHASERS OF HOUSES. 389 



asthmatic or broken-winded cough : there will be no difficulty 

 in tliis, as the complaint is very common. Horses are more 

 liable to coughs than other domestic animals. The complaint 

 is sometimes of little importance, and with care easily removed ; 

 it often proves, however, extremely obstinate, and not unfre- 

 quently incurable. When a horse is observed to have a cough 

 at the time of purchasing-, it is necessary to inquire whether it 

 be a recent complaint or one of long standing ; and this is a 

 point that cannot be always easily determined. In the old, or 

 chronic cough, as it is termed, the horse generally appears lively, 

 feeds heartily, and appears in every other respect to be in perfect 

 health ; sometimes the sound of the cough is husky, or asthmatic, 

 Avhich indicates a tendency to broken wind ; more commonly 

 it is loud and clear; the fit of coughing is generally violent, 

 and the horse often appears as if some extraneous body had got 

 into the windpipe, and he was endeavouring to cough it up. 



The chronic cough is most considerable when the horse is 

 first put in motion ; by continuing the exercise it gradually 

 ceases, after which the horse may be rode a long journey 

 without coughing. I have often observed that horses with 

 chronic cough ai'c very shy of having their throats touched, 

 often rearino- and makino; considerable resistance when any one 

 attempts to make them cough by grasi)ing the top of the wind- 

 pipe ; and in many instances 1 have observed that they cannot 

 be made to cough in this way, however strong the windpipe be 

 grasped : this, probably, as well as the shyness they manifest 

 on the occasion, may arise from the trial having been often 

 made upon them. 



In the recent cough, the horse generally appears rather dull, 

 and looks like a horse labouring under a catarrh, or cold : he 

 readily coughs when the windpipe is pinched; in doing which 

 there is no difficulty, as the horse seldom makes any considerable 

 resistance. In the recent cough, moderate trotting is sufficient 

 to excite coughing, which is seldom diminished by continuing 

 the exercise. In the chronic cough, the horse is sometimes re- 

 lieved by throwing up mucus through the nostrils; and the 

 cough is often so moderated, by strict attention to his diet and 

 exercise, as to appear scarcely worth notice. I have also known 

 it completely suppressed for the space of a day, by means of 

 oi)ium. AVhen a horse, therefore, is observed to have a cough 

 the purchaser may not always be able to determine whether the 

 complaint be unimportant, or of long standing, and incurable. 

 In such doubtful cases, it would perhaps be the most prudent 

 plan to secure himself by having a suitable condition added to 

 the warranty. 



There is another comjilaint of the lungs, or parts connected 

 with them, and an incurable one, which the purchaser should be 



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