ON THE DISEASES OF THE HORSES IN CANADA. 381 
informed me, as his neighbour had previously done, that his horse 
was not in saleable condition, in consequence of the said affection. 
On entering the stable, I found the colt in a miserable state from 
the treatment he was undergoing, having had a hole bored into 
the upper part of each shoulder with a hot iron, into which had 
been inserted a piece of fat bacon ; in addition to which the shoul- 
der and arm were covered with grease of some kind, and altogether 
in such a filthy state, that it was impossible to touch him. As far, 
however, as I could then judge of him, the horse was lame in 
the feet. 
A four-year-old brown colt, which we purchased last year, being 
miserably poor and out of condition, was pronounced by an old 
farmer who saw him to have the “ swinney.” On asking him if he 
■ thought the animal’s “ malady” was curable, he said it was, if 
taken in time, and recommended the boring and the bacon fat. 
However, I gave him to understand I should, in the first place, 
try what good hay and oats would do*. 
Heaves. 
The term heaves, derived from the heaving motion of the flanks, 
means neither more nor less than broken wind ; though the na- 
tives insist on its being a distinct disease, which, they say, is pro- 
duced by giving horses clover hay — “ that this is sure to bring on 
the heaves” sooner or later. All the horses, however, that have 
come under my observation with this affection, have had the 
broken-winded cough ; that, there is no mistaking. I have heard 
of horses with the heaves being got saleable by giving them some- 
thing to quiet the breathing. But, admitting that the respiration 
may be tranquillized, the peculiar cough cannot be altered ; and, 
consequently, no one but a novice can or ought to be thus imposed 
upon. Many of the half-vankee fellows in Upper Canada are 
smart chaps ; and, if they can succeed in “ sticking a horse” with 
the heaves “ into a knowing one,” assume to themselves some 
credit for their roguish ingenuity. The cure for the heaves, they 
say, is a hornet's nest , finely powdered, and made into a drink with 
beer, spice, &c. 
Glanders and Farcy. 
These are diseases but rarely seen in this country. A glandered 
horse, indeed, I have not met with since my sojourn here ; and 
* From this abrupt ending of the account of the said case, it is to be in- 
ferred that “ hay and corn” did succeed. 
VOL. XX. 3 E 
