70 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



patient is urged to get up. The head is raised, the neck 

 is flexed in a backward direction and the fore-legs are 

 stiffly extended. In meningism this does not occur. The 

 body remaias flaccid. This diagnostic mark is positively 

 reliable. 



VERTIGO OF YOUNG HORSES 



This is a condition that is not very well understood 

 from an etiological, or from a pathological, standpoint. 

 It is an affection that confines its appearance almost 

 wholly to colts, from the first to the fifth year of life. 

 Breed, sex and condition do not seem to have any bearing 

 on its occurrence. It is seen in poorly nourished colts 

 with no greater frequency than in well fed individuals. 



Symptoms. The symptoms in this condition appear 

 intermittently and irregularly. Between the attacks the 

 colt is in perfect health and quite careful examination 

 fails to disclose any evidence of the disease. An attack 

 of vertigo is ushered in with symptoms of confusion. This 

 is of very short duration, not longer than a minute or 

 two, and is immediately followed by staggering, stum- 

 bling and decubitus. The colt lies quietly on the ground 

 for a few seconds, apparently only partly conscious. It 

 rises, shakes itself ; it may then whinny, and appear to be 

 in perfect health. 



Another attack may come within a few days there- 

 after, or it may take several weeks before another attack 

 occurs. As the colt becomes older the attacks become 

 milder, so that the animal merely stumbles to knee po- 

 sition but does not lie. The periods between the attacks 

 are prolonged until at maturity the attacks are no longer 

 noticeable. From this it would seem that the condition 

 has something to do with glandular secretions bearing 

 upon the attainment of maturity. 



Vertigo in colts is only serious when it occurs in ani- 



