iv PREFACE. 



The diseases of horses is my subject, therefore the reader 

 need not expect (as in some books) a mass of irrelevant 

 matter on the breeding, management, training, or anatomy 

 of the horse. 



By far the greater number of the men that own horses either 

 cannot or will not employ a veterinary surgeon, and even in 

 many cases they are too far removed from a qualified prac- 

 titioner in a country so new and extensive as our own. In 

 the majority of cases, when any emergency arises, either of 

 sickness or lameness of the horse, they run for the nearest 

 horse-shoer or horseman in their neighborhood. In all 

 such instances sufticient knowledge, " if not to heal, at least 

 not to harm," is of the highest importance. 



The object of the author has been to supply to such per- 

 sons a brief, popular and, if possible, reliable work for all^ 

 such emergencies. How far he has succeeded in accom- 

 plishing that object he leaves to the judgment of others. 



The Author expresses his indebtedness for the plan of 

 his work to Dr. Henry Hartshorne, of Philadelphia; Pro- 

 fessor Cressy, of Amherst ; Finlay Dunn, and others. 



New York, Christmas, 1874. 



