CHAPTER VII.
THE STOMACH, LIVER, ETC.--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.
SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM.
This is generally provoked by the heedlessness of the rider. A horse is "overmarked," as the condition is technically called, when the animal is urged onward to the point of falling. The person who may occupy the saddle then becomes conscious of a strange and loud noise coming from the body which he strides; it appears to the equestrian as though some demon were located within the carcass, and were violently striking the sides. Should the indication be observed, the noise will be found to proceed from behind or immediately under, rather than from any part anterior to the rider.
The noise is produced by =spasm of the diaphragm=. The horse must, as the word "overmarked" seems to imply, have been pushed far beyond the point where man should have pulled the rein. A little distance farther, after the symptom is developed, will bring the animal to the ground; let the check, therefore, be immediately given; the rider should dismount; the loins be covered with the gentleman's coat, if nothing better be at hand; he who has caused the misery is bound to make any sacrifice for its alleviation. The girths should be loosened, the bridle removed, and when time has passed for the system to become slightly tranquilized, the sufferer should be very gently led to the nearest shelter. So soon as it is under cover, the following drink should be administered, but time should be taken to give the medicine, as the condition of the horse forbids all haste:--
Sulphuric ether Two ounces. Tincture of camphor Half an ounce. Tincture of opium One ounce. Cold water or gruel One pint.
This should be repeated every quarter of an hour, till four drinks are swallowed; then the intervals should be lengthened to half an hour, and, as the symptom decreases, the medicine ought to be administered at still longer periods, and ultimately, but gradually, withdrawn.
There are, however, other things to be done. When the animal is first brought in, procure five quiet assistants; give a leg-bandage each to four of the helpers, and a sponge, with a basin of cold water, to the fifth. Order the men to perform their ministration silently; the four are to bandage the four legs while the fifth sponges out the mouth, nose, eyes, and anus; this done, the body is to be superficially cleaned. Sweat is to be removed and dirt taken off; the ears pulled, and the head made comfortable; the tail and mane having been previously combed, a hood and body clothing should be put on.
All this should be well understood beforehand; while it is being accomplished not a word should be spoken; nothing is more soothing to an agitated system than perfect silence. Wet swabs should then be placed upon the feet, a pail of gruel suspended from the manger, and a man left to warn off all noisy strangers from the exterior of the building; for during spasm from overexertion perfect quietude is quite as essential as medicine.
Spasm of the diaphragm, if taken in time, is not generally fatal; and no man, however determined a "Nimrod" he may be, is justified in proceeding after having recognized so mysterious a warning. The sound before alluded to must emphatically inform him all is not right with the animal on which he is seated. It is folly to urge that the horse enjoys the chase as much as the rider; no life would, for its own pleasure, run itself to a spasmodic exhaustion. Old hunters may have left the field to follow the hounds; the animals, however, obey only the impulse of education, and did what they imagined would gratify their superiors. The horse is given as a servant to man; the creature is obedient to its destiny; to serve is its lot, to please is its reward. Body and soul it devotes to the heartless being who is assigned its appointed lord; it will spend its last breath in the gratification of its master; such affection surely merits better treatment than the quadruped generally receives.
When spasm of the diaphragm terminates fatally, approaching dissolution is announced by easily recognized signs. The pulse cannot be felt at the jaw; the heart only flutters; the feet are icy cold; a yellow discharge drains from the nostrils; the breath becomes fetid; the pupil of the eye enlarges; the horse wanders round and round its box; it soon sinks and perishes.
ACUTE GASTRITIS.
This most painful affliction is only known in the horse as the consequence of some poisonous substance being swallowed. Poisoning entire teams of valuable horses has followed the use of certain powders, these being mixed with the corn; the intention was to improve the personal appearance of the animals to which the drug was administered. Carters have a large faith in condition powders, and a distant belief in the _magic_ of medicine; in their ignorance, they spend their hard-earned wages to procure the stuff, too often compounded of agents which never should be trusted in the hands of the uneducated. The men argue, if these powders, say one spoonful given each night, will make the horse bloom in a fortnight, two spoonfuls must do the same thing in a week; the spoonful possibly contains the utmost limits of the dose; that quantity exceeded may endanger or destroy life. But ignorance is always impatient; it ever desires the speediest results; and if accident attends its eagerness, indignation should be visited upon those who put responsible trusts in such keeping; upon the men who for gain sell poisonous drugs to the obviously uninformed.
