k

I

i

TREATISE ON THE HORSE

ITS

DISEASES, LAMENESS, AND IMPROVEMENT;

In which is laid down the proper Method of

SHOEING

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FEET.

Also, some new Observations on the

ART AND PRACTICE OF FARRIERY;

AND ON THE

NATURE AND DIFFERENCE IN THE SEVERAL BREEDS OF SPEEDY
HORSES.

By WILLIAM OSMER,

Veterinary Surgeon, and many Years Shoeing Smith in Blenheim-
street, Bond-street.

FIFTH EDITION,

NEWLY RE-WRITTEN, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS,

By J. HINDS, V. S.

Author of the Grooms' Oracle, Veterinaiy Surgery, &c.

LONDON :

PRINTED FOR THE EDITOR; FOR
SHERWOOD, GILBERT AND PIPER, PATERNOSTER-ROW ;
IIURST, CHANCE AND CO. ST. PAUL's-CHURCH-YARD ;
AND WHITTAKER, TREACHER AN D CO. AVE-M ARIA-LAN E.

1830.

MAaCIUNT, PRINTER, ING RAM-COURT.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

TREATS OF LAMENESS ; ITS VARIOUS CAUSES AND
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS, CHIEFLY AS
REGARDS shoeing; WITH THE REMEDIES, AND
APPLICATIONS PROPER TO EVERY SUCH ILL.

Introduction , ' Page 1

Chap. I. The Principles of Shoeing 3

- II. Of adapting the Shoe to the Structure of the Foot 14

- III. Particular Directions for shoeing rightly 19

- IV. Of iJameness, produced by shoeing, principally ;

and Treatment of the Hoof 28

-- v. Of Lameness from various causes 37

- VI. Medical and Surgical Treatment of Lameness ;

Prescriptions and Stable Management 47

PART II.

OF SURGICAL OPERATIONS AND APPLICATIONS.
ChaIp. I. The Nature and Treatment of Wounds 72

- II. Further Surgical Operations , 81

PART III.

DISEASES OF THE CONSTITUTION.
Chap. I. Fever ; Distemper ; Staggers ; Tumours. ....... 85

- II. Observations on Malignant Fever and Epidemy ;

Symptoms and Cure 103

- III. Diseases arising from imperfect Secretions — the

Bile, the Humours, &c 112

- IV. Treats of Disorders arising out of a vitiated State

of the Blood, or that are aggravated thereby ;
of Physicking, the Botts, &c , 121

- V. Treats more particularly of the Remedies before

prescribed ; suggests Variations, and recapitu-
lates the new Doctrines laid down in the pre-
ceeding Chapters 153

a2

iv

CONTENTS.

PART IV.

TREATS ON THE ORIGINAL BREEDS OF HORSES,
WHENCE PACE AND LENGTH ARE TO BE DERIVED;
AND WHAT LITTLE RELIANCE IS TO BE PLACED
ON MERE BLOOD, — TRUE SHAPE AND MAKE
BEING WANTING.
Chap. I. Introduction, by Mr. Hinds, as to what constitutes
the Blood Horse, Thorough-bred, or Racer.
Of Arabs; Qualities of Blood; Barbs, Turks,
English Horse and Flemish 165

- II. No innate Qualities in the Horses which Sports-

men call Blood 190

- III. Further Reasons and Proofs how indispensable is

true Form to Running, and what that Form is. .216

Vocabulary of Hard Words 256

Index of principal matters, by way of Analysis ^^^.^^^^i^jh^S

PLATES.

I.— To face Page 120.

Fig. 1. Strangulated Gut, causing Dry Gripes," or In-
flammation, and certain Death Page 121-128

- 2. Osmer's seated Shoe. — See Index — Shoe.

- 3. Puncturing Instrument 69

- 4. (a) Screw Calken ; (b ) Key for Screwing and un-

screwing the Calkens 2S

II. The several Breeds of Horses.— To /ace the Title.

Fig. 1. Arabian.

- 2. Barb.

- 3. Turk.

- 4. English Horse.

- 5. Flemish and Lincolnshire.

%* In the back-ground is the Scenery of the Countries whence
the Breeds are derived, respectively.

PREFAGE.

Here is another of those books on the Horse^ which he who
runs may read, and all who read can understand.

