108 THE HORSE. 



bone conveyed to the back part of the mouth, where it will be dissolved, 

 and must be swallowed. 



As soon as possible the strength should be supported by nutritive food. 

 The appetite seldom fails in this disease ; and it is painful to see the re- 

 peated eager efforts of the poor animal to allay his hunger. When his jaws 

 are most firmly fixed, he will sometimes be able to suck in the liquid from a 

 moist mash ;~if he has the slightest command over them, he will contrive to 

 swallow the greater part of the mash : and should there be room to introduce 

 the mouth of a small horn, he will thankfully take as much gruel as his 

 attendant will give him. Until the jaws are firmly locked, he may be suffered 

 to have hay, although he should only chew it and drop it from the mouth ; 

 for this action of the muscles of the jaws may delay or prevent their total 

 closure. Little medicine will be wanted as he gets better ; nourishing 

 food, not too liberally administered, will constitute the best tonic ; and 

 should the weather be sufficiently warm, few things will do him more good 

 than to turn him out for two or three hours in the middle of the day. It 

 will extend the muscles of his neck, and bring him to the use of his limbs. 



Against one mode of treatment we enter our protest, from its cruelty 

 and its inutility— the application of cold. Some turn the animal out un- 

 covered in a frosty night. We have no faith in the practice of this : but 

 placing the poor horse under a pump, and letting the water flow upon his 

 spasm'ed limbs for hours together, or dashing it violently upon him, while 

 he crouches and groans all the while, is both cruel and useless. 



FITS, OR EPILEPSY. 



The stream of nervous influence is sometimes rapid, but the suspen- 

 sions are considerable, and this is the theory of Fits, or Epilepsy. For- 

 tunately the horse is not often afflicted with this disease, although it is 

 not unknown to the breeder. The attack is sudden. The animal stops ; 



trembles; — looks vacantly around him, and faUs. Occasionally the 



convulsions which follow are shght; at other times they are terrible. The 

 head and fore part of the horse are most affected, and the contortions are 

 most singular. In a few minutes the convulsions cease ; he gets up ; looks 

 around hun with a kind of stupid astonishment ; shakes his ears ; urines ; 

 and eats or drinks as if nothing had happened. 



The only hope of cure consists in discovering the cause of the fits ; and 

 an experienced practitioner must be consulted, if the animal be valuable : 

 generally speaking, however, the cause is so difficult to discover, and the 

 habit of fits is so soon formed, and they will so frequently return, even at a 

 great distance of time, that he who values his own safety, or the lives of 

 his family, will cease to use an epileptic horse. 



palsy. 

 The stream of nervous influence is sometimes stopped, and thence 

 results Palsy. The power of the muscle is unimpaired, but the nervous 

 energy is deficient. Palsy in the horse is usually confined to the hinder 

 limbs. When purging has been too suddenly stopped, he becomes 

 paralytic. It is sometimes the consequence of violent inflammation 

 of the bowels. It is produced by falls, blows on the loins, injury 

 in casting, and turning in a narrow stall. In these latter cases the 

 spine has been evidently injured. Old carriage horses, and horses of 

 draught of every kind, although not absolutely paralyzed, have often 

 greaf stiffness iii their gait, and difficulty of turning. Possibly they can 

 turn one way and not the other. They are unwilUng to lie down, from 