Books and charts are published, explaining the various antidotes and tests to be employed for the detection and counteraction of the different poisons. Such authorities are of little service in the stable; the tests require care and time for their application; the symptoms are mostly so urgent as to permit no leisure for scientific inquiry. In an acute case, dependence must be placed on general principles, and fortune must be relied on to guide the result.
Certain poisons act instantaneously and without any warning sufficiently energetic to be interpreted, as the twigs or leaves of the yew-tree.
Other agents immediately establish the lesson which sometimes speedily kills, but more often produces consequences which will ultimately destroy life, though death may be some time before it occurs, as the mineral acids, etc.
The presence of particular kinds is announced only by violent disorder, as powerful diuretics and potent purgatives.
The symptoms, therefore, are not decided; the carter has his motives for silence, and the inability of the horse to vomit forbids the earliest announcement of deranged stomach. The time for antidotes has generally passed before attention is excited; to support the life, in the hope that it may survive the destroyer, is evidently the best thing which can, under such circumstance, be adopted. Chloroform, ether, and opium render the body insensible, and, by sparing the nervous system, certainly existence will be prolonged. Purgatives had better be withheld they may already have been administered in enormous doses; fearful amounts of aloes destroy life without purgation being exhibited.
Against alkalies there does not exist the same objection; carbonate of magnesia, carbonate of soda or of potash may, in quantity, be mixed with gruel and horned down; both opium and ether may be blended with the drink. Should the pulse be low, a drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be added to each dose of the other ingredients. Should corrosive sublimate be in any degree suspected to be the agent employed, mix one dozen eggs with the other components; these will in no way detract from the operation of the drench.
The mixture should be given in as large quantities as the animal can be induced to swallow. The gruel should be quite cold, and one quart should constitute a dose. No bleeding should be permitted the abstraction of blood promotes absorption; to prevent the absorption of the poison is the present endeavor. The following draught contains all that can be recommended, so long as ignorance of the actual poison it is desired to counteract, exists. When the information is positive, of course Morton's Toxological Chart will be a far better guide than any observations the author has ability to offer.
Sulphuric ether and tincture of opium Of each three ounces. Carbonate of magnesia, of soda or potash Four ounces. Gruel (quite cold) One quart.
To these may be added, should the pulse be of a sinking character:--
Carbonate of ammonia One drachm.
If corrosive sublimate is known to have caused the agony, one dozen raw eggs ought to be blended with the drench.
Use discretion in the administration; but repeat the drinks as often and as quickly as can be accomplished without adding to the distress of the horse. Regard the state of the animal, and, if weakness be present, take time when giving the drench. Should delirium be displayed, do not trust to the natural functions; employ Read's pump, with the horse catheter attached, and inject, with all dispatch, the whole quantity at once through the nostril.
The symptoms of poisoning are various; they are also modified by the strength upon which they act. The annexed list, however, contains the general appearances by which poisoning is announced, though the whole of the symptoms are never simultaneously exhibited: Loathing of all food; extreme thirst; redness of the nasal and conjunctival membranes; discharge of ropy saliva; frequent eructations, which smell pungently fetid; colic, rolling on the ground, pawing, striking at the abdomen, etc.; tucked-up flanks; heaving; panting; small, quick pulse; superpurgation; violent straining; passing of mucus in large quantities; protrusion and inflammation of the opening; glances at the abdomen; prostration of strength; convulsions; madness and death.
And now, whence is derived the source of this evil? It springs from the ignorance of the age. Is it not, at the present day, a common saying, that "intelligence goes begging, while handicraft finds employment?" Goodness, education, and industry cannot, at this time, insure the bread which will support existence. The cunning and the knowingness of the uninformed is much preferred. There is no mystery in the groom's office which might not be acquired in a week. The horse would fare better and be more safe in the custody of a person who possibly might sympathize with its solitude and appreciate its disposition. A higher class of servants would involve a higher rate of wages. But these might be paid, and notwithstanding, the horse proprietor be, in the long run, an evident gainer. To put the wounds inflicted on the sensibility of a feeling man out of the question, it is a heavy misfortune to look upon three or four valuable horses stretched out in death. Add to this, there are other accidents that ignorance, without malice, commits, and all of which must be paid for by the master. Then there are the petty frauds and understandings in which cunning delights, and all of which are indulged at the master's cost. On the other hand, there is the certainty, or all but certainty, that intelligence would perform its duty. The horses would thrive better and last longer when confided to proper custody. The losses, attendant upon ignorance, would be avoided,--not to mention the ease of mind secured by confidence in the probity of the person to whom authority is intrusted. What a mockery it is, to cry up education and then to shun the educated! A stimulus would be given to the ignorant, when it is recognized that the informed will be alone engaged to fill offices of trust.
