Among Horses in India. 47 



Diseases. 



Of the diseases to which horses are subject in India some 

 are peculiar to the country, or at least are unknown in 

 civilized Europe, while the greater number are the same as 

 are met with in England, but modified to some extent by the 

 climate, soil, food and drink. 



Colic. 



Perhaps the most common of all diseases, and one from 

 which many horses die annually, is colic. Its chief causes 

 are the following : 



1. Grass that is indigestible from being too coarse, or so 

 old that it has become little else than woody fibre. 



2. Grass that has been thrown into a heap before it is 

 sufficiently dry, and allowed to remain in that state until 

 fermentation has begun. 



3. Bran adulterated witli sand. 



4. Grass upon the roots of which a large quantity of sandy 

 earth has been left. (Horses as a rule drop roots of this kind 

 after eating the stalks off them, but some which are greedy 

 feeders eat them, and the sand being passed along the intes- 

 tines with more difficulty than the food, gradually accumulates, 

 and causes irritation. A few horses, owing no doubt to a 

 depraved state of their digestive organs, seem to have a 

 craving for earth, and if they happen to be picketed upon 

 sandy soil, will bring on bad and often fatal attacks of colic 

 by the quantity of sand which they swallow.) 



Other causes of colic are : 



5. Grain which is musty, or which has been soaked in 

 water so long that it ferments. 



6. Giving water to drink shortly after a horse is fed, by 

 which the gastric juice is diluted, and its further secretion is 

 temporarily stopped by the constringing and sedative effects 

 of the cold upon the coats of the stomach. 



Lastly, colic is caused by (7) want of sufficient clothing in 

 the cold weather — either from the blankets being ragged or 

 thin, or from the native attendants taking them off the horses 



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