Horses and Horsemasiership. 73 



It may be either regular, irregular, intermittent, strong, 

 weak, hard, wir}', &c., each of which would convey 

 a separate message to the surgeon. 



THE TEMPERATURE. 



is also an indicator from which much may be gathered. 

 It is ''taken" by means of an instrument called a clinical 

 thermometer, which is the same as that used by medical 

 men to ascertain the temperature of human patients. 



In the case of the horse the bulb and about an inch 

 of the stem of the instrument is passed into the rectum, 

 and held by the fingers of the right hand as near the tip 

 as possible. Some clinical thermometers are more 

 sensitive than others, but usu.ally about two minutes is 

 allowed before withdrawing the instrimient. Tlie 

 normal heat of the body of a healthy horse is 100 deg. 

 Fahrenheit; 103 deg. indicates mild fever, 105 deg. 

 high fever, anvthing over which mav be regarded as 

 very serious indeed. 



RESPIEATION is best observed at the flanks. A 

 healthy animal breathes at the rate of fourteen times a 

 minute. 



