100 THE DISEASES OF HORSES. 



Dr. Bracken, in his " Art of Farriery Improved," sagely remarks, " If the 

 master will not feed hard when he rides hard, the horse he rides may be 

 trnly said to be rid by the ' Bitch-daughter,' or a worse fiend." 



Bleeding 1 Horses.— Bleeding was formerly resorted to for every ail- 

 ment, and that not only as a cure, but as a preventive of disease. We 

 might almost say phlebotomy was a epecies of worship of our forefathers, 

 and it had its regular feast days, when the life blood of the poor animals 

 was poured out to honour and propitiate a god of their own ignorant 

 creation. Greatest of these feast days was St. Stephen's Day. The 

 following quaint lines from Tusser's "Five Hundred Points of Husbandry " 

 are illustrative of the practice : 



Yer, Christmas be past, let horsse be let blood, 

 For mannie a purpose it dooeth him much good; 

 The day of St. Steeven old fathers did use, 

 If that do mislike thee, some other day choose. 



The practice is said to have been brought into this country by the Danes. 

 On St. Stephen's Day the Pope's stud was physicked and bled, St. Stephen 

 being the patron saint of horses. 



The following lines, from "Neogeorgus's Popish Kingdom," throw some 

 light on the subject, but the writer evidently had no faith : 



Then followeth St. Stephen's Day, whereon doth every man 

 His horses jaunt and course abrcad as swiftly as he can, 

 Until they do extremely sweat, and then they let them b'.ood ; 

 I'or this being done upon this day, they say doth do them good, 

 And keeper them from all maladies and sicknesse through the yeare, 

 As if that Steven any time took charge of horses hea-e. 



Captain. — A captain is a broken-winded or other unsound winded 

 horse, got up for sale to be palmed on the unwary. 



Chest-founder.— A term wrongly applied to founder in the feet. The 

 local inflammation of founder in the feet often becomes general, hence, 

 probably, the common error. 



Colt Evil.— A discharge from the pen's, accompanied by swelling of the 

 sheath and testicles, often caused by allowing young ungelded colts to run 

 loose with mares. 



Cord and Crick of the Neck. — Stiffness of the neck muscles from cold 

 the former term applies to a stage of strangles. 



Cropping".— The barbarous practice of cropping the ears of horses at 

 one time obtained in this country ; nothing can be said too strong in 

 condemnation of leaving the internal ear of an animal exposed; our horse, 

 men have given it up, but with many breeds of dogs the taste (?) of the 



