Yet, after all this trouble, a speedy cure is not to be expected; and rarely does an old horse, should it recover, prove highly useful. How sad, however, is that condition where the continuance of the life is made conditional upon the service of the body—where interest is the only motive which permits existence! No sympathy to be anticipated in suffering; no pity in disease! The only feeling that actuates the custodian is a cold regard for the gain which the jaded being can yet bring him. A life of usefulness, years of toil, injuries sustained and accidents surmounted,—all cannot win a day's respite from the doom which attends the creature whose exertions in man's service have led to the disablement of its powers. Such, however, is the fate of the horse in England, which land specially boasts it is a "Christian country."
Chronic dysentery is the inheritance which the horse earns from being subjected to the dominion of man. Excessive labor, filthy lodging, and innutritious diet are the causes. Each of these causes increases as the age advances.
Prior to its domestication, the horse might not have found on every spot an abundance of excellent fodder; but then it was at liberty to seek a better fare in another place. Man has taken away all power of choice; he forces the creature to toil, and obliges it to eat only that which parsimony may afford to place before it. When so vast and so absolute a power is claimed, it becomes a positive duty to see the mere animal necessities are satisfied: it is cruel folly to tax the powers and to stint the body. It is a crime to undertake a trust and then confide the fulfillment of its responsibility to an ignorant inferior. It is a sin to seize on life and to neglect the prisoner you hold in captivity. Where existence is claimed as a property, and animation is forced to wear out being in labor for the master's profit, surely the least obligation the superior could own should be the provision of ample lodging and fitting sustenance! Both are withheld from the aged horse.
ACITES, OR DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN.
In the horse, acute peritonitis is unknown, save as the result of operation; then its fury takes possession of the cavity and generally refuses to yield to medicine. It is different, however, with chronic peritonitis, which, though not a common disorder, is too often encountered to be esteemed a rare disease. It is, when early noticed, tractable; but the earlier symptoms are generally not understood. The first sign is a ragged coat and a tender state of the abdomen; the horse, which was passive previously, now shrinks from the curry-comb; snaps and kicks at him who dresses it. Such actions are viewed as denoting a return of spirit. Intending to encourage the favorite quality of the stable, the flank is violently struck or slapped by the servant; and the indication forced from a dumb animal by agony, is by grooms regarded as the proof of reviving animation.
Masters should, in justice to themselves if from no higher motive, visit the stable more frequently than is their custom. The horse is all gentleness and simplicity; a groom only knows less about the animal than a child, for he has acquired notions which induce him to misinterpret plain actions. Every owner of a stable should learn to feel and count the horse's pulse; he should be acquainted with the normal standard and its healthy character; chronic peritonitis might then early be discovered. The pulse under this disease is hard and small, it vibrates about sixty times in a minute. The head is pendulous; the food is oftener spoiled, rather scattered about than eaten; the membranes are pale and the mouth is dry; pressure upon the abdomen elicits a groan, and turning in the stall always calls forth a grunt.
When such symptoms are observed, the food should be small in bulk, but nutritious in quality; no work should be imposed; the medicine should be tonic and alterative.
| Strychnia | A quarter of a grain, worked gradually up to one grain. |
| Iodide of iron | Half a drachm, worked gradually up to one drachm and a half. |
| Extract of belladonna | One scruple. |
| Extract of gentian | A sufficiency. |
| Powdered quassia | A sufficiency. |
| Make into a ball; give one at night and at morning. | |
Small blisters should succeed each other upon the abdomen; but as these cases are always tedious and very much depends upon the constitution of the animal, charity alone should propose such a disease for treatment, as the general termination of the malady is incurable dropsy of the abdomen.
Acites offers a good illustration of the loss inhumanity brings down upon man, and of the gain which would attend a loftier conduct. Chronic peritonitis attacks aged animals; such horses are used only for harness purposes. Few masters inquire what propels the carriage, so the vehicle gets over the ground. The affected quadruped cannot drag its own body; thus more than double duty is cast upon the sound steed. The single horse has not only to draw the entire carriage and its load, but it also has to pull along its disabled companion. Servants frequently hide defects, hoping that time will remedy them, or dreading the reception proverbially given to the bearer of bad tidings; thus the sound horse ultimately fails, while the sick animal is rendered worse by violent exercise.