THE HEAD OF A HORSE SUFFERING FROM
INTERNAL HEMORRHAGE.
THE TEST FOR HEMORRHAGE FROM THE LIVER.
There may be an indefinite number of attacks; or the horse, possibly, may succumb to the first assault. Commonly, there are several fits of the same character. Treatment is generally adopted. A dose of aloes is given, though with what intention the author is not aware. Quiet is enjoined; and styptics, as sugar of lead, alum, etc., are administered; and the horse, commonly, under such treatment, seems to recover.
It is, however, difficult to change a fixed habit, or to perceive the reason for an alteration after all danger has disappeared. The gentleman again indulges his inclinations. The coachman, to keep up his horse's flesh, fills the manger; the master very rarely orders the carriage; now he can ride, walking is preferred for his own exercise. Soon, a second fit takes place; this time, Glisson's capsule usually yields; but the thickened peritoneum, although pushed farther out, still resists, and now remains the single stay between human perversity and certain death.
With recovery, the former custom is again resumed; the man chooses to think a sick horse must require support; the master pleases to imagine rest must be beneficial to an animal which has been seriously ill. Another fit ensues; no one is much alarmed this time. The people have become accustomed to the sort of thing; men soon grow used to other's agony. However, something is now present which has not been witnessed before; that circumstance rather disturbs the reigning equanimity; the horse is evidently much disposed to quietude, but some hidden cause excites it; it rolls, flings itself down, struggles up again, paws with the fore feet, kicks with the hind legs at the belly, and breathes with much more difficulty than formerly.
Often it lies upon the back for some minutes; the result, when such symptoms are observed, generally is invariable. After death, the abdomen is opened; the cavity is full of black blood, which, commonly, does not coagulate; though, should death occur upon the first attack, dark clots may be found among the intestines.
With regard to the treatment, which the author approves, it consists of the drink previously recommended; sufficient but nutritious food, and, above all things, abundant exercise. The horse should also be removed from the heated stable and allowed a large, roomy, loose box. Purgative medicine is too debilitating for such a disease; but the bowels should be regulated by green meat or by bran mashes, when such agents are required.
CRIB-BITING.
Nothing more forcibly illustrates the ignorance by which the horse is surrounded, than the manner any trivial but visible fact is magnified into vast and mysterious importance. The untutored always have active imaginations; thus, what is at worst, in the author's opinion, the declaration of acidity within the stomach, is by most horsemen dreaded more than an actual disease.