PERMANENT BLEMISH AND DESTRUCTION OF
THE NICE SENSIBILITY OF THE MOUTH.
Pour some of this into a saucer, and, with anything soft, apply the lotion to the sore places; do not rub or scrub; do your ministering gently; so the parts are wet, no further good can be accomplished; use this wash after every feeding or watering. In a little while amendment is generally perceptible; where violence has been used, it is impossible to foretell the extent of the injury. A superficial slough may be cast off; this process is attended with fetor; that the lotion will correct, and thus add to the comfort of the horse. The cure, however, will possibly leave the horse of a lessened value; where the skin has been destroyed it is never reproduced; the wound will, therefore, probably blemish, and may lead a future purchaser to suspect "all sorts of things." The horse is certainly deteriorated; with the skin the natural sensibility of the part is lost. A cicatrix, consisting only of condensed cellular tissue, must form upon the spot; this structure is very feebly, if at all, nervous, and when compared to the smooth and soft covering of the lips, may be said to be without feeling, and is very liable to ulceration.
PARROT-MOUTH.
This, strictly speaking, is not a disease; it is a malformation; the upper incisors, from those of the lower jaw not being sufficiently developed, meet with no opposing members; they consequently grow very long, and from their form are likened to the bill of a parrot.
This formation is not unsoundness, but it cannot be a recommendation; the horse can only gather up its corn imperfectly; much falls from the mouth during mastication. The animal which requires four feeds and a half daily to support the condition another maintains upon four feeds, must be the more expensive retainer of the two. Moreover, it is a virtue in a horse to thoroughly clear out the manger; a healthy animal not only licks out corners to catch stray grains, but hunts among the straw for any corns that may have fallen. This duty the parrot-mouth disables a horse from performing; the good feeder alone is equal to the work.
COPIED FROM THE AUTHOR'S
WORK, ENTITLED "THE HORSE'S
MOUTH," PUBLISHED BY
MESSRS. FORES, PICCADILLY.
Besides, a rider is always pleased, when sauntering down the green lanes during the spring of the year, to see the horse's neck stretched out to catch a twig of the shooting hedge; this can do no harm; but it is hard alike upon horse and man to always have a tight hold of the rein when the fresh scent of the budding thorn tempts the mouth to its enjoyment. And yet, in the majority of instances, it would be cruelty to yield and permit the parrot-mouth to bite; the under teeth very often rest against the palate. No more need be said to caution owners possessed of an animal thus afflicted, against a natural indulgence. The parrot-jaw is a deformity for the perpetuation of which man is responsible; dispositions and formations are hereditary. Would the owners of stock only exercise some judgment in their selections, this misfortune might speedily be eradicated.
LAMPAS.
The horse's lot is, indeed, a hard one; it is not only chastised by the master, but it also has to submit to the fancies of the groom. "Lampas" is an imaginary disease, but it is a vast favorite among stable attendants. Whenever an animal is "off its feed," the servant looks into the mouth, and to his own conviction discovers the "lampas." That affection is supposed to consist of inflammation, which enlarges the bars of the palate and forces them to the level of or a little below the biting edges of the upper incisor teeth.