Horses are subject to various ailments arising either from accident or disease, too numerous to mention in a treatise of this kind. The following are a few of the most common. In all that are serious, or admit of the least doubt, it will be better at once to send for the nearest veterinary surgeon, as few grooms are competent to treat any but the most plain and simple cases. Many valuable horses have been lost or rendered useless by their ignorance, that might have been saved by timely and proper treatment.

Influenza is perhaps the most common and tedious complaint to which the horse is liable. It is an epidemic, and most prevalent in the spring. The symptoms at first are those of a common cold, accompanied by more or less fever, and great and rapid prostration of strength. The appetite fails, the coat looks rough and unhealthy, the throat is sore, the flanks heave, the breathing is laboured and accompanied by a cough, the legs swell, and the inside of the eyelids and nostrils is red and congested, with a thick yellow discharge from the latter about the third or fourth day. The most important part of the treatment is to keep up the strength by every possible means; therefore bleeding should generally be avoided, and all directions of the veterinary surgeon be strictly carried out. The stable must be kept cool and well ventilated, but the horse kept warm with clothing and bandages. After a horse is pronounced pretty well again, the effects of a bad attack of influenza will often last for some time, and in some are never recovered. One common result is an affection of the wind, either roaring or whistling, both of which are incurable.

Swellings on different parts of the body and legs are not uncommon, and are only to be removed by care and good feeding.

In common cold, or catarrh, the symptoms are similar to those in influenza, but very much milder. The horse should be kept quiet and cool, the throat stimulated with mustard or liniment, to relieve the soreness and cough. He should be fed on bran mashes, with a few scalded oats in them, mixed with linseed, and have one or two fever drinks; after which, if the attack be slight, a few days' rest and quiet will set him right.

Congestion and inflammation of the lungs are highly dangerous, and no time should be lost in sending for the veterinary surgeon, and at once placing the horse under his care. This attack generally comes on with shivering, accompanied by hard, quick breathing and working of the flanks. The horse is dull, hangs his head, refuses his food, and his legs and ears are cold. When taken at once and in time the attack may soon be reduced, but if neglected, it is a work of time, and frequently terminates fatally.

Colic, or gripes, is another complaint to which horses are liable, the result generally of indigestion and gross feeding. Care must be taken to distinguish between it and inflammation of the bowels, as to an unpractised eye the symptoms are very similar. The horse is restless and uneasy, constantly looking round at his flanks, which are blown out and distended, and by repeatedly lying down and rolling, stamping, and kicking, showing the acute pain he is suffering. In colic there are intervals of ease and rest which do not occur in inflammation of the bowels. In this, as in other cases, it will be better and safer at once to send for the veterinary surgeon.

Thrush is a very common complaint in horses; it is a foul smelling discharge from the clefts of the frog both in the fore and hind feet, and is caused either from a want of cleanliness or from an inflamed state of the feet arising from a gross habit, or other causes. It occasionally produces lameness, and when very sore renders a horse unsafe on the road, where he is liable to tread upon loose rough stones. He should have a dose of physic, the feet be kept very clean, all the loose, ragged, diseased horn removed, and some common salt applied two or three times a week. Care must be taken to keep the feet dry and clean in the stable, and an alterative administered every three or four days. This treatment will soon effect a cure.

Broken knees are the result of a fall upon some hard substance, as the road, etc, causing a lacerated wound. They should be washed as clean as possible with warm water, then well poulticed to remove all the dirt and grit that cannot be removed by washing, which will not only remove the soreness and reduce the inflammation, but very materially assist the healing. After which, if necessary, a strong stimulant may be used to reduce the enlargements and promote the growth of the hair.

Alt horses, but particularly hunters, are exposed to accidents, as blows, thorns, and wounds. In most cases begin with a mild dose of physic, to cool the system. If the blow be severe use cooling lotions to subdue the inflammation, after which, if any enlargement remains, two or three dressings with biniodide of mercury will be found to reduce it. The inflammation and soreness arising from thorns are only temporary. When possible they should be extracted; but if not, poultices made of bran and linseed meal mixed should be constantly applied, hot. This will assist nature in promoting slight suppuration, and they will work out.