CHRONIC GASTRITIS.
This affection is more general than is commonly understood. The horse being unable to vomit, of course the first positive proof of disordered stomach cannot be exhibited. Thus, little attention is generally paid to its digestion, when primarily diseased.
=Chronic gastritis= is usually said to be provoked by rearing upon sour or soft land; but well-bred animals are very often subject to the malady. The ailment is frequently first displayed at the period when the services are esteemed most valuable, or between the fifth and sixth years, long after the mode of rearing must have ceased to operate. The symptoms are various, and hardly ever alike. The stomach may affect the nervous symptom; then, its complications become difficult to disentangle. The affection is mostly declared by an irregularity of bowels and a capriciousness of appetite. The animal starts off violently purging. The looseness stops as suddenly as it commenced. Obstinate costiveness then sets in, and each state can be traced to no obvious reason. The straw or litter may be eaten ravenously, but all the wholesome provender obstinately refused. The dung shows the condition of the appropriating functions; it crumbles upon the slightest force being imposed; it appears to consist of fibers not agglutinated together. Sometimes it is coated with mucus, and always smells abhorrently. A dry cough may be present; the visible membranes are pallid; the mouth feels cool; the breath is tainted; the eyes are sunken; the respiration is catching; the belly is pendulous; the anus is lax and prominent; the coat dry and ragged; while the body quickly becomes emaciated.
The slightest exertion produces a thick and copious sweat. The symptom, however, which is most remarkable, when the cleanly habits natural to the animal are considered, is the peculiarity of the appetite. The rack and manger are generally neglected; but every unnatural or offensive substance, within reach of the extended jaws, is devoured with avidity. Woodwork has largely disappeared. Soil and stones have been removed from the stomachs of creatures destroyed for incurable disease. Either of the substances last named, however, are usually spared, so long as a morsel of plaster, a portion of mortar or of brick, is within reach. Animals, when in the field, will leave the grass and enter any ditch to gnaw at bricks and mortar. When confined, they will, under the morbid influence of this affection, employ themselves for hours searching for a morsel of either among the straw.
The old custom of purging and bleeding for a case of this kind is positively injurious. It is better to administer bitters, alkalies, and sedatives;--the first, to amend the appetite; the second, to correct the acidity of the morbid secretion; the third, to destroy the uneasy sensation which provokes too many of the symptoms.
Powdered nux vomica One scruple. Carbonate of potash One drachm. Extract of belladonna Half a drachm. Extract of gentian and powdered quassia Of each a sufficiency.
Or,
Strychnia Half a grain. Bicarbonate of ammonia One drachm. Extract of belladonna Half a drachm. Sulphate of zinc Half a drachm. Extract of gentian and powdered quassia Of each a sufficiency. Give, morning and night.
One of the above balls may be given daily. When their benefits seem exhausted, give, instead of a ball, half an ounce each of liquor arsenicalis, the same of tincture of ipecacuanha, with one ounce of muriated tincture of iron and of laudanum, in a pint of water. Also, damp the food and sprinkle magnesia freely upon it. Then, as the strength improves, introduce sulphuric ether, one ounce; water, one pint, daily and ultimately change this last for a quart of good ale or stout.
Before concluding, there remains to point out the cause of this lamentable affection. Ignorance views each part of the body as distinct; it cannot see the various components are connected, and, in the mass, constitute one whole. Thus, medicine appears to the uninformed as thrown away, when internally administered for a skin disease. So it may to such persons appear strange how the air inhaled can disorder the digestion! To those better informed, however, it will only seem a natural consequence that impure atmosphere, inspired day and night, should impair the body's health. It will, with such people, be recognized as likely that the disorder should break forth when the frame is on the eve of being matured. The cause of indigestion is close and unhealthy stables. What loss will instruct mankind, that they cannot enslave life and treat it according to their convenience? Life has its natural rights: these cannot be disregarded--the requirements of breathing creatures must be fulfilled. The ability of the enslaver to use according to his pleasure, must not be selfishly regarded; else nature is outraged, and in its deprivation, pride learns the impossibility of forcing all things to conform with its inclinations.
BOTS.
No animal which has not been turned out to graze during the summer months can possibly be troubled with these parasites. Such annoyances form no light argument against the benefits accomplished by that which is in slang phrase termed "_Dr. Green_." The appearance of the coat and aspect of unthriftiness, after a run at grass, generally declare =bots= to be present within the body.
