415 



for even the poorest iiractitioner. Siuce there are two objects to be at 

 taiued iu treatment — prevention and remedy — the matter will be con- 

 sidered under the head of prevention and curative measures. 



Prevention. — To guard against and prevent disease, or to render an 

 unpreventable attack less serious than it otherwise would be, is the high- 

 est practice of the healing art. In a disease so prone to result from 

 the simplest causes as seen in lamiuitis, and especially when the sound- 

 est judgment may not be able to determine the extent of the disease- 

 resisting powers of the tissues which are liable to be affected, or of what 

 shall in every instance constitute an over-excitement, it is not strange 

 that horse owners find themselves in trouble from unintentional trans- 

 gression. If the disease was dependent upon specific causes, or if the 

 stability of the tissues were of a fixed or more nearly determinate quality, 

 some measures might be instituted that would prove generally prevent- 

 ive. But when we recall the fact that predisposing causes are so preva- 

 lent and often can not be remedied, that what is but gentle work in one 

 instance may incite disease in another, that what is food to-day may 

 to-morrow iirove disastrous to health, and that necessarj- medical inter- 

 ference, no matter how judicious, may cauvse a more serious complaint 

 than that which was being treated, the obstacles to contend with become 

 plain. Notwithstanding these difficulties there are some general rules 

 to be observed that will in part serve to prevent the development of an 

 unusual number of cases. In the first place all the predisposing causes 

 named must be removed where possible, and when this is impossible 

 unusual care must be taken not to bring into operation an exciting 

 cause. Fat animals should, under no circumstances, have hard work, 

 and if the weather is warm or the variation of temperature great they 

 should have but slow, gentle labor until they become inured to it, the 

 tissues hardened and their excitability reduced to a minimum. Gre<^n 

 horses should always have moderate work for the same reason, and par- 

 ticularly when changed from the farm and dirt roads to city pavements. 

 The increased concussion, changed hygienic conditions and artificial 

 living, readily become active causes of the disease under these circum- 

 stances. Army horses just out of winter quarters, track horses with 

 insufficient prei^aration, and farmers' horses put to work in the spring, 

 are among the most susceptible classes, and must be protected by work 

 that is easy and gradual. If long marches or drives are imperative, 

 then the incumbrances must be light as possible and the journey inter- 

 spersed with frequent rests, for this allows the laminae to regain their 

 impaired functional activity and thereby to withstand much more work 

 without danger. And, furthermore, it permits an early detection of an 

 oncoming attack; in any case prevents working after the disease be- 

 gins and renders subsequent medication much more effective by cutting 

 the process short at the stage of congestion. 



All animals when resting immediately after work should be protected 

 from cold air or draughts. If placed in a stable that is warm and with- 

 out draught no covering is necessary j under opposite conditions blankets 



