DISEASES. 147 



and some diseases nearly peculiar to themselves. 

 Amongst the former is the fracture of a leg, or the 

 coffin-bone of the foot, occasioned generally, it is 

 supposed, by treading on a stone, or any other un- 

 even surface, when the limb is strained in draught. 

 It, however, sometimes happens when the horse is 

 trotting along on very fair ground, and in such 

 cases the accident is rather difficult to account for. 

 In very heavy draught, when the foot is much 

 overcharged with the weight and pressure of the 

 body, a fracture will sometimes take place at th-e 

 first step the horse takes. Perhaps these accidents 

 may be independent of what is called shape and 

 make, but coach proprietors would do well to pur- 

 chase their horses with good legs and feet, and then 

 they are less liable to these accidents, and, with 

 good care and good shoeing, may last many years 

 in very quick work. 



The diseases peculiar to coach-horses are, thu 

 megrims, and the lick. The former attacks the 

 head, and is caused by irregular motion of the fluids 

 within the vessels of the brain, stopping, for a time, 

 all voluntary motion. The horse in consequence 

 staggers and falls, if not immediately pulled up, 

 and that does not always prevent him. This 

 species of vertigo is generally produced by the 

 effect of a hot sun, especially if the horse be run- 

 ning in the face of it, for which reason horses sub- 

 ject to megrims are generally worked at night. In 

 fact, many coach-horses, thick-winded ones espe- 

 cially, are good horses by night, although they 

 cannot keep their time by day, in the summer. 



