Riding for Ladies: With Hints on the Stable

by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue

I feel that I ought, before passing to another portion of my subject, to repeat my warning concerning undue physicking. A tendency to inflammation is repeatedly developed by it, and its evils are in every way both many and great. It should be borne in mind that well-made bran-mashes are the safest and most effectual of all laxatives, and that any desired condition of the bowels may be induced by regulating the number and frequency of them. When not too often repeated they act mildly, without inducing any of that bodily discomfort or constitutional weakness which throws the animal out of condition, and renders complete rest an absolute necessity for recovery.

Blistering is a very common recipe for a variety of ills. About once in every score of cases in which it is tried the result proves that the experiment was justifiable—yet, it cannot be denied that there are times at which the remedy may in every way be suited to the disease. Blisters are, however, far too powerfully compounded; instead of being so severe as to take off hair and skin together, they ought to be diluted with quite three times their bulk of either soap-solution or bland oil. To fire an animal and then blister him is a piece of barbarity which no educated or feeling person would ever permit. Fancy searing the legs of a timid creature with a fiery iron, and then setting a man with a coarse rough hand to rub into the raw and quivering flesh the fearful blistering substances which are unfortunately in only too common use. No wonder that the sufferer moans in its agonies, and paws the earth, and sweats and shivers from the extremity of its torture; and after all, if people will only believe it, the treatment is (for any and every evil) most palpably wrong. Simultaneous firing and blistering cannot effect good, except in the opinion of ignorant grooms and farriers; therefore, such unspeakable cruelty ought never to be permitted.

It should be remembered, when blistering, that the action of the remedy depends more on the amount of friction employed in applying the agent, than on the bulk of vesicatory stuff employed. Brisk rubbing will be highly beneficial, but roughness may well be dispensed with—and adjacent tender places should be previously covered with a layer of simple cerate, which will be a wise as well as a merciful precaution. A little at a time, also, of the blistering fluid should be rubbed on; if there is too much it is apt to run upon parts that may be injured by its agency. A blistered horse should be as mercifully cared, and as gently treated during healing time, as a human patient. How earnestly do I wish that I could impress this upon persons who, without really meaning to be cruel, are so, through carelessness, or lack of striving not to be.

Bleeding is another matter concerning which horse-owners ought to be cautious about placing too much confidence in grooms. If the blood-can is made to contain two gallons—which most of them are—the groom will, ten to one, drain the animal to fill it, or very nearly so, whereas the loss of a quart of blood would probably be quite enough for him to sustain. Horses are very generally bled after coming in from grass, when they look fat and full-bellied; but I do not consider it a wise proceeding. As a rule, it is far better not to bleed at all without the advice of a competent V.S., and few of the better educated of the profession will be found very often advocating it.

When a horse must be bled, see that his eyes are efficiently bandaged, in order that he may not start when the wound is about to be given. Make use of a fleam in place of a lancet; it is better and more effectual, for it does not inflict a cut of unnecessary dimensions, as the lancet (if at all unskilfully handled) occasionally does. When the proper quantity of blood has been extracted, remove the pressure, and as soon as the flow ceases, prepare to pin up. This is rather a nice operation, but I have seen a lady perform it quite as well as any V.S. The wound should be left open until the lips of it become sticky; then all hairs must be most carefully removed, the sides of the incision brought together with the greatest nicety, and closed by a twisted suture, a thing which I have made successfully in the following way: first running a pin through the integument at each side of the wound, and then twisting a strong silk thread round its either extremity, after the fashion of the figure 8 turned on its side—thus, ∞. I have stopped the bleeding from a wound received in the hunting-field by extemporising this kind of suture, and using a hair pulled from the horse’s tail, in place of a silk thread.

When the wound has so far united as to justify the removal of the pin, the patient should be so placed that he cannot rub the part, and should be fed on nourishing and readily-digested food.

Slings form an excellent support for a horse that is not meant to lie down. The apparatus consists of a broad canvas belt that goes under the belly, extending from the points of the elbows backwards; there is a supporting shaft at each extremity, to which the suspending ropes (carried from either roof or stall posts) are attached; a breast-strap and breeching keep the belt in its place. The horse is not really suspended at all. When he is disposed to rest his legs, he has only to bend them, and the belt receives his weight: when tired of its support he again stands on his feet. The breeching for this should be very strong and broad, and the belt well stuffed, and stitched like a mattress.

Fomentations are usually not half carried out by grooms. If, say, a leg is to be fomented, a pailful of thoroughly hot water ought to be employed, and the horse’s foot put down into it; the water should then be laved through a large sponge, as high as the shoulder, and allowed to run down over the entire limb. This process should be carried on for at least half an hour, renewing the water as quickly as it cools. If a poultice or bandage is to be applied after the fomentation, it should be done immediately, before the leg has time to grow cold.

Poultices should be large, moist, and warm, and ought never to be tied too tightly on the affected part. A good poultice will not need to be changed for twenty-four hours.

Having thus described a few appliances for remedying sickness and wounds, I proceed to say a word or two about the commoner forms of ailments—such, for instance, as are most calculated to need amateur doctoring, and to bring the foregoing remedies into requisition.