On Mismanagement of Farm-Horses. 



533 



thrown open, admitting currents of cold air. The previously 

 heated, and, it may be, fatigued condition of the animals, predis- 

 poses them to suffer from this mismanafjement ; and many serious 

 and fatal catarrhs, bronchitii, and pulmonic affections are trace- 

 able to such errors. 



If horses, especially after continued severe exertion, remain 

 exposed to inclement weather, or are put into stables where they 

 are rapidly cooled by draughts, the vessels on the surface of the 

 body become constricted by the action of the cold, and blood is 

 driven in excessively large quantity to the internal organs. These 

 soon become surcharged and oppressed with blood, and their 

 functions impaired and arrested. The bal^mce of the circulation 

 is thus disturbed, and effete matters are retained ; and from the 

 operation of these two causes inflammation is produced. This 

 inflammation attacks those parts which are weakest and least able 

 to withstand the assaults of disease. Hence, according to the 

 predisposition of the animal, and in proportion to the amount and 

 duration of the exposure, insufficient shelter will induce inflam- 

 mation of various parts of the respiratory apparatus and of the 

 eyes, derangements and diseases of the bowels, feet, and kidneys^ 

 rheumatic aff'ections, and general depression of the vital energies. 



In localities where shelter is wanting or insufficient, diseases of 

 the respiratory organs are unusually frequent and severe. The 

 mucous membrane lining these organs is particularly apt to suffer. 

 In the horse, the membrane is very vascular and sensitive, and 

 covers a large extent of surface. In the nostrils, it is thick, and 

 copiously supplied with large blood-vessels, and assumes a condi- 

 tion very similar to erectile tissue. It is this peculiarity of con- 

 formation which predisposes the horse to catarrhal affections, or, 

 as they are familiarly styled, colds in the head." These consist 

 in inflammation of that portion of the respiratory mucous mem- 

 brane which lines the nostrils and sinuses of the head. Drvness 

 of the parts affected is soon succeeded by copious discharge, at 

 first of a thin watery fluid, and subsequently of a thick muco- 

 purulent one. The eyes are also red and weeping ; for, as usually 

 happens in such cases, inflammation speedilv extends to surfaces 

 of like structure and close proximity. There is more or less 

 feverishness, as indicated by the impaired appetite, quickened 

 pulse, and unequal surface heat. The inflammation often extends 

 downwards, and involves other parts of this extensive mucous 

 membrane. It sometimes attacks that portion lining the larynx, 

 and, from the effusion produced, the symptoms are often very- 

 acute, and the issue precarious. More commonlv, however, it 

 affects that portion of the mucous membrane which lines the 

 trochea, bronchii, and minute air-cells, causing hronchitis. The 

 principal phenomena attending this disease are the same as in 



