PREFACE. 



The object I have tried to keep before me while preparing this 

 book, has been to furnish, in concise and, so far as possible, un- 

 conventional language, information that will enable those who 

 have the charge of horses to discover what ails the animal when 

 signs of illness or incapacity for work are obser\-ed ; and further 

 how to treat a patient under such conditions. I make no claim 

 for the production of a scientific work; but I am attempting to 

 cater to those who have no acquaintance either with medicine or 

 disease but who at the same time are thrown upon their own 

 resources when their equine charges fall ill. I am informed that 

 over large districts of the United States of America, the services 

 of a qualified \'eterinar5' Surgeon are not available simply because 

 there is not one resident within a reasonable distance; I hope that 

 in such districts, especially, this book will prove of considerable 

 service. It has been my aim to treat of common and oft-recur- 

 ring ailments and in my descriptions I have sought to express 

 myself in the everyday language of the stable. 



If in the opinion of some it should seem that I am chargeable 

 with prolixity and that many phrases are oft repeated, I must ask 

 one and all to remember that I am writing for the million, among 

 many of whom, educational advantages may possibly not have 

 been of the highest order; to make clear to such as these, the full 

 meaning of all I desire to convey, has, as it seems to me, rendered 

 the frequent repetition of phraseolog3' an absolute necessit}'. 



Conventional terms appear much oftener than I could have 

 desired, but to avoid these simply means to leave many ailments 

 untouched; I have therefore sought to obviate the objection which 

 may possibly be raised to th2ir introduction by a very full Index 

 to which reference can always be made to insure a simpler 

 understanding of the meaning. 



With a view to render it comparatively easy to discover a given 

 ailments, I have prepared a list of prominent suggestive symp- 



