98 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



They are in the stomach of all horses at the time of foaling, and 

 number about the same — or no more or less — at any age of the horse. 

 They never lose their hold of the lining of the stomach under any 

 circumstances. The heart was given to propel the blood ; the lungs 

 to breathe j the eye, to see ; the ear, to hear ; and the bots, to aid 

 digestion. The life and health of the horse is dependent upon the 

 bots. When the horse is sick the bots are sick ; any description of 

 food good for the horse is good for the bots. They never injure a 

 horse except when they become diseased — the same as any other vital 

 part. If your horse is over-heated or exhausted from work, and is 

 attacked with colic or any description of inflammation, the bots suffer 

 equally with the horse ; anything given the horse that will kill the 

 bots, is liable to kill the horse also. "When you keep your horse in 

 good condition, well and regularly fed, there is no danger. Bots 

 have been used heretofore to cover up the ignorance of the farrier. 

 If your horse dies of inflammation of the brain they would say he 

 died of bots ; if he dies of lung fever the same thing is said ; if he 

 dies of colic or anything else, it is always attributed to the bots — 

 when, in fact, no horse ever died directly from their effects. 



The quid has been given to the sheep and cow, so that they may 

 belch up their food and ruminate or re-chew it, thereby preparing it 

 for the digestive organs, while the bots have been given to the horse 

 to perform the same work for him, without taxing him with the labor 

 of re-chewing ; besides, his owner might require some hard or fast 

 work of him, just at the time when he should be re-chewing his food. 

 The gad-fly or nit-bee has nothing to do with the production of the 

 bot, no more than the horse-fly, buffalo-gnat, or any other fly ; all 

 the harm they do is the tickling and buzzing sensation that they pro- 

 duce in the particularly ticklish portion of the horse that they visit ; 

 the wasp, hornet, and other insects, torment horses, yet there are 