Uninformed persons are always desirous to possess some medicine which will destroy bots; they wonder that science lacks invention sufficient to compound such an agent. An anecdote may probably dispel such astonishment.
A patron of the Royal Veterinary College was once conducted by a pupil through the museum belonging to that establishment; the pair at last stood before the preparation of a horse's stomach, eaten through by, and also covered with, bots.
"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the visitor, after the nature of the specimen had been explained. "What a spectacle! What a myriad of tormentors! And have you no medicine to remove such nuisances? Can veterinary science discover nothing capable of destroying those parasites?"
"Why, sir," replied the student, "only look at that preparation. To my knowledge, it has been put up in spirits of wine, and corked air tight for two years. The creatures must be either very dead or very drunk by this time; yet, as you witness, they hold on. What sort of physic could accomplish more than is already effected by the spirits of wine and close confinement? I am at a loss to conjecture!"
For the above, the author is indebted to the admirable lectures delivered by Professor Spooner; but the conclusion drawn by the student must be more than satisfactory. Bots, once within the stomach, must remain there till the following year, when, being matured, their hold of the lining membrane of the viscus will relax, and, in the form of a chrysalis, they are ejected from the system. No medicine can expedite the transformation. It has hitherto appeared easier to kill the horse than to remove the parasite.
To the investigation of Bracy Clark, Esq., V. S., the public owe all their knowledge of the fly whence the bot is derived. The common parent, according to the above authority, is the œstrus equi; and the author gladly avails himself of the original description by the above-named talented gentleman.
"ON THE ŒSTRUS EQUI, OR THE STOMACH BOT.
"When the female has been impregnated, and the eggs sufficiently matured, she seeks among the horses a subject for her purpose, and approaching him on the wing, she carries her body nearly upright in the air, and her tail, which is lengthened for the purpose, curved inward and upward: in this way she approaches the part where she designs to deposit the egg and, suspending herself for a few seconds before it, suddenly darts upon it, and leaves the egg adhering to the hair: she hardly appears to settle, but merely touches the hair with the egg held out on the projected point of the abdomen. The egg is made to adhere by means of a glutinous liquor secreted with it. She then leaves the horse at a small distance, and prepares a second egg, and, poising herself before the part, deposits it in the same way. The liquor dries, and the egg becomes firmly glued to the hair: this is repeated by these flies till four or five hundred eggs are sometimes placed on one horse.
"The skin of the horse is usually thrown into a tremulous motion on the touch of this insect, which merely arises from the very great irritability of the skin and cutaneous muscles at this season of the year, occasioned by the heat and continual teasing of the flies, till at length these muscles appear to act involuntarily on the slightest touch of any body whatever.
"The inside of the knee is the part on which these flies are most fond of depositing their eggs, and next to this on the side and back part of the shoulder, and less frequently on the extreme ends of the hairs of the mane. But it is a fact worthy of attention, that the fly does not place them promiscuously about the body, but constantly on those parts which are most liable to be licked with the tongue; and the _ova_, therefore, are always scrupulously placed within its reach.
"The eggs thus deposited I at first supposed were loosened from the hairs by the moisture of the tongue, aided by its roughness, and were conveyed to the stomach, where they were hatched: but on more minute search I do not find this to be the case, or at least only by accident; for when they have remained on the hairs four or five days, they become ripe, after which time the slightest application of warmth and moisture is sufficient to bring forth in an instant the latent _larva_. At this time, if the tongue of the horse touches the egg, its _operculum_ is thrown open, and a small active worm is produced, which readily adheres to the moist surface of the tongue, and is from thence conveyed with the food to the stomach.
"At its first hatching is is, as we have observed, a small active worm, long in proportion to its thickness, but as its growth advances, it becomes proportionably thicker and broader, and beset with bristles.
"They are very frequent in horses that have been at grass, and are in general found adhering to the white insensible tissue or coat of the stomach.
"They usually hang in dense clusters to this white cuticular lining of the stomach, and maintain their hold by means of two dark-brown hooks, between which a longitudinal slit or fissure is seen, which is the mouth of the larva. When removed from the stomach by the fingers by a sudden jerk, so as not to injure them, they will, if fresh and healthy, attach themselves to any loose membrane, and even to the skin of the hand. For this purpose they sheath or draw back the hooks almost entirely within the skin, till the two points come close to each other they then present them to the membrane, and keeping them parallel till it is pierced through, they expand them in a lateral direction, and afterward, by bringing the points downward toward themselves, they include a sufficient piece of the membrane, to remain firmly fixed for any length of time as at anchor, without requiring any further exertion.
