CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 765 



differ ; the overfed and insufficiently worked horse is prob- 

 ably as round as an apple, not a muscle contour can be 

 seen ; beneath the skin is a layer of fat over the whole 

 surface of the body, the face and legs below the knees and 

 hocks alone excepted. 



The skin when moved to and fro with the hand feels like 

 blubber, the points of the fingers may be forced into it ; 

 the abdomen during the walk waddles from side to side, 

 owing to the weight of its contents, and the inability of the 

 abdominal muscles to hold them together. Very little 

 exertion causes respiratory distress and profuse sweating, 

 the sweat being lathery and very unlike that of the horse 

 in hard condition. 



An animal in this state if called upon to do an ordinary 

 day's work will suffer from laminitis or pneumonia, per- 

 haps both. Pneumonia is almost essentially a disease of 

 young horses, and no matter what the organism is that is 

 responsible, or where it is derived from, or how closely 

 allied pneumonia may be to strangles, the fact stands out 

 pre-eminent that one of the most important causes of 

 pneumonia is exhaustion following overwork in young 

 ' soft ' animals. 



The horse out of condition from too much work, but 

 receiving ample food, is merely ' stale,' it is difficult to find 

 a more suitable word to express the state. In training 

 racehorses it is one of the points looked for, as its early 

 recognition is of the utmost importance. If in this condition 

 the training be continued, the animal's speed falls off, and 

 great damage may be done, whereas a few days' rest or 

 light work causes the system to immediately respond. A 

 hunter may be ' stale,' most of them are by the end of the 

 season, especially if they possess that serious fault in a 

 horse, viz., being too good. In such a case the staleness is 

 the result of long continued overwork, which the limbs 

 show in the most unmistakable manner, while the animal's 

 action tells its own tale. This form of staleness is met by 

 a few months' rest. 



When overwork and insufficient food are combined, the 



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