The sale of three impressions of his Treatise
during the Author's lifetime, and the subsequent
publication of a fourth, would be sufficient to
obtain for it the character of being an estimable
performance, even though it possessed n,o higher
claim upon our respect, our gratitude, and
admiration. Evidently derived from practice and
close observation — as appears from intrinsic evi-
dence, and sundry candid avowals, we were
lately led to express some surprise, that the
zeal for the welfare of the Horse_, which was
so loudly manifested thirty-five years ago (if sin-
cere) had induced none of the Members of the
College then established, to modernise Osmer on
Diseases and Shoeing, for the general instruction,
as is this day done. This more especially, as very
many of them have produced books, assuming-
originality, upon the same topics, in which they
have made free use of his doctrines and adopted

vi

PREFACE.

his terms, copying even his phraseology in many
instances — but nearly all without due acknowledge-
ment. Of about a dozen of these College-bred
authors which have come under my notice, with
some who were otherwise educated, scarcely two
have escaped detection. From this censure, I see
no reason for excluding the names of White,
Coleman, Lawrence, Goodwin, Blaine,* to say
nothing of the minors. One alone, and he anony-
mously, recently paid the just tribute of respect to
our author, by reprinting a portion of the third
edition, in successive numbers of his useful periodi-
cal publication (the Farrier and Naturalist) and
thus brought Osmer's work under notice, in a
manner that deserves our thanks. Another perio-
dical writer, of some power and much intelligence,
though no farrier, often pays homage to the
talents of Osmer in his communications to the
Sporting Magazines. The first mentioned gave
the authors words throughout ; the latter adopts
his ideas, his opinions,, and generalities ; nor

* This gentleman's very able work I have glanced at but ca-
sually ; not because the author was without a College certi-
ficate [diploma !] but perhaps its great bulk. He is accused
by John Lawrence of having copied from Osmer's Treatise, what
he afterwards gave the world as " a discovery of his own."
So stated in White's Compendium, page 346, edit. 10th. Mr.
Blaine is not alone : his poor accuser is wofuUy in the same
predicament; and the Professor at Pancras eminently so.

PREFACE,

vii

could either do better, let us allow, for the instruc-
tion of their readers, respectively. What is equally
deferential to our author's talents, he was abused
(in common with several others) by Taplin; a
suflScient eulogy, even though that verbose person
had not drawn largely from this Treatise ; nor was
it less so, when the ruffian afterwards lowered the
tone of his asperities, that being the course usually
followed by such characters.

The teachableness of Osmer's manner, when he
chooses to dilate, as he does on any topic that he
desires to enforce ; his originality ; his tact for the
thing ; his practically-acquired knowledge — alto-
gether combined to render his Treatise a source of
valuable instruction to the ardent professional in-
quirer, who could wade through the rich unarranged
materials of his three hundred pages, untired.
Why the volume ceased to interest the generality
of purchasers, needs no other explanation than a
slight comparison of this edition — its divisions, and
subdivisions, its head-lines and sub-heads, with the
former editions. What else could have consigned
to the back ground his excellent chapter on
Shoeing? the leading points of which have been
subsequently adopted into practice at the Pancras
College ; there made the ground-work of an intro-
ductory volume in quarto, by Professor Coleman,
and of a better one in octavo, by Mr. Goodwin, as

vm

PREFACE.

it had been, at a period much nearer the author's
own era, by James Clark, of Edinburgh.*

Besides the valuable and never-to-be-forgotten
information contained in Osmer's chapters ON
Lameness, whether produced by bad shoeing,
by accidents, or brought about by constitutional
defects, what else is there of the new or the erudite
to be found (after thirty-five years of its ** infancy")
at the poor degraded College, or its products^ living
and dead?f In the catalogue of plagiarisms —
to which the reader may turn at once, by help of
the Index — we find comprised the whole of Cole-
man's, the Clarks', and White's most vaunted claims
upon the admiration of posterity : viz. Compression
of the Sole, Navicular Disease, Injury of the
Coffin-bone, Dislocation of the Coffin-joint, Ossi-

* James Clark says, somewhat iincandidlj', in his second
volume (on Shoeing) " This method of shoeing I have followed
before Mr. Osmer's Treatise on that subject was published, and
for these several years past have endeavoured to introduce it
into practice/' page 58. Those endeavours" appear to have
extended over a space of twenty years — if used at all.

f I have nothing whatever to do with their squabbles, inter
se ; but, as the catjumps^ we can plainly perceive that an excel-
lent public institution, in theory, which costs us a large sum of
money annually, is practically converted to private purposes ;
whilst the pupils are confessedly taught but half their future
trade, and the public are cajoled with assumed " discoveries"
and " cures" of incurable disorders ; the former derived from
Osmer, mostly, — the latter consist of rank charlatanerie.

