The illustrated horse doctor : $b being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected — John Shaqi
The illustrated horse doctor : $b being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjectedMayhew, Edward
Science
The illustrated horse doctor : $b being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected
Mayhew, Edward
Horses -- Diseases
This affection is the property of matured animals; so rarely as to be
exceptional is it to be seen attacking colts. Fast trotters, omnibus
horses, hunters, and creatures subjected to extreme exertion, are most
liable to it. It creeps on insidiously. At first the pace is as fast as
ever; but something is suspected wrong in the manner of going. After a
time the creature is brought to a veterinary surgeon as a lame horse. The
suspicions are then destroyed and the real malady is announced.
The decay of the more showy powers seems to bring forward the gentler
qualities of the horse's nature. The animal, which once was dangerous,
loses all its dreaded attributes: with paralysis, it becomes meek or tame,
as though the big life felt its great affliction and sought to compensate,
by amiability, for the trouble it necessarily gave, or, in other words,
that the animal was mildly pleading for existence. No doubt much of such
a sentiment, if not all, resides in the mind of the spectator, the animal
only being subdued by sickness. Still, it is very sad to contemplate the
horse, which once could outstrip the sparrow in its flight, reduced to
a pace which the tortoise might leave behind; to behold the beast, once
powerful and proud of its strength, humbled to a feebleness which the push
of any child might overthrow. It is more sorrowful, when we think its hurt
was received from him to whom its welfare was intrusted; that its injury
was the consequence of an over-anxiety to please and to obey. It may be
well doubted whether, when man was given dominion over the beasts of the
field, he was invested with an absolute authority over God's creatures,
which had no moral duties nor obligations attached to it. At all events,
it would be difficult to find an object more suggestive of pity, or better
calculated to excite our inward reflections, than a horse suffering under
partial paralysis.
Paralysis is generally past all cure; occasionally, however, it admits
of relief. It is an eccentric disorder, and it is difficult to say,
positively, what medicine will be of use. The horse, however, during
paralysis, should enjoy absolute rest. In its disabled state, a little
walk is as great an exertion as once was a breathing gallop; and it was
over-exercise which induced the disorder. The animal should receive only
strengthening physic and the most nourishing of food. The following ball
should be administered, night and morning:--
Strychnia, half a grain, gradually, or in six weeks to be worked up to a
grain and a half; iodide of iron, one grain; quassia powder and treacle, a
sufficiency: to be given night and morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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