"These bots, as is also the case with two or three other species, pass the autumn, winter, and spring months in the stomach, and arrive about the commencement or middle of the summer at their full growth, requiring a twelvemonth fully to complete their structure."
"ON THE ŒSTRUS HEMORRHOIDALIS, OR FUNDAMENT BOT.
"The part chosen by this insect for this purpose is the lips of the horse, which is very distressing to the animal from the excessive titillation it occasions; for he immediately after rubs his mouth against the ground, his fore legs, or sometimes against a tree, with great emotion; till the animal at length finding this mode of defense insufficient, enraged he quits the spot, and endeavors to avoid it by galloping away to a distant part of the field; and if the fly still continues to follow and tease him, his last resource is in the water, where the œstrus never is observed to pursue him. These flies appear sometimes to hide themselves in the grass; and as the horse stoops to graze, they dart on the mouth or lips, and are always observed to poise themselves during a few seconds in the air, while the egg is preparing on the extended point of the abdomen.
"When several of these flies are confined in a close place, they have a particularly strong, musty smell; and I have observed both sheep and horses, when teased by them, to look into the grass and smell it very anxiously; and if they by these means discover the fly, they immediately turn aside and hasten to a distant part of the field.
"I once saw in a meadow or field upon the cliffs at Margate, a fly of this sort teasing a horse that was confined to a small space by a spike stuck in the ground, to which a cord was tied. He could not get away from its attack, and became quite furious, for in kicking at the fly with his fore foot, which he did vehemently, he often struck the bone of the lower jaw, creating excessive pain; for in that direction while grazing, the fly comes to the beard of the lower lip.
"The eggs of this species are difficult to be seen upon the horse's skin or beard, owing to the agitation of the beast, and from the color of the egg being dark like that of the skin of the horse. The animal has been generally too impatient, while undergoing this operation, to let me examine them very well. I ascertained, however, its form by pressing one of these eggs from the abdomen.
"The larva or grub of this species inhabits the stomach as the former, generally adhering to the white lining, and is disposed promiscuously in dense clusters, after the same manner; they may, however, be distinguished from them by being in general smaller and longer in proportion to their bulk.
"The larva of this species may be obtained from almost any horse that has been much the preceding year at grass, and exposed to these flies, and will be found during the summer months sticking more or less within the verge or opening of the anus, adhering to its soft lining, and producing considerable irritation and uneasiness. Indeed, I once well remember being on a tour of pleasure in the Isle of Wight, and experiencing much annoyance from these larvæ. The little horse I had hired for the journey became so lazy and unwilling to go on, and moved so awkwardly, that I could not keep pace with my company, and I was at a loss how to proceed; but on casually taking up the tail, I discovered three or four of these insects hanging to the rectum, and their removal instantly proved a cure."
For more ample particulars, the reader is referred to the book itself, which is entitled "AN ESSAY ON BOTS IN THE HORSE AND OTHER ANIMALS." It will, in the pages of the original work, be seen that Mr. Clark more than suspected the existence of other species of the same family; but, as no positive knowledge has yet been gained, we must await patiently the inquiries of those to whom this branch of science belongs.
However, the writer must dissent to Mr. Clark's conclusion, that "bots are harmless, if not beneficial." How far does such a supposition agree with the perforated stomach, preserved at the Royal Veterinary College? How far does it accord with the ragged coat and unthrifty aspect by which the presence of the parasites is ascertained? How, when crediting such a conjecture, are we to account for the horror exhibited by the horse at the approach of the fly; and how can we interpret Mr. Clark's experience in the Isle of Wight?
Bots are known to be injurious; healthy bodies are seldom troubled with parasites. The parched and innutritions grass of the summer's heat cannot support the life accustomed to artificially saved and carefully prepared food. It is the meanness of the master which dooms the slave to starvation; he begrudges the keep of the animal, therefore, he disguises the ugliness of his feeling under a pretense of giving the horse a month's freedom and its natural food! In spring, when the herbage is young, one hour night and morning might be excused; but those hours must be before the flies are up, and after these pests are asleep. In the height of summer, when the grass has perished and the ground is hard, the health soon yields to constant exposure and to unwholesome food. The flies torment the animal, and from the shed it is often driven by its companions in the field. A large portion of the accidents which horses are liable to, occur while out at grass; many an animal is released from the stable blooming and valuable; it is, at the expiration of the month, brought home looking ragged, with a huge belly, and is never fit for a day's service subsequently. If the matter is to be regarded only in a money point of view, it would have been a saving to the owner to have paid a twelvemonth's keep, rather than lose his servant, and notwithstanding, afterward have to pay for food and treatment till experience had instructed him in the inutility of expecting restoration. But when the matter is considered in a moral sense, what right has that individual who has, for his own pleasure, accustomed a life to a particular form of diet, at his will, or for his convenience, to snatch the food from the creature and drive it forth to gnaw at stalks which had shed their seeds, and to be exposed to all the variations of the season? It is no excuse to talk about there being no work to be done while the master is at the sea-side; the devotion of a life should have earned a brief support, and the gentleman whose avarice thinks otherwise has no just reason to complain of the punishment which the indulgence of his greed will probably insure.
