The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 139
having their horses watered and fed at proper intervals,
and save the trouble, annoyance, and expense of having
to call in the aid of the veterinary surgeon for a malady
which by a trifling expense and a little judgment could
be prevented. If nothing else is effective, self-interest
ought to induce proper treatment. Staggers are said by
some writers to often affect the horse when at grass. If
the horse has previously been stinted with food, the author
has never seen a well-defined case of staggers at grass
and feels inclined to think that the so-called cases ot
stagers have been mistaken cases of ranunculacce
poisoning, especially as he can find no case recorded of
an animal dying of staggers at grass. Horses that have
stomach staggers repeatedly are almost sure to go blind
either partially or totally, from the effect of the gases
engendered in the stomach acting on the nervous system
and the optic nerve in particular. The symptoms of sleepy
or stomach staggers is indicated by the dull, stupid, sleepy
appearance of the horse, and the manner in which it stag-
gers about in its stall. It seems unconscious of what it is
doing, and if roused from its lethargy will probably take a
mouthful of hay, and in a few seconds will desist from
chewing it, the hay falling from its mouth. Many
instances have occurred where the disease has been
allowed to acquire such an ascendancy that the horse
will drop down and die while in the act of eating. In
other cases the drowsiness goes off, and is succeeded by
delirium, and after falling, rising, and staggering about^
will die in convulsions. The stomach staggers are in-
dicated by a twitching of the muscles of the breast, and
a yellowness of the eyes. Before a remedy is attempted,