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ON THE MANAGEMENT OF FARM HORSES. 
and the amount of work accomplished, is in the end the most 
economical*. 
With regard to the medical treatment of horses, it should be 
borne in mind that “ Prevention is better than a cure,” and, to 
use an old saying, “ a stitch in time saves nine.” To follow out 
these homely yet wise old proverbs, there is no better plan than 
to select a respectable and certificated veterinary surgeon, and pay 
him a moderate annual composition to attend and find medicines 
for all the horses on the farm. There is no more dangerous plan 
than that very frequently pursued of employing the village farrier 
to attend slight illnesses, with the intention of calling in a veteri- 
nary surgeon in difficult and dangerous cases. It requires all 
the tact and talent of a professional man to discriminate between 
slight and dangerous disease ; for the latter often assumes symp- 
toms so masked and obscure, as to require the utmost knowledge 
and experience to detect, and the unwary, in many instances, may 
consider the animal in little danger when he may absolutely be 
in the jaws of death. JNow, surely if the ignorant man is incom- 
petent to treat an obscure and dangerous case, he is also unable 
to distinguish between such a case and one unattended with dan- 
ger, and yet it is he or the farmer himself that must decide on 
the character of the case, and the propriety of seeking further 
advice. The writer has known several instances in which the 
farrier has confidently foretold the recovery of the horse when 
he has absolutely been in a dying state. One instance is very 
familiar to his recollection, in which the farrier arrived post haste, 
and almost without condescending to examine into the symptoms, 
immediately put into practice his round of remedies, bleeding, 
blistering, Towelling, and clyslering, and then resting from his 
labours in a corner of the stable, whistled complacently, and fore- 
told the speedy recovery of the animal. The words had scarcely 
issued from his mouth, when the poor brute, that had been dying 
all the time he had been thus needlessly tortured, fell forward, 
and with one severe struggle expired. 
The advantages in favour of compounding on the principle of 
insurance for the medical attendance of farm-horses are various : 
disease may be often prevented by early attention, dangerous dis- 
orders may be checked in the bud, and severe or incurable illness 
or lameness may thus be prevented. Medicines, with proper 
directions, may be left, so as to be administered immediately in 
* An excellent addition to this is to give every Saturday night a large 
bran-mash, in -which an ounce, each, should be mixed of nitre and sulphur. 
Every sportsman knows the value of a warm mash to his hunter after a hard 
day’s fox chase ; and if given to a cart-horse after heavy road-work, it will 
be found equally advantageous. — F. Bujrke. 
