THE horse-keeper's GUIDE. 29' 



Itself; fi'om whence, after being acted upon by the vitq! 

 air, or oxygen, in the lungs, the blood now completely 

 perfected, is received, as required, by the left ventricle, oi 

 main passage from the heart, and conveyed thence, by the 

 circulating channels, over tlie whole system. 



This brief description of the digestive process is, as fai 

 as possible, divested of the technical names of the several 

 intestinal organs employed or engaged during the diges- 

 tive process ; our object being to show how that process is 

 conducted, and to prove from thence, that if bad or impro- 

 per food were given to the horse, or if by needless ex- 

 posure to weather while the animal was heated by exer- 

 cise or chilled by cold and wet, some one or other of those 

 organs were to be affected, either by its action being im- 

 paired, or unnaturally excited, the system would be affec- 

 ted, the blood vitiated, and the health of the animal, there- 

 by, materially endangered. 



This view of the digestive organs of the horse will also 

 enable the reader the better to judge how far it may be 

 safe and prudent to attempt a cure, without calling in the 

 aid of the famer or the veterinary surgeon. As a orenerai 

 rule, it may be observed, that in diseases of a chronic char- 

 acter, that is, of a slow or lingering nature, a greater lati- 

 tude lor the endeavour to cure may be assumed; but in 

 diseast'S of an acute kind, that is, when the effects are im- 

 mediate and evident, then greater care should be exerci- 

 sed ; ctnd unless the disease (quickly yield to the remedial 

 endeMvours, proper advice should be called in, particularly 

 in ar.ute inflammatory complaints, where the attacks are 

 usuaily sudden, rapid in their progress, and, unless soon 

 cKo-cked, often dangerous in their result. 



Catarrh, Cold, or Chill. — A large class of diseases 

 may be included under these general terms ; f^r although 

 the horse may have what is usually called a cold or chill, 

 yet if this cold or chill be neglected or improperly treated, 

 fever or inflammation succeeds, which may terminate 

 fatally, or leave behind a chronic cough, an evil that should 

 be anxiously guarded against. 



The fiist observable symptoms of a horse being thus at- 

 tacked, are — slight shiverings ; a discharGce, chiefly watery, 



om the nose ; the eyes become similarly affected ; and, as 

 the diseases uroijresses, a cough more or less violent, v.'ith 