PREFACE.

is

fication of its Processes, Contracted Heels, Frog-
pressure, Short Shoes, Construction of Stables
and Management, Structure of the Foot and of
Horn, the Botts question. Expansion Shoe, &c.
&c. As before said, the terms of art applied by
Osmer have been adopted, necessarily, in most
cases; the only instance to the contrary being so
done with very bad taste: his '* coffin-bone," or as
he once termed it, " the coronary bone," having
been re-baptised small pastern y by Coleman and his
scholars f — save the mark ! That I followed the ge-
neral corruption, is attributable to my desire to avoid
cavilling at trifles, and my early intercourse with
WhitCy — as explained elsewhere. To the last-men-
tioned amiable man and excellent chymist I owe the
error (among others) once promulged by me, of Mr.
Coleman being '* the discoverer of the functions of
the coronary ring ;" whereas, the professor appears
never to have discovered any thing whatever, except
in the volume of William Osmer. Even the iet^m
** Iron defence," as most intelligibly applied to the
horse-shoe, and upon which I took occasion to
observe (in Veterinary Surgeon, page 471, of the
first edition), '* whoever termed the horse-shoe an
iron defence was a happy fellow, and deserves well
at our hands." See the whole passage at page
488 of the second edition of Veterinary Suryei-y.
This term, also, we owe to the same Osmer.
The Distemper is another of those topics

X

PREFACE.

which our author thought worthy of extended
observation ; even before the series of new experi-
ments, deductions, and conclusions, the reader will
find occupying pages 103 to 112, gave to this
part of his subject that character of research and
successful practice it so eminently exhibits. The
admirable candour he displays at various parts of
the volume, shewing the progress of his discoveries,
is, in this respect, carried to its utmost, when he
allows that he was at first deceived by the variable
attacks of this appalling epidemic, and, in common
with many others, had destroyed several horses
through ignorance of the distinguishing symptoms,
set down at pages 104-106. On this, as on many
other divisions of his subject, how refreshing are
his histories of the cases that came under his care ! —
for example, pages 88, 89, 116, &c.

Heat, he insists, is the primary cause of all con-
stitutional diseases in the Horse, by the vitiation it
causes, when too great, of the healthy secretions we
consent to call ** the humours.* A tendency to

* In the Grooms' Oracle (page 5) one of the parties to the
didlogue replies, to an inquiry of the otlier, that " Inordinate
" heat, occasioned by the great exertions the animal is com-
" pelled to make, is the cause of disorders ; and, when excessive,
" the bad effects thereof descending to the feet and legs, we in-

variably find these affected," &c. Quoting this passage, a cer-
tain would-be critic, without the ability or the power to disprove
this self-evident proposition, exclaims, in extatic ignorance of
the matter — " Hide your diminished heads, ye Clines, ye

PREFACE.

XL

Fever, or inflammation, is thence deduced as the
besetting disorder of all horses ; and its subsidence
the cause of numerous afflictions befalling the limbs,
each of which receives a distinct name, as they
chance to appear in this or that form, or part
thereof. To meet the numerous evils thence
resulting, the neutral Salts, in its several prepa-
rations (page 154), is his uniform panacea, as
a preventive always, and as an alterative cu-
rative in many cases. On this head, I am free
to confess, the trial of a few months having proved
that our author is correct in this as in nearly every
other view he has taken of the practice of Veteri-
nary Medicine, I no longer hesitated to become a
latent convert to his Salt doctrine, even whilst this
book was at press; and the reader who may be em-
bued with sufficient acumen, may trace the progress
of this conversion, by turning to page 90, notej and
then comparing this with the introductory passage
to Chap. v. Part iii. at page 153.

" Coopers, &c. &c." Well, so let them hide, and seek also,
ere they find out the truth ; for their knowledge of hwses is
even less than that of the critic, Percivall Youatt, as that of all
the parties mentioned in this preface, when united, is below
that of William Osmer. As regards the most eminent among
those human Surgeons, whom Mr. Percivall Youatt invokes, this
defect was already shewn at page 241, of Veterinary Surgery,
and is further corroborated in the present volume, page 170.
And as to what their master (Osmer) thought on the subject, they
may profitably study pages 100 to 116 of the present Treatise.

PREFACE.

How it happened that I was thus tardy in ac-
ceding to Osmer's salt practice may be instructively
told. In my memoranda, under date of July, 1802,
I find noted an experiment made with 10 oz. of
Epsom salts, given as purging physic to a horse of
Mr. Robson, in Little Britain, by Mr. James White j
our mutual friend, Mr. Badcock, being present."*
We were then in search of the most eligible purg-
ing physic, under a variety of circumstances, and
had tried, ineffectually, jalap, rhubarb, &c. The
salts were likewise a failure ; this dose producing

* This is the same whom Mr. Percivcdl speaks of elsewhere
as " a Mr. Badcock," though they had dealings together from
1806 to 1821, both inclusive, and frequently. As to his not
finding my name in his list of Veterinary Surgeons, that is a
negation which might afflict any one with clearer perception
than 3Ir. Percivall can boast of, without his mental assistant^ for ,
his own name does not appear in the largest list of Veterinary
Surgeon, that I and my assistant, Mr. Badcock, can find in
London : neither does the name of his assistant, Mr. Vouatt,
appear any where whatever, unless this be on his own gateway j
nor would he deem it any honour I believe, but the contrary,
to see his name enrolled with those of Coleman, Sewell, &i.c.
Besides all this, at a meeting of the profession in 1829, Mr.
Percivall was told, from the chair, that " neither he or they had
any right to arrogate to themselves the title of Veterinary
Surgeons, exclusive of other gentlemen, who chose to study the
Art, with the requisite means of doing so eflTectually." — Vide
the address of 3Ir. Fenwick, in the chair, at Freemasons'
Tavern, July 8th ; who subsequently told the meeting, that he
was himself" the son of a Farrier of the old school;" yet no
one ranks higher in practice than Mr. Fenwick.

