ON THE DISEASES OF FARM HORSES. 343 
When a horse is overworked, one of two things generally 
happens: he will lose flesh and become weak, or his legs will 
fail and he will become lame. Loss of flesh implies loss of 
muscular tone and weakness, which renders the body sus¬ 
ceptible to various diseases, arising from extra exertion, im¬ 
proper food, exposure to cold and wet without the stables, or 
foul and heated atmosphere within. And here we have the 
common predisposing causes to catarrh, bronchitis, and dis¬ 
tempers in young horses, and to chronic cough, diarrhoea, and 
general or local oedema in old ones ; besides lameness of various 
kinds, arising from bursal enlargements of the joints, ligamentous 
thickenings, and ossific enlargements, which either restrict the 
animals’ usefulness, or render them irreparably lame and 
worthless. 
It is impossible to particularize the cases of mismanagement 
that occur in which horses are overworked on a farm. Some 
of the diseases arising therefrom, particularly cases of lameness, 
are seldom sudden in their effect, but of slow growth; and, 
notwithstanding this, it is an almost every day occurrence to 
hear men blame some particular event of yesterday which 
brought to a crisis the folly and mismanagement of months or 
years. Like the last feather on the camel’s back, it bears the 
blame which belongs to the load that preceded it. 
Insufficient Shelter. 
The heavy cart-horse must be regarded as the product of 
artificial treatment. Their capacious trunks and heavy bodies 
have been produced by an abundance of natural and artificial 
herbage. Their digestive organs are large, and their functions 
powerful; possessing the property of quickly assimilating 
nourishment. This race generally have an excess of cellular 
tissue, and a soft temperament, with a tendency to fatten, and 
are incapable of enduring fatigue and privation like the smaller 
and more active breeds. 
Within the last few years, horses of a more active description 
have been employed by the farmers; yet they all, more or less, 
possess the characteristic temperament of the heavier races; and 
to be reared in perfection, they must be supplied with an abun¬ 
dance of food, besides proper shelter and warmth, on which the 
body depends for its early development as food itself. The want 
of fulfilling these conditions is certain to incur loss from disease 
in almost every stage of their existence. 
To commence with rearing .—Cases of mismanagement are 
frequent everywhere. It is no uncommon case to see cart-colts 
indiscriminately mixed with store beasts, brood mares, and some- 