CHRONIC HEPATITIS.
=Acute hepatitis= is unknown among horses in England. The late Professor Sewell thought he had witnessed one case. Other people know they have not seen a single instance of such a disease.
=Chronic hepatitis= is peculiar to maturity. Brewers' horses--huge animals, fattened upon refuse of the mash-tub, and which are paraded, in all the pride of obesity, drawing one small cask over the stones of London--are often attacked by this malady. All horses which consume much provender, without absolute regard to work, are exposed to it. Gentlemen's carriage horses are very liable to it. A private vehicle is started, and at first much used; but after a time it is equally neglected. The individual does not want the carriage to-day, when the coachman comes round "for orders." Neither is it required on the next occasion. Often a week passes without the fashionable plaything being uncovered. The animals, during that time, depend on the groom for exercise. The coachman may be fond of his horses, and, in his ignorance, may think they cannot have too much rest, or himself too little work. Let the master neglect his duty, and the servant soon follows the example.
The word "duty" was employed in the last sentence. It is of an unpleasant signification, and was used in its harshest sense. Kings owe a duty to their subjects; the rich owe a duty to the poor. All authority has some obligation connected with it. There is nothing like perfect freedom in this world of dependence. Man is the king over living things. He may claim his rights, but he at the same time must adopt the weight of his office: he cannot assume the one and discard the other. A monarch is invested with dominion and authority over men; but the stability of the throne is dependent upon the righteousness of the ruler. If he who wears the crown abuses his trust, he may possess "a right divine," but he is speedily without subjects. So, if man is unjust to the creatures ever which he is placed, nature snatches them from his grasp; and he may be invested with every power, but he soon wants animals upon which to exercise it.
View the matter in another light, as an affair only of worldly prudence. Knives, formed of the hardest steel, if purchased and put away, in a short time are worthless, because of rust. A house wears faster when untenanted than when properly inhabited.
A horse cannot remain for days in the stable and retain its condition. The carriage proprietor has not only to find food, but he is equally bound to support the health of his animals, or the service for which he bargained will be rudely terminated. Too many do not think of this. Too many take out the carriage to-day, only because it accords with their convenience. All, however, complain of the uncertainty which appertains to horse-flesh. The frame of the horse is stronger than machinery; but it cannot resist the willfulness of human misrule. Let that man, whose stable troubles him, question his own conduct. Let him examine the house in which he has thrust life. Let him see to the servants he has engaged, and to the food for which he pays; and after all, let him inquire into his own behavior: the error will be found, not in the creatures over which he exercises dominion, but in those who are invested with authority.
If people will start carriages, the vehicle must be taken out every day, let the weather freeze, rain, or shine. The hard earth of sunshine is frequently more injurious to the feet than either cold or wet are to the body. The lady, when out visiting, has more than her own pleasure to consult; for all horses fed on the best and underworked, or retained standing long before the street door, are exposed to chronic hepatitis. The gentleman's delight is almost as liable as the brewer's pride. Even moderate food and too little work will engender the disease. The author, when he quitted the veterinary college, left in that establishment an Arab, which, from a year's stagnation, was obviously thus disordered.
The primary symptoms are not well marked, and do not, generally, attract attention. The animal is dull and averse to move. It appears to have imbibed a fondness for the inactivity to which it has been accustomed. The appetite is either nice, altogether lost, or unscrupulously ravenous; the bowels are constipated; the dung is black, and coated with bilious-looking mucus; it is friable, and imperfectly digested. If a white paper be pressed upon it, a greenish-yellow stain is imparted. The urine is scanty, and, commonly, highly colored; while the pulse has a heavy beat, as though treacle, instead of blood, circulated within the artery.