PREFACE.

Xlll

only a thin watery stool, or two, and that by no
means copious : a repetition of the experiment was
from that moment abandoned. In addition, I do
not blush to own, that this is not the only instance
in which I have found it necessary to retrace my
steps upon reading Osmer's Treatise : the cause of
cutting is the most prominent of these self-correc-
tions, effected by this volume on my practice of
veterinary medicine. In making these avowals, I
do not take credit for any great exertion of candour
or justice ; for it has been my practice from the
beginning of my studies, (a period long antecedent
to the advent of St. Bel,) to get rid of errors, with-
out making a parade of the circumstance; but I do
expect something better than silent commendation
for having hesitated to recommend asserted reme-
dies, as to the actual utility whereof I was myself
yet unsatisfied.

Why the profession have not adopted the neutral
salts in their practice, or why they have not recom-
mended the free employment of the marine salt, as
a preventive, is unaccountable by any other scale
than sordid lucre amounts to, and the abridgement
their fees would necessarily undergo by the change
which would thus be effected in the general health
of their patients. Than do this, they might almost
as badly conspire together to recommend the present
volume to the perusal of their customers, to the evi-

xiv

PREFACE.

dent curtailment of those fees in one description of
practitioners, and in another the utter derangement
of their quack nostrum trade.

Another reason why justice has not been done
our Author, by reprinting his work, will be found
in the apparent want of practicability in the old
editions, for the use of the general reader ; who,
with the book in his hand, could not turn to any
given topic upon which he might require informa-
tion, for want of that mechanical arrangement, so
common and so necessary in the modern books of
instruction. In like manner, his prescriptions
were of the antiquated forms, and to some young
drug venders, acquainted only with the modern
nomenclature, and '* the last Pharmacopeia," I
ascertained, were found perfectly unintelligible.
The brevity, too, with which particular diseases
were treated, the classification of many under few
heads, and the mode of effecting the cure by gene-
ralities, however much to be prized by scientific per-
sons, were, nevertheless, so many obstacles to its full
reception by the public. Of some affections of the
horse he took no notice whatever, or dismissed sum-
marily, in the recapitulation of the causes, symptoms,
and cure of several together, and piqued himself
on ** the time he had thus saved himself and the
reader.'* (See the whole of page 158, &c.)

But, in all these lapses, much is to be excused

PREFACE.

XV

on the score of the different circumstances under
which Osmer wrote, and the public mind he then
instructed, as compared with the present state
of education and present practices; besides that
powerful one of his being the compounder and
vender of his own prescriptions, according to the
practice that then prevailed generally, as it does
now partially; whereby we perceive that a hint, or
general idea, of the state of a patient would be
quite sufficient information for the owner who
might live within range of the prescriber's resi-
dence, where the medicine would be found ready
made up. Add to all this, the author's manner
of teaching was abrupt and short, wanting those
suavities and expletives which soften the rigour of
style, and invite the reader to a cordial interview:
they were the faults of the age in which he lived,
and would no doubt have received the correction
which modern lights give, had Osmer survived to
the present moment.

I have then, by a small effort of the imagination,
supposed our author still among us, and asking
my help towards modernizing his volume, without
hurting the sense, but giving to such passages as
required it those expletives, and that elongation, or
carrying out the evident first intention of primitive
ideas, as he himself would have applied were the
work to do over again. For these liberties, I

xvi

PREFACE.

offer no apology: if they be not judicious, I ask
not applause; if not requisite, I deserve blame;
if impertinent, pity. Beyond these I have adven-
tured some additions to the text, that are marked
with the bracket, thus [ ; in two instances they are
long, as the notes are many; and all are submitted
to the same public ordeal as every other original
composition.

My own partiality for this author, which was
suddenly lighted up in June last, may be distinctly
enough traced to its source, by any one who will
take the trouble to compare certain opinions main-
tained in common by Osmer and myself, as the
Humours, Mechanics, &c. and other minor coin-
cidences that are not a little remarkable, which
had already received place in my Veterinary Sur-
gery. The ardency of this attachment, as well as
its sincerity, may be estimated by the reader's
turning to the last page of that publication, by which
it will be seen, that I have been induced to lay
aside for a time a much more extensive work upon
which I was then engaged, \yiz. a Dictionary,]
that I might give to this interesting volume its
present dress.

