50 DISEASES OP HORSES AND CATTLE. 



CHAPTER III. 



INTESTINES. 



The intestines of the horse are some ninety feet 

 in length, seventy feet of small intestines, and 

 twenty feet of large. The intestines of the horse 

 are very vascular, that is, they are largely supplied 

 with blood and nerves, much more so than in the 

 ox, and, I think, this accounts to a certain extent 

 for the frequent attacks of colic and inflammation 

 of the bowels in this animal, as compared with the 

 ox. The large intestines are very much con- 

 tracted in several places, and it is on this account 

 that we have so often impaction. The dilated 

 part gets so filled up with indigestible food that it 

 cannot pass through the contracted parts, setting 

 up inflammation and often causing death. 



COLIC. 



There is no more frequent and fatal disease in 

 the horse than that known as colic It takes on 

 three forms — spasmodic colic, flatulent colic, and 

 dyspeptic colic. 



Spasmodic Colic. — The causes are many. Irreg- 

 ular feeding and overwork, thus a horse gets an 

 overfeed in order to make it stand a long drive or a 

 hard day's work. The hard work takes the blood 