The signs which indicate a confirmation of the disorder are: the mouth feels cold; the nasal membranes are unnaturally pallid; the whites of the eyes are ghastly, displaying a yellow tinge; sometimes the horse looks at the right side; usually, it lies upon the left ribs, but never for any long time; tenderness may be exhibited, if the right side be pressed upon. However, the last symptom is rarely present, and lameness in either fore leg is seldom witnessed.
The disease is, for the most part, obscure, and is best recognized when medicine has become powerless. If early detected, a limited, but sufficient supply of nutritious food; plenty of, but not exhausting labor, with a long course of iodine in alterative doses, are calculated to work some beneficial change.
Iodide of potassium Two ounces. Liquor potassæ One quart. Mix, and give two tablespoonfuls night and morning, in a pint of water.
Commonly, however, bleeding from the liver is the earliest recognized indication of disease. Then the horse, with depressed head, is found standing before untouched food; often it staggers; sometimes it supports itself against the partition to the stall; it always maintains the erect position with extreme difficulty; the pupil of the eyes are enlarged; if the hand be moved before the sight, the lid does not close; the vision is lost; the pupils are much dilated; the breath, denoting weakness, is short and catching; the jaw is pulseless, and the heart flutters; the visible membranes are deathly; and the bilious nature of the disorder is, in these last parts, apparent. Should the head, only for a minute, be raised, the animal threatens to fall.
The first attack is seldom fatal, and possibly might, by proper usage, be recovered from. The bleeding, then, is from the substance of the gland, and does not generally burst Glisson's capsule, or the first and fibrous covering of the liver. Glisson's capsule, however, is, by the pressure of fluid, bulged out. The hemorrhage stretches the peritoneum, which is the second or last envelope; and nature, striving to repair the injury, causes the serous investment to inflame,--to become white, opaque, considerably thicker, and altogether stronger than in its normal condition.
There may be an indefinite number of attacks; or the horse, possibly, may succumb to the first assault. Commonly, there are several fits of the same character. Treatment is generally adopted. A dose of aloes is given, though with what intention the author is not aware. Quiet is enjoined; and styptics, as sugar of lead, alum, etc., are administered; and the horse, commonly, under such treatment, seems to recover.
It is, however, difficult to change a fixed habit, or to perceive the reason for an alteration after all danger has disappeared. The gentleman again indulges his inclinations. The coachman, to keep up his horse's flesh, fills the manger; the master very rarely orders the carriage; now he can ride, walking is preferred for his own exercise. Soon, a second fit takes place; this time, Glisson's capsule usually yields; but the thickened peritoneum, although pushed farther out, still resists, and now remains the single stay between human perversity and certain death.
With recovery, the former custom is again resumed; the man chooses to think a sick horse must require support; the master pleases to imagine rest must be beneficial to an animal which has been seriously ill. Another fit ensues; no one is much alarmed this time. The people have become accustomed to the sort of thing; men soon grow used to other's agony. However, something is now present which has not been witnessed before; that circumstance rather disturbs the reigning equanimity; the horse is evidently much disposed to quietude, but some hidden cause excites it; it rolls, flings itself down, struggles up again, paws with the fore feet, kicks with the hind legs at the belly, and breathes with much more difficulty than formerly.
Often it lies upon the back for some minutes; the result, when such symptoms are observed, generally is invariable. After death, the abdomen is opened; the cavity is full of black blood, which, commonly, does not coagulate; though, should death occur upon the first attack, dark clots may be found among the intestines.
With regard to the treatment, which the author approves, it consists of the drink previously recommended; sufficient but nutritious food, and, above all things, abundant exercise. The horse should also be removed from the heated stable and allowed a large, roomy, loose box. Purgative medicine is too debilitating for such a disease; but the bowels should be regulated by green meat or by bran mashes, when such agents are required.
CRIB-BITING.
Nothing more forcibly illustrates the ignorance by which the horse is surrounded, than the manner any trivial but visible fact is magnified into vast and mysterious importance. The untutored always have active imaginations; thus, what is at worst, in the author's opinion, the declaration of acidity within the stomach, is by most horsemen dreaded more than an actual disease.
=Cribbing= is very common among horses which have been long inhabitants of the stable; the many hours of stagnation the domesticated horse is doomed to pass, may induce the animal readily to seize upon any solitary pastime. Or the perpetual consumption of oats and hay may disarrange the digestion, which, experience teaches, is in ourselves much benefited by a moderate change of diet. Or, the constant inhalation of close and impure air, such as will taint the clothes of the groom, who is much exposed to it, may disorder that part of the body which is the most sympathetic of the entire frame.