Up to this moment I have had in view the first
three parts only of Osmer s Treatise; of the
fourth, on improving the breed of speedy horses,
I make no commentary, nor affect any plaudits : I

PREFACE.

xvii

have abridged some redundancies, and added what
of novelty the subject appeared to require. More
might have been done for the author, had I
been so inclined ; less would not suffice to satisfy
me I had fulfilled my first intention of rendering
his work acceptable to the public ; and, further, I
promise myself that much good will be effected by
diffusing generally, in print, the points in breeding
(see Index) that appear to me worthy of strict
attention, but which hitherto may probably have
floated about orally, or was received and acted
upon without investigation — certainly without any
fixed principles.

If it be remarked that, in this book, certain
subjects (diseases) have been treated of which
were already handled in my former volume of

Veterinary Surgery" pretty much at large, let it be
known, in reply, that most of these are professedly
passed over by Osmer with bare mention of the
name, which I have there entered upon in full detail,
according to modern practice. Less than twenty
pages will comprise the whole of this apparent re-
petition ; and, though we could not fail to arrive at
the same conclusion as to the treatment, in nine
cases out of ten, yet this course has been taken by
quite a different route, and present different views
of the progress of each attack. In truth, I have
given quite a new turn to the mode of instruction

xviii

PREFACE.

here pursued, from that which I followed in my
larger work ; and the horse-owner who refers to
both books on any emergency, will place himself in
the same position as the human patient who consults
two doctors: would the reader " call in" a third?
let him send for James White's book, hut not one
of the last editions^ as these have been distorted
by some unhallowed hand.

J. HINDS.

Bridport'place, Jan. 16. 1830.

N.B. The Dictionary alluded to at page xvi. was announced
nearly in the following terms :

In March, 1830, will be published, by the same Author,
and of the same size,

A NEW AND COMPLETE

DICTIONARY OF THE VETERINARY ART;

In which the Terms employed by various Writers, and the re-
spective orders of practitioners are explained, under their
popular and scientific acceptations : as are, also, the usages,
remedies, prescriptions, varied regimen, applications (topical
and potential), bandagings, operations, Materia Medica, &c. in
the modern practice of Farriery and Horse Keeping: compiled
with a view to practical results only, and their employment in
the cure or mitigation of diseases in horses, dogs, horned cattle,
sheep, and swine.

The whole offering the means of ready reference to every
topic connected with brute-animal economy in health and
disease, in accidents, inflictions, work, and management; as
to comforts, privation, feeding, reproduction, and culture ; but
divested of controversy, doubts and jarring of opinions, and
offering only the best and readiest modes of meeting derange-
ments of the animal system, and amending defects, of curing
disorders, and avoiding error.

>

CONVERSATIONS ON CONDITIONING.

Shortly will be published, in one Volume, price Is.,
with an elegant Frontispiece,
THE SECOND EDITION, IMPROVED, OF

THE GROOMS' ORACLE, and Pocket

Stable Directory, in which the Management of Horses- gene-
rally, as to Health, Dieting, and Exercise, is considered, in
a Series of familiar Dialogues between Two Grooms who are
engaged in Training Horses to their Work. With Notes, and
an Appendix ; including extracts from the Receipt Book of
JOHN HINDS, V.S.

AUTHOR OF VETERINARY SURGERY, &C.
Published by Sherwood & Co. j Hurst & Co.; and Whittaker & Co.

OPINIONS OF THE JUDGES ON THIS WORK.

*** Where commendation is general and uncontradicted, no more
need be said, in ordinary cases ; but vanity, if not interest and the
consciousness of having laboured to a good purpose, superinduce the
subsequent quotations from contemporary writers.

The Sporting Magazine for May, 1829, expresses its surprise that
hitherto '* no Stable Guide, addressed to the capacity of servants,
should have issued from the press. All the old books of farriery, from
their stiffness, failed to instruct as they ought ; but in this volume
the matters treated of, independent of the manner in which it is
executed, is much to be commended. We no where discern a wish
on the part of the Authors to display fine learning ; but, on the con-
trary, they render topics of the most difficult nature perfectly in-
telligible to the meanest capacities. As to the points upon which
they converse, we discover none omitted that could be desirable to
the practical horse-keeper or owner, — the most common-place that
may be known to every trainer of eminence, in part or in the whole,
being brought forth in a pleasing^and truly instructive manner, for the
benefit of the less-expert and junior persons. But we must quit
The Oracle by recommending it to the notice of those for whom it
was specially compiled." Pages 34 — 6.

** Mr. J. Hinds' Grooms' Oracle not only comprehends every kind
of information relating to the diseases of a horse, but gives ample and
admirable directions how that noble animal should be treated, so as
to obviate disease in every variety of service in which it may be em-
ployed." Vide Taunton Courier, April 8, 1829.

