LAMINITIS, OB FOTJNBEB. 



427 



than in any other disease, and yet a large number of cases recover for 

 even the poorest practitioner. 



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

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

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

 from the simplest causes, especially when the soundest 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 overexcitement, it is not strange that horse 

 owners find themselves in trouble from unintentional transgression. 

 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 preventive. 

 But the predisposing causes are common conditions and often can not 

 be remedied. That which is gentle work in one instance may incite 

 disease in another. That which is food to-day may to-morrow prove 

 disastrous to health. Finally, necessary medical interference, no mat- 

 ter how judicious, may cause a more serious complaint than that 

 which was being treated. 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. First of all the predis- 

 posing causes must be removed where possible ; when this is impossi- 

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

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

 If the weather is warm or the variation of temperature great, all 

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

 it, the tissues hardened, and their excitability reduced to a minimum. 

 Green horses should have moderate work, particularly when taken 

 from the farm and dirt roads to city pavements ; for increased con- 

 cussion, changed hygienic conditions, and artificial living readily 

 become active causes of the disease under these circumstances. Army 

 horses just out of winter quarters, track horses with insufficient prep- 

 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, the in- 

 cumbrances must be as light as possible and the journey interspersed 

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

 impaired functional activity and to withstand much more work with- , 

 out danger. Furthermore, it permits early detection of an attack, 

 and prevents working after the disease begins, which renders subse- 

 quent medication more effective by cutting the process short at the 

 stage of congestion. 



All animals when resting immediately after work should be pro- 

 tected from cold air or drafts. If placed in a stable that is warm 



