190 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



and he falls and dies ; but much oftener the poor animal 

 intelligibly enough speaks his distress — unwilling to give in, 

 yet painfully and falteringiy holding on. The true sports- 

 man, though unwilling to relinquish the chase — he who "is 

 merciful to his beast" — soon recognises the symptoms of 

 excessive and dangerous distress. To the drooping pace 

 and staggering gait, and heaving flank, and heavy bearing 

 on hand, will be added a very peculiar noise. The inexperi- 

 enced may fancy it to be the beating of the heart ; but that 

 has almost ceased to beat, and the lungs are becoming 

 gorged with blood. It is the convulsive motion of the 

 muscles of the belly, called into violent action to assist in 

 the now laborious office of breathing. 



Over-marking the hunter is a too frequent occurrence, 

 and often requires very judicious and prompt treatment to 

 save life. It unfortunately also happens that when death 

 does not immediately ensue, from the congestion which has 

 taken place in the lungs, either broken wind or founder 

 follows, and thus the horse is equally ruined for active 

 service. We will, however, premise that there appear to 

 be two dangers to be apprehended from inordinate exertion : 

 one from a cessation of the powers of life, the other from 

 the tendency which such inordinate excitement has to pro- 

 duce congestion of the lungs, or active inflammation of some 

 of the vital organs ; sometimes spasm of the midrifl" occurs, 

 and rupture of it has taken place. 



When the vital powers have been brought almost to a 

 standstill, the horse with great difficulty reaches home, and 

 often scours, and stales bloody urine on his journey there. 

 He breathes with irregularity and difficulty ; becomes hot 

 and cold by turns ; or a clammy sweat breaks out, at first 

 partially, but if he cannot rally, it becomes universal. His 

 skin has a peculiar feel and loses its elasticity ; the haw is 

 drawn forward ; the nose, at first fiery, now becomes pale ; 

 the breathing is hurried, and the pulse is found to be 

 tremulous, and almost invariably intermitting. Some cases 

 are marked with a settled determination in the horse not to 

 lie down ; while others not only lie down, but are with 

 difficulty made to rise again. Bleeding as a remedy is 

 commonly resorted to ; but Blaine advises, if no active 

 symptoms of inflammation are present, not to do so. Place 

 the hand on the chest ; does the heart vibrate quick, rather 

 than beat lustily, by no means bleed. Press any one of the 