** The matter taught, we are fain of believe, is of the utmost im-
portance to the well-being of horses of every description, and of the
higher bred cattle in particular ; the object of the speakers being to
talk of training horses into fit condition for getting through their work
in style — Whether that be of the Turf, the Chase, or the Road. As
usual iu works of this nature, amidst much that is quite new infor-

tnation, there is a good deal of intelligence, that is known to all
Training Grooms, as 1st. The mode ot\ keeping down flesh whilst
keeping up the «<amino; 2d. Of putting pace into the horse ; 3d. Of
improving his stretch and form of going, as well as sustaining his
lasting qualities." Vide Age, March 22.

The Weekly Dispatch, sporting newspaper, goes on with its obser-
vations on the state of the Veterinary Art, — thus, " the immense
advantages of post mortem examinations is evident to all but the
meanest capacity, and was strenuously insisted upon in the Authors'
former volume, as it is again in this Grooms' Oracle, in more familiar
terms. If the practice of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery is thus
in a fair way of being disclosed to vulgar eyes, and laid open to the
comprehension of ordinary minds, no less so is the Art of Training
horses into condition for every species of work here placed in a more
just and rational light than we have hitherto been in the habit of
hearing and seeing the subject treated. By the way, we are very
much mistaken if the giooms' employers may not derive as much
pleasure and profit from the perusal of these Conversations as the
class of persons for whose use the volume appears to have been
ostensibly designed." Vide March 15, 1829.

Also, by the same Author,
The Second Edition, enlarged, price 12s. in red,

VETERINARY SURGERY

AND

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE;

OR,

TAUGHT ON A NEW PLAN,

Being a FAMILIAR Treatise on all the Diseases and Accidents to
which the Horse is liable ; the cause and symptoms of each, and the
most approved remedies employed for the cure in every case ; with
Instructions to _the Shoeing-Smith, Farrier, and Groom, how to
acquire knowledge in the art of Farriery, and the Prevention of
Diseases. Preceded by a popular Description of the organs of life,
and animal functions in health, and showing the principles on which
these are to be restored when disordered.

Printed for the Author; and for Whittaker and Co. Ave-Maria-
lane, 1829.

' N.B. This is the only BOOK of FARRIERY ever published wherein
the principle upon which diseases are incurred is taught, hand in
hand, with the practice of curing them ; or, that ever yet attempted
to show distinctly, and within the comprehension of all descriptions
of persons, the Causes, the Symptoms, and the Remedies proper in
each separate disorder of the Horse.

TREATISE ON THE HORSE;

ITS

DISEASES, LAMENESS, AND IMPROVEMENT.

PART I.

Treats of Lameness ; its various Causes and Dis-
tinguishing Characteristics, principally as re-
gards Shoeing ; with the Remedies, and Appli-
cations proper to every ill.

Introduction. — I am rather afraid the people
who profess the art of shoeing will be much
offended with this and the succeeding chapters ; in-
asmuch, as I herein propose to instruct them in
their business, in which each assumes to be the
most expert of his fellow workmen^ — but, suhjudice
lis est.

From the time that horse-shoeing was first prac-
tised as a separate trade, the same vanity and self-
conceit seem to have universally characterized the
smithy ; for, when a gentleman desires to have his
horse shod, according to his own mind, it is a gene-

B

2 SHOEING SMITHS DEPRECATED; [Parti,

ral saying among those men, that they do not want
to be taught their trade ; which is as much as to
say, in other words, there is nothing to be learned
in their art, or ever will be, but what they are
already acquainted with^ A similar complaint was
raised against the same headstrong conduct, by
the earliest writers on this subject, who quote time
immemorial for the charge ; and what is deserving
particular notice is this — there is not one of those
artists, how much soever they nray differ from each
other, but gives the same answer, under the im-
pression that every one knows infinitely more than
any of his neighbours, at least, if not as much as
all the world besides. What is more, the same un-
amiable propensity threatens to annoy the teachers'
endeavours for several ages to come.

It has been a well-received maxim among wise
men of all ages, who have investigated such sub-
jects, that nature has created nothing in vain ; and
the saying has been repeated by twenty authors or
more, insomuch that reasonable people, of what-
ever persuasion in other respects, agree that nature
should be the guide in all our operations upon the
horse, and that of shoeing among the rest. But,
if you ask one of those artists, or artizans, his
reasons for acting in this or that particular manner,
or should inquire of him tlie use of any part of the
animal, as, whether to it has been assigned some
given functions or office to perform ? he can give
you no answer to the question ; nor does he even
pretend to have any knowledge thereof, but is

Chap, I.] NOT WELL INSTRUCTED.

3

guided by custom alone. Hence, those who reason
over such subjects, necessarily conclude, that many
errors have arisen in the practice of this art ; and
that the artists have no just cause of offence, when
any information is offered to their notice, coming
from any quarter whatever.

