The Illustrated Horse Doctor / Being an accurate and detailed account of the various diseases to which the equine race are subjected

by Edward Mayhew

If no attention be now paid to the aggravated symptoms, worse speedily ensues. In the direction formerly indicated the vessel feels hard under the skin. Supposing this sign to be neglected, unhealthy pus issues in quantity from the wounds and soils the neck. This secretion is soon converted into a dark, impure, and fetid discharge resembling decayed blood. The horse grows dull and stupid; the inflammation ultimately affects the brain, when the suffering and the life are extinguished in the violent agonies of phrenitis.

The cure is easy, but everything depends upon the energy of him who undertakes it. When the lips of the wound which have been brought together by means of the twisted suture—as the "pin with tow wrapped round it" is professionally termed—display a tendency to separate, and, instead of being dry, appear moist, let no prejudice incline toward the ancient practice of fomenting and poulticing the injury. Without the loss of a moment in hesitation, withdraw the pin; remove the substance which was twined round it, and apply a moderate-sized blister immediately over and around the puncture. Should the disease have ascended up the neck, still rub in a blister; only a proportionate amount of surface must then be acted upon. If the case be as bad as possible, and yet the animal is alive, still a blister is indicated.

THE TWISTED SUTURE.

A pin is first stuck through the lips of the wound; a portion of tow, thread, or hair is then wrapped round the pin, and, to complete all, the point of the pin is lastly clipped off.

With the progress of the disease a larger space should always be subjected to irritation, so as to cover every part the most active imagination could suppose to be involved. One blister, moreover, will not suffice; another, and another, and another must be employed, till every sign of disorder has vanished. They must, however, be applied in quicker succession as the symptoms are more urgent, while a greater interval may be allowed between each when the affection is less serious. In the worst stage of phlebitis, another blister must be put over the part upon which the irritation of the first has not entirely ceased to act. In the second stage, the surface must have been barely healed before another vesicatory is resorted to. During the primary symptom, a single application frequently is sufficient; or, at most, two blisters generally suffice.

When the vessel assumes the corded state, a blister can effect no more than to check the progress of the disorder; no agency, however, which science has placed at the disposal of man can restore the uses of the vein. The vessel is lost, and lost forever. If a foul and black discharge issue from the openings, insert a director and enlarge the wounds, joining the holes by slitting up the sinuses which unite them; but do not cut the entire extent of the hardened vessel, as in that case you may be deluged in blood. The employment of the knife and the free use of blisters constitute the chief means toward the cure of phlebitis. The sinuses must be laid open. The probe should then be most patiently employed, for every sinus must be slit up. This may be done at once, when the hardness indicates the vessel to be closed above the part which the incision interferes with. To such an extent the knife may always be employed, while blisters after blisters are used, regardless of the severe wounds over which they are applied.

Much relief is afforded by the large and pendulous incision, through which the corruption freely finds an exit. Some horses, however, from the pain occasioned by the raw and inflamed condition of the neck, will not allow the blister to be rubbed in after the ordinary fashion, especially when the irritation caused by the former application has not thoroughly subsided. In cases of this sort, do not employ the twitch or resort to greater restraints. Exercise your reason. Regard the painful aspect of the wounds. Ask yourself how you should enjoy the hard hand of a groom violently scrubbed over such a part, were the soreness upon your own body. Act upon the response. Procure a long-haired brush, such as pastry-cooks use to egg over their more delicate manufactures. Go then into the next stall. Speak kindly to a sick inferior that is at your mercy. Have the creature led forth, and, with the brush just described, smear the part with oil of cantharides or liquid blister. The extract of the Spanish fly does not occasion immediate agony, and the application of oil will cool or soothe the anger of the wounds.

With the jugular vein inflamed, the horse, during the period of treatment, should consume no solid food. Hay tea, sloppy mashes, and well-made gruel should constitute its diet. However, the gruel must not be given in such quantities or made so thick as the same substance would be allowed to a healthy horse. Gruel may not be very sustaining to the human being, but it is nothing more than the oat divested of the shell or refuse part. To the equine species such food, whether given dry or boiled in water, is highly stimulating; and, as fever invariably accompanies inflammation, oats in any form evidently are contraindicated. Should the animal, however, become ravenous, a portion of potatoes, being first peeled, may be boiled to a mash. Some water and a sufficiency of pollard ought to be added, and the whole presented in such a state as requires no mastication, but in a condition that will allow the mixture to be drawn between the teeth. The same thing may be done with carrots and with turnips, only all mashed roots, except potatoes, should be passed through a colander, and moistened with some of the water in which they are boiled.

Any animal, during treatment, should be placed in a loose box. No creature should be turned into the field. It is cheaper to pasture than to stable a horse; but the constant motion of the legs, as the field is traversed, is injurious to the punctured vein of the limbs, while the pendulous state of the head and the perpetual movement of the jaws are most prejudicial when venesection has been performed upon the neck. The stable is, in every point of view, the cheapest and the best residence. The head of the animal must be tied to the rack throughout the day; while, at night, the halter may be lengthened, permitting the creature to lie down; but the floor should be littered with tan, as straw might be eaten.