INFORMATION HOW TO TREAT DANGEROUS DISEASES.
There are several diseases which are very dangerous and run their course in a very short time, and prove fatal if they are not properly treated or arrested before they become firmly seated. I would here urge upon every owner of horses, (and in fact every disease which this work treats on,) to pay strict attention to it. In many diseases, what you can do must be done at once or not at all—the old saying is ‘a stitch in time saves nine,’ and there is a great deal of truth in this, in many diseases.
I would here urge upon you the importance of glystering in certain diseases. In the Wind Colic and also in the Spasmodic Colic, as soon as you ascertain what the disease is and not before. The truth of the matter is that no man has any right to give any medicine until he is certain what the disease is. Give the medicine and course of treatment prescribed in the disease then quickly follow with injections. If you have neglected to prepare yourself for glystering, back-rake with your hand—this is done by greasing the hand and arm with lard or oil and introduce it as far as you can. The glystering or back-raking never does any harm but always assists in relieving. Every owner of horses should prepare himself with several large beef or hog bladders, a few elders with the pith punched or burnt out, and by so doing you are prepared at any time to give an injection. This may be done by cutting a notch around the one end of the elder, then fill your bladder with soap suds or oil, next tie the bladder on the end of the elder you have notched, firmly, and introduce the elder into the fundament, and then you can force the suds into the fundament easily by pressing on the bladder. You should in all cases where there is great danger of losing your horse, give injections and continue to repeat them until they operate. There are many cases in colics that the horse is bound or corked, this can be perceived by the horse trying frequently or straining to dung; when this does occur it is very dangerous and you must in these cases give large doses of aloes and glyster freely, repeating until you get it to operate. If you fail to get an operation you will lose your horse. Preparation for glystering: Take warm water and make a suds with soap, add thereto epsom salts, and in some cases you may add ½ oz. aloes. Fish oil is a very good article of itself; from a pint to a quart for one injection. I have known 1 pint of fish oil to be given as a drench in colic, and has relieved where all other remedies have failed.
I will here state that there are more horses killed by medicine improperly given than ever was cured. For this reason, the great majority of owners of horses and in fact a great many farriers who pretend to know, do not know what the disease is, and next is a dose of medicine and perhaps in less than half an hour the horse drops down dead, and why, because in many cases the medicine given for the disease, is the dose that poisons or kills him, from the fact that he was mistaken in the disease, or given medicine for one disease when it was another. Therefore, I here again assert that no man has any right to give medicine until he fully ascertains what the disease is. This he can easily get at if he will pay some attention to the symptoms which are so plainly described in this work. As soon as your horse commences to complain, watch him closely and you will find him to point out to you plainly what the disease is, and you will find the horse to point it out to a hair’s breadth as I have described it to you.
Why is it that men will toil and labor hard through the summer’s heat, and expose themselves to the extreme cold in winter, and at the end of the year perhaps, will lose more in horse flesh than they have made. Millions of dollars are lost yearly in horses and a great part of it for the want of carefulness and paying some attention to the diseases of the horse, which costs no man any hard labor or exposure. Let me urge upon you the importance of reading this work over again and again, paying attention to it as you peruse it over, and you will find it gives you such information as each and every person should have for his own interest. I will here state that an ounce of preventative is a great deal better than a pound of cure. Many diseases might be prevented by being cautious in their treatment to horses and keeping them in a healthy condition. This should be done by using the celebrated horse powders on page [60], twice a year, fall and spring. Say you feed from 1 to 1½ pounds to each horse, each time, fall and spring. If you adopt this once you will never depart from it afterward, as you will find it to be a preventative of diseases and will find so much improvement in your stock that you will not depart from it. Every man that has a horse should habit himself to sprinkle a little salt on the feed every time he feeds his horse. The salt is nourishing and is just as much needed in the horse’s food every meal as it is needed on the food that a man eats.
The Inflammation of the Lungs is another dangerous disease. It is becoming to be a common disease among horses, and carries off its thousands, simply because it is at first a sneaking disease; the farmer and owner thinks very little of it when it first makes its appearance, and the truth is there are very few persons who know anything about the disease, and if it is suffered to run over the third day, you might as well take the horse out where you want him to die; yet, with all its danger and certainty of death if neglected, there is not a disease which is plainer in its symptoms or is pointed out plainer by the horse than in this disease. It is impossible to be mistaken in this disease if you but pay the least attention to it, and is easily conquered if taken in time. In this disease the foxglove, tartar emetic and nitre should be used twice or thrice a day, as directed in Inflammation of the Lungs.
Bots is another which is very dangerous when they take hold. Feed the Celebrated Horse Powders, as directed and use plenty of salt and you will not have one case in a thousand of Bots.
If you want the best Lotion in the world for fresh or old wounds on horses, turn to page [70], there you will find it, Tincture of Aloes and Myhr; if you want to cure the Ringbone or Spavin, turn to page [71], and you will find it; if you want to cure the Blood or Bog Spavin, turn to page [68]; if you want a Lotion for to cure the Scratches in a few days, turn to page [64]; if you want a Lotion for Sprains, Bruises, Swellings, &c., turn to page [63]; if you want a certain remedy for Sweaney, turn to page [74]; if you want to see the List of Medicines used in the diseases of horses, you will find them from pages [93 to 108], giving their medical properties and uses.
I will here name a few Domestic Medicines, Receipts, &c., and would urge every person and family to make use of them and keep them on hand, as they have proven to be very valuable and will do what they are recommended to do. Dr. Wickey’s Cholera Medicine cannot be surpassed for cholera, cholera morbus, diarrhœa, summer complaint, looseness of the bowels, sickness of the stomach, cramp colic, flux, &c. This Medicine is easily prepared and will keep for many years if made out of good brandy. There is not any Medicine now in use that will give the same amount of satisfaction as this, and it is perfectly safe and harmless, as it is purely vegetable, see page [148].
Prof. Biddle’s preparation for the hair and head will positively cure the tetter or any itching or humor of the skin, will prevent the hair from falling off, and has restored more hair than any other hair restorative ever introduced, see page [174].