Be that as it may, my intention is, in the first
four chapters, to explain the original design, and
proper manner of shoeing horses ; which will bring
me to consider the uses and abuses introduced
into the art, and its evil effects, as well as lame-
nesses produced from other causes; all which I
propose to perform as clearly and concisely as I
can, so that every man of common capacity may be
able to judge for himself in these matters, that
every one allows is of no small moment to the
well-being and prosperity of the horse, in what-
ever service he may be employed^ — whether drag-
ging the produce of the land for our comfort, or
gallopping after a chase for our recreation, or run-
ning a race for our profit.

CHAPTER I.

Principles of Shoeing,
Natural defence. — When time was young,
when the earth was in a state of nature, and turn-
pike-roads as yet were not known, the horse
needed not the aid of the shoeing smith, whom I

b2

4 THE NATURAL FOOT ; THE CRUST [Parti,

have termed an artist ; for the divine artist had
taken care to give his feet such a natural defence
as it pleased him to bestow ; and who among us is
weak enough to suppose, or so bold as to assert,
that this wisdom is not sufficient to the purpose, in
such a state ! But, to prevent all supposition and
cavil on this matter, let us only look around us,
and appeal to our senses : do we not every day see
horses, mares, and colts, running about on all sorts
of ground unshod, yet uninjured in their feet, for
they do not always take to the hardest ground when
at large ?

In many parts of the world to this very day, even
on the most stoney ground, horses are accustomed
to carry their riders unshod ; and in this kingdom, I
have known several horses that were rode for a
considerable time unshod, on the turnpike-roads
about London, without any injury being thereby
done to their feet ; though in these latter times this
practice is got into disuse, as the roads are become
harder, and the horse's services are more urgently re-
quired. Moreover, I durst believe, many of our
horses might travel their whole life-time, unshod, on
any road, if the crust of their feet were constantly
rasped round and short at the toe ; seeing that,
hereby, all feet exposed to contact with hard sub-
stances are thus induced to become more obdu-
rate (or inflexible), provided, at the same time, that
the sole be never pared. Whilst some feet by their
extraordinary fine form, depth, and strength, are
enabled to resist such roads with impunity, and to

Chap. /.] WEARS BUT LITTLE, UNSHOD. 5

support great weights without breaking. We shall
come presently to show how these qualities may
be impaired, or entirely lost, by bad management.

[At this place it is worth our while to stop and in-
quire whence the custom of shoeing horses arose, and
how it should prevail in one part of the world and
not in another. In Asia, the original country ot
the horse kind, they do not shoe their horses at all,
because the hoof acquires a tough and firm tex-
ture from the dryness of the soil, and really stand
in no need of any artificial defence. Further to
aid nature in the re-production of horn of the most
desirable texture and hardness, every horseman
carries a rasp to shorten the toe and take off" the
ragged of the quarters of the foot, which would
otherwise grow too luxuriant, and the crust would
most certainly split. On the other hand, horses
reared in the Netherlands, for example, or in our
Lincolnshire, on wet or moist lands and a humid
atmosphere, will naturally have a wider and
weaker foot, the consequence of its being replete
with cartilage, and therefore capable of contrac-
tion by heat, and of expansion by being exposed to
damp or wet.

Iron defence. — Seeing the great difference
that existed in the texture, or hardness of the
horn in horses' feet, man, in his wisdom — as the
surface of the earth changed, found himself obliged
to add another defence, besides the natural
one, to preserve the crust of such feet as were
•weak, and therefore not so well able to support

6

HARD HOOF; BRITTLE, SOFT. [Par/ J.

them against injuries from hard substances, as
stones, roads, &c. This was the iron defence"
we now term the shoe. From the good derived
out of this practice, so tried and proved on certain
kinds of feet, — though, it must be allowed, but a
partial good, after all, it is no wonder that the
custom of putting shoes on all kinds of feet became
general in some countries.

Our ancestors, the original shoers, proposed, in
their first efforts, nothing more, it is presumed,
than to preserve the crust or wall of the hoof from
breaking away, and thought themselves happy that
they had skill enough to accomplish so much. The
moderns, also, are wisely content with this lowest
quantity of the artificial defence, in regard to horser
racing, whereby pace, that constant desideratum,
was also Jjettered. But, io process of tTme, the
fertility of invention, and the vanity of mankind,
brought forth a variety of methods, almost all which
(ire productive of lameness ; and I am thoroughly
convinced, from close observation and long expe-
rience, that nineteen lame horses out of every
twenty iia this kingdom are lame of the artist;
which, again, is owing to the form of the shoe, to
his ignorance of the designs of nature, and conse-
quent improper treatment of the foot, every part
whereof was designed to answpr some useful pur-
pose, though it thus appears he does not happen to
know it.

JBut waving all that these modern artists know, or
do not know, I suppose it will be universally as-

Vhap» !•] COPY NATURE : THE WALL,. 7

sented to, that whatever method of shoeing ap-
proaches nearest to the law or design of nature,
such is likely to be the most perfect method ; and
as the feet of different horses differ from each other,
so, if we would arrive at any perfection in this art,
the human reason must be employed in discovering
whereia this difference consists, and in ascertaining
its degree, that each may be treated according to
its nature. And yet, with regard to each and aH,
some general rules may still be followed.

