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

222 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
if the medicine is largely made of turpentine. This
will bring on an attack of inflammation of the kidneys
as well as weakness in the parts. A sprain in the loins
by a horse falling with a loaded cart, or jumping short
in the hunting-field into a ditch with its hind feet,
causing a sudden check to the muscles of the loins, is
another cause ; exposure to the cold rain, and being
allowed to cool and dry without being rubbed down,
will too often cause inflammation of the kidneys.
In this disease much difference of opinion is expressed
as to the treatment to be adopted ; some advocate
bleeding, others affirm that bleeding does no good, but
this is certain that as much counter irritation should be
given with mustard as it is possible to produce. Spanish
flies should not be used for blistering in this complaint,
as they are a powerful diuretic, and a great deal of them
would pass into the system by absorption, and cause an
increase of the mischief. The horse should be kept
warm, plenty of cold Avater given it to drink, its food
should be mash, and the following given him three times
a day :—White hellebone one scruple, tartar emetic one
drachm, linseed-meal two drachms, made into a ball with
treacle. If the inflammation is in the bladder and its
sphincture we find the same symptoms; the urine is
voided in small quantities, and with great difficulty, and
in extreme cases there is a total suppression of urine.
When this takes place the bladder becomes exceedingly
inflated under the rectum, and may be easily felt by the
means advised in a former page. It is a spasm that
causes the neck of the bladder to contract, which is
produced by some acid substance which lins been