The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

PULSE

.—In all dangerous and inflammatory diseases of horses, much information may be derived from the state of the PULSE; in addition to the observations to be made upon the difficulty of respiration, the heaving of the flank, the heat of the mouth, and the state of the eyes. It seems, by the nicest observations, that the pulsations in a healthy horse seldom exceed from forty to forty-five in a minute; exceeding which in any material degree, there is then reason to believe, inflammatory heat is predominant in the frame, and that fever is rapidly advancing in proportion to the increased velocity of the blood. Farriers in general, either from a want of attention, or want of judgment, are most culpably deficient in this part of their professional examination; upon a competent proficiency in which, must solely depend the CONSISTENCY, or impropriety, of repeated bleedings, in all cases of high and increasing inflammations, where REPETITIONS are absolutely indispensible for the preservation of life.