766 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



effects are evident very early, there is loss of muscle, a 

 'tucked up' condition of abdomen, lassitude, and if the 

 causes in operation are carried beyond a certain degree, as 

 they may have to be in mihtary service, a point is at last 

 reached from which recovery is either impossible, or only 

 after months of rest and careful feeding. It is not neces- 

 sary, however, to imagine anything as severe as this ; hard 

 worked and underfed horses are seen daily in our streets, 

 principally in the possession of the small owner with no 

 knowledge of the management of horses or the amount of 

 food they require ; with him it is ignorance, in many other 

 cases it is indifference, and in large establishments is an 

 unfailing indication of some irregularity in the feeding 

 arrangements, frequently of the nature of peculation. 



The last class of horse we have to speak of out of con- 

 dition is the one which has either suffered from sickness or 

 lameness, or, at any rate, for veterinary reasons has been 

 unable to work. The appearances presented by these will 

 naturally vary with the cause which threw the horse out of 

 work ; if from lameness, the animal may resemble the 

 pampered and underworked horse we first described ; while 

 if it is a recovery from pneumonia or other debilitating 

 disease, the appearance presented is that of the overworked 

 and underfed horse mentioned above. 



Every animal on recovering from sickness or lameness 

 must be ' conditioned ' before being sent to work ; in this way 

 we secure not only that the horse is made fit for work, but 

 also that our treatment in the case of lameness has a fair 

 chance. It is obvious that a horse rendered sound by rest 

 and treatment, will probably be a lame horse once more if 

 taken into ordinary work, until the cure becomes con- 

 solidated by ' condition.' 



It is impossible to overrate the importance of these 

 remarks. To take a horse out of a stable where he has 

 been resting for lameness three weeks or a month, per- 

 haps much longer, and give him a day's work without the 

 slightest preparation is simply criminal; it can have but 

 one result, and the man who produces that result does not 



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