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

In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 203
either dead or dying from this disease, but in the
greater number of cases fever is a premonitory symp-
tom. In most case in the early stages of the disease
it is not very rapid, but it is heavy in its action and
indistinct, feeling vibratory under the pressure of the
finger ; in other cases it is hardly to be jierceived, so
languid is its motion. These are the cases that generally
prove fatal, as many men do not understand this disease,
and take no notice of it in its early stages, so that the
attack assumes a violent form before remedies are ad-
ministered. In many cases that have come under the
author's observation, the horse has been noticed to be
dull and off its feed for a day or two before anything was
thought wrong. Such is the ignorance of many men,
that they do not know that a horse is ill until it falls
down at plough or in its harness, then they think there
must be something the matter, and send for the
veterinary surgeon, who often arrives in time to see the
animal die, and he then gets the credit of not being able
to save the horse. We often hear cases of this sort
being talked about by those who have charge of horses.
This disease in its early stages is not very rapid, and is
followed by dilated nostrils, coldness in the extremities,
and heaving at the flanks, which clearly indicate an op-
pression in the breathing, differing, however, from the
hard laboured action of horses in fever, and also the
irregular breathing of broken-winded horses, appearing
as if two respirations were required for every inspiration
of air to the lungs. In inflammation the pulse is quick,
hurried, and irregular, caused by the pain which is felt
by the animal at each attempt to draw in the air, giving