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

148 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
MAD STAGGERS OR BRAIN FEVER.
This disease is most frequently met with in the
heavy breeds of horses such as are used by millers,
brewers, and for farm purposes, and is caused by the
animals being too fat and too full of blood, by the chyle
having too strong a tendency to widen the vessels, and
especially so when the horse is overheated during warm
weather. The fever produced thereby causes a deter-
mination of blood to the brain, and thus terminating in
what is generally denominated brain fever. This dis-
ease proceeds from inflammation of the brain, and in its
earlier symptoms it cannot be distinguished from sleepy
or stomach staggers ; it soon, however, assumes a
different character, the nostrils become distended, and it
commences to heave at the flanks, its eyes assume a
fixed vacant and wild stare, which is followed by com-
plete delirium ; it becomes furious and dashes about in a
violent manner from side to side, being quite unconscious
of its actions. The mad staggers are considerably alike
in their symptoms to rabies or common madness, and
also to colic. In the former of these maladies the horse
retains it consciousness, and the violence of its actions
will depend upon the peculiar character of its madness.
In some instances a desire to be mischievous is mani-
fested; in colic the horse rises and falls, although not in
a violent manner. Sometimes, however, it plunges, but
in most cases it rolls itself about, and frequently looks
towards its flanks with an evident expression of suffering
from pain. The treatment o{ this disease is at all times