228 STABLE ECONOMY. 



In many cases the horse takes ill during the night, and is 

 far gone before he is discovered in the morning. In such a 

 case this remedy may be too late, or it may not be proper ; 

 still, if the belly be swelled, let it be given, unless the veter- 

 inary surgeon can be procured immediately. In all cases it 

 is proper to send for him at the beginning. You or your ser- 

 vants may not be able to give the medicine, or the disease 

 may have produced some other, which this medicine will not 

 cure. If the veterinarian can be got in a few minutes, do 

 nothing till he comes. But do not wait long. 



The horse is sometimes found dead in the morning ; his 

 belly is always much swelled, and the owner is suspicious of 

 poisoning. I have known much vexation arise from such 

 suspicion, when a single glance at the belly might have shown 

 from what the horse died. There is no poison that will pro- 

 duce this swelling, which is sometimes so great as to burst 

 the surcingle. On dissection the stomach is frequently burst, 

 the belly full of food, water, and air, and the diaphragm rup- 

 tured. When death is slow, the bowels are always intensely 

 inflamed, sometimes burst, and often twisted. But these 

 things will never happen when the treatment I have recom- 

 mended is adopted at the very beginning. 



The horse sometimes takes the disease on the road. If 

 his pace be fast, he should stop at once. To push him on 

 beyond a walk, even for a short distance, is certain death. 

 The bowels are displaced, twisted, and strangulated, partly 

 by the distension, but aided a great deal by the exertion ; and 

 no medicine will restore them to their proper position. A 

 walk after the medicine is good, and the pace should not pass 

 a walk. 



PRINCIPLES OF FEEDLVG. 



The principles of feeding are facts which influence and 

 ought to regulate the practice of feeding. The word feeding 

 refers to the manger-food, given at intervals, not to the hay 

 or fodder, which is aln.ost constantly within the horse's reach. 



People who are unacquainted with stable aflairs make many 

 blunders in the management of their horses, and particularly 

 in feeding them. They reason too much from analogy. The 

 rules which regulate their own diet are applied to that of the 

 horse. Medical men are remarkable for this, A skilful sur- 

 geon expressed his conviction, that stablemen are full of er- 

 ror and prejudice regarding the diet of horses. He said : " I 