In all cases of wounds, if large and severe, they must be first washed to remove all dirt, etc, then neatly sewn up, and the part well fomented with warm water. If slight, they should be bound up if necessary, and washed with arnica and water several times a day.

Horses are occasionally pricked in shoeing, owing to the carelessness of the smith, or a nail may be picked up on the road. In either case the shoe must be removed, the horn cut away around the hole made by the nail to allow any matter that may have formed to escape, and the feet kept in a poultice till the inflammation has subsided, and all fear of further suppuration is at an end.

Swelled Legs And Cracked Heels

Many horses in the autumn are subject to swelling of the legs, but principally of the hinder ones. It is produced by the horse being out of health and condition, generally from debility, and is often accompanied by a cracking of the skin on the heels. Horses that have been summered at grass are particularly liable to swelled legs in the autumn, when put to work. Good feeding, tonics, and steady exercise, with an alterative ball twice a week, will soon set all right.

When the heels are cracked the horse should be kept in the dry, as much as possible at exercise. They must be kept clean, with some glycerine ointment well rubbed in about an hour before going out, to keep the skin soft and pliable, and less likely to crack out again. But they are at all times tedious and difficult to cure. Some horses always have their heels more or less cracked all the winter.

Lameness

There are various and numerous causes of lameness in horses, brought on by hard work, disease, or the result of accident. Some of these rest and treatment will soon remove, and others are incurable. As this is not a veterinary work but intended to assist merely in the selection and management of horses, only a few of the most common will be briefly noticed.

Splints are small bony enlargements on the fore legs of a horse; they are generally situated on the inside, but occasionally occur on the outside. They do not always occasion lameness except in first forming, when they are very sore. But few horses are quite free from them, and they are not generally of consequence unless interfering in any way with the action. Young horses are principally liable to them, as they are seldom met with in horses of seven or eight years old. There are several operations for removing them, as blistering, firing, setons, etc, but unless of any size and consequence rest and a strong blister will generally render them harmless.

All horses, and particularly hunters, are subject to strains of various parts which for a time produce lameness, and are very frequently the effect of severe work before the horse is fully prepared for it.

A curb is a swelling at the back part of the hock; it generally occurs in young horses and is caused by a violent strain on that part. Some hocks are so formed as to be predisposed to throw curbs, and in them they are always likely to recur unless the part is properly fired. When they occur in good shaped hocks the remedy is simple, and time and rest will effect a cure.

Treatment

A dose of physic, the parts to be kept cold and wet with cooling lotion. When the inflammation has subsided, three or four strong dressings with biniodide of mercury and a few weeks' rest.

Strains of the back tendons and suspensory ligaments are violent strains of the tendons and ligaments between the knee and fetlock joint, and the hock and fetlock joint. Hunters and race horses are more liable to them than horses whose work is not so fast and severe. The horse should have a dose of physic, with cooling lotion constantly applied to the parts till the inflammation has subsided, after which strong blisters, and in bad cases the legs must be fired. Under no circumstances will the horse be fit to use for five or six months.

Bone spavin is a bony deposit formed inside the joints forming the hock. It is the effect of Strain and of hard work. If taken in time it may sometimes be cured or at any rate much alleviated. It is often incurable and the horse will remain lame for life, but much will depend upon the part of the hock affected. In the early stages much may be done by blistering and firmer but when confirmed it is incurable. In a mild form the horse will start lame even if he goes sound when warm.

Corns are sometimes very troublesome. They come in the inside heel of the fore feet and are the result of bad shoeing or neglect in allowing the shoe to remain on too long and thereby to press upon and bruise that part of the sensible sole. Horses with low weak heels are particularly liable to them. When slight and recent they are of little consequence if carefully treated, but if confirmed and of long standing are incurable, and it is only by the greatest care and having the shoes removed once a fortnight, the horse can be kept sound. The corns must be well pared away, the shoe hammered out so as not to press on the heels, and the parts dressed with ointment to remove the soreness, keep down the inflammation and promote the secretion of horn. There are several recipes for this, but the veterinary surgeon can always supply one that will answer the purpose.