The foot, its component parts. — For tihe
sake of those who may be unacquainted with horses'
feet, and for their instruction, I shall now descrit>e
such parts of the foot as offer themselves to our
view, and come under our cognizance, as the im-
mediate and principal, objects of our care, when
the animal is intended to be shod. These are, the
outer sole, the crust, which like a wall surrounds
it,*" the frog, and bars on each side^ and the
spongy skin4ike substance* wtirch covers the iiinder
and cellular part of the foot, and constitutes the
heel of the horse. Of each of these, I wiU speak
in detail shortly.

With respect to the treatment of these several
parts, Mr. Lafosse (to whom the world is indebted
for many ingenious observations) has fidready laid

* This is the earliest mention we can find of the crnst or hoof
proper, being denominated the wall of the foot, a term which
has now become general among us. It was about the period
■when Osmer wrote, also, called the coffin," whence tlie princi-
pal bone within the hoof acquired tlie name of coffin-bone, — Edit.

8 OF THE FROG, BARS, AND HEEL. [Parti.

down some excellent rules. And, although, I dare
to say, that every man who has tried his " method
of shoeing," is convinced of its impropriety — I mean
as a general method, yet some useful hints may be
gathered from his doctrine, fitting for our present
purpose, whilst the good and evil of his manner of
shoe-making shall be spoken of hereafter. He says,

the sole should never be pared ;" and the reason
he assigns is both obvious and just; namely, that
the sole when not pared acquires a greater degree
of firmness and ohduracy, whereby it is better
enabled to withstand injuries from extraneous bo-
dies, such as glass, nails, flints, stones, &c.

TJie sensible sole is a very important part of the
foot, and the many injuries it sustains, as well as
its inability to sustain them with impunity, demands
that we should bestow some attention upon it, in
this place, though concealed from our sight by the
outer sole, that forms the concavity of the foot.
This latter is evidently a contrivance of the all-wise
Creator, to defend by its obduracy the inner or
sensible sole, which lies immediately within the other,
or insensible sole, between that and the bone of
the foot, which has acquired latterly the term
coffin-bone. This inner sole,^ being no other than
the termination of one of the flexor tendons of the
leg, which is continued to the bottom of the foot,

* It is depicted in White's Compendium, plate 8, detached
from the tendon ; and described, as to its being the termina-
tion of the tendon, in Hinds's Veterinartj Surgery, page 444,
and in plate 2 of that work. — Edit.

Chup. J.] OF PARING THE SOLE, FROG, ETC. 0

and overspreading the bone thereof, takes its oval
shape by pressure, as it were.

This tendinous expansion, or sensible sole, when
the outer sole is pared away, and the animal put
to strong exercise, is, for want of its natural defence,
exposed to excessive pain, and is consequently
liable to violent inflammation. From this cause
alone, the poor creature often limps away from the
forge ; and many a horse has been rendered lame
for ever, under a variety of names, according as
the effects thereof may make its appearance on
this or that part of the sole, if it do not make its
way to the coronet also.* If it be asked by any
shoeing-smith, what becomes of the sole when not
pared away by him ? I answer — it dries up, sepa-
rates, and scales away, acquiring hereby the cha-
racter of being a flakey sole ; which kind of sole
requires to be deprived of its flakes only, when
these are redundant : health prevails when these
flakes appear to have formed.

The frog. — The same Mr. Lafosse has said,
** the frog should never be pared." His reason is,
that the frog, being united to that tendon of the
leg just mentioned, as one that is continued down
to the bottom of the foot, i| itself an elastic body,
is placed there as a proper point of support, and

* We are indebted for a long catalogue of such supposed se-
parate diseases, to the ingenuity of Jeremiah Bridges, as follows,
the last mentioned being inclusive of all the rest, viz. Surbating,
Incastellation, Founder, Fig, Running-Frush, Canker, Corn,
Narrow heels, Paring too low, Injuries by Shoeing. — Edit.

b3

FROG-PRESSURE, [Part /.

serves as a basis to relieve this tendon at each step
or motion. But any person of common sense may
perceive, if the frog be pared away, it cannot be
admitted to touch the ground, as nature designed
it should ; for want of which support the tendon is
forcibly elongated and strained ; * hence, frequent
lameness of this tendon is occasioned, and hence,
also, windgalls are frequently produced.

As to those tendons, I am aware, that many per-
sons maintain they are elastic bodies, but it is,
nevertheless, an error. For all tendons and muscles
are confined to their proper sphere of action ; and
hence it follows, that, if they were elastic, the force
of any muscle of the limbs (the upper and lower
parts whereof are tendinous) would be eluded, and
fail