312 HORSES MOST LIABLE TO TUMOUR. [BOOK II. 



cattle, which might not be so predisposed by a 

 bad habit of body, or by the gross humours before 

 noticed. When the animals are young, and feed 

 ravenously, the strangles carry off those humours ; 

 when youth leaves them, and more doltish habits 

 come on, these humours appear in some other va- 

 ried shapes : besides those diseases just named, the 

 farcy, grease, and ant/cor, all come on from the 

 same indolent habit of body. They are always 

 gross feeders, and consequently lethargic in their 

 movements, that acquire poll-evil; for they demand 

 harsh treatment to keep them at their work, which 

 frequently devolves into ill-usage, unless the carter 

 possess the patience of Job. 



Hence the duty of attending to the general health 

 of such horses, as much as may be consistent with 

 the avocations of the owner ; of avoiding the inflic- 

 tion that is often the immediate cause of either 

 species of ailment ; and, these being discovered, of 

 applying the necessary remedies for their instant dis- 

 persion — if the symptoms are mild, and thus pro- 

 mise success ; a low regimen follows of course. But 

 delay too often confirms the disease ; it approaches 

 towards maturity, and will not be repressed : then 

 does the duty of " bringing it forward" to suppu- 

 ration present itself as the only means of obtaining 

 a radical cure ; and we may add, that this is always 

 the safest, the best, and the most certain means, 

 when the disease yields not readily to the first 

 efforts at dispersion. In ordinary cases of saddle 

 gall, the swelling and heat will bend before an assi- 