Adopt which of these theories the reader may be inclined to, all of them can be brought to bear upon the horse so affected. That cribbing is a habit is seemingly proved by the young horse, stalled next to an old cribber, soon acquiring the custom. That cribbing is provoked by idleness, appears to be in some measure confirmed by the horse never exhibiting the peculiarity before it has been handled and become an occupant of the stable. That it arises from acrimony, induced by the food, is apparently shown by the colt, while at grass, never displaying the symptom. That it will be witnessed in the old horse, when turned out for a month's run at grass, establishes nothing. The temporary visitor to the field may often be seen galloping toward some gate, which, having reached, the horse there commences a long game at crib-biting. This circumstance can settle nothing, except that the digestion is chronically deranged--the stomach, when thus affected, being peculiarly retentive of its morbid condition.
Crib-biting consists in resting the upper incisor teeth against any solid or firm substance; a fixed point is thus gained, and, after much effort, a small portion of gas is eructated. The perpetual emissions of heated air is, in man, one of the symptoms attendant on indigestion; and the act, in the horse, appears to be impelled by something stronger than habit; since the animal will leave the most tempting provender for its indulgence.
The premonitory symptoms, moreover, seem to declare heartburn to be the cause of this much-dreaded indulgence. The custom is always preceded by licking of the manger. If on that there should be iron, or should any part be cooler than the rest, to that particular spot attention will be paid. The licking of cold substances is a symptom of disordered stomach with other dumb creatures. It is prominently displayed by the dog when the viscus is inflamed. But crib-biting may be prevented, if attacked during the premonitory stage. Any substance, which acts as a stimulant to the stomach, is said to be beneficial. Salt is known as an almost necessary condiment, aiding the healthfulness of human food. The deprivation of salt was an old criminal punishment among the Dutch; and a lump of rock-salt placed in the manger will often enable the horse's digestion to recover its lost tone.
Crib-biting has, in submission to general opinion, been alluded to as a habit, learned within the stable. But may not that which man designates a habit in a dumb creature, be no more than the influence of one atmosphere acting similarly on two bodies, both caged in the same stable? The air is much more than inhaled. A large quantity is swallowed with the saliva. No slight amount is deglutated with the masticated food. The water is generally kept in the stable some hours before the horses are permitted to imbibe it. Water has a large affinity for atmosphere. Air, therefore, enters largely into the body, besides being continually absorbed by the blood during respiration. And moreover, is it not strange that all horses, when indulging an imitative faculty, should always precede the display by the same licking of the manger, which assuredly is not learned, because that stage has passed before the young horse is placed near the one it is supposed to imitate? Is it not also surprising, that applying the tongue to cool substances should, in other domesticated but dumb creatures, be a symptom of derangement of the stomach?
When the horse cribs, the manger is not bitten. The upper incisors are merely placed against the wood-work, and, from this fixed point, the animal strains backward the body; thereby, the muscles of the neck are the more readily excited, and a small portion of air, accompanied by a slight sound, is forced up a canal which does not of itself favor regurgitation. When the inability to vomit is considered, the necessity of some such stratagem, to relieve the stomach of its burning acidity, must at once be admitted. We are still further reconciled to the necessity which prompts the action, when the ease afforded to human dyspeptic subjects, by the expulsion of "the wind," is properly regarded.
To relieve crib-biting, first attend to the atmosphere of the stables; render that pure by ample ventilation. Place a lump of rock-salt in the manger; should that not effect a cure, add to it a large piece of chalk; should these be unavailing, always damp the food, and, at each time of feeding, sprinkle magnesia upon it, and mingle a large handful of ground oak-bark with each feed of corn. Should none of these measures prove beneficial, treat the case as one of =chronic indigestion= or =gastritis=.
Let every reader, however, remember dyspepsia is far easier acquired than eradicated or even relieved; still, the vast majority of the fears entertained concerning crib-biting are perfectly groundless. The habit, certainly, does not round the edges of the front teeth; neither does it predispose to spasm or to flatulent colic; a horse that cribs may have either diseases; so, also, do many animals which are free from the peculiarity. Cribbing can be no recommendation to a purchaser, although the writer cannot honestly point to the direction in which it is detrimental to the usefulness. The late Mr. Sewell had a brown horse: this creature was eighteen years old, and an inveterate cribber; yet, it would trot nine miles an hour, for its own pace, without ever needing the whip. More than this, no horse master should require; but let those who entertain a horror of crib-biting, pay extra attention to the means by which the indulgence can be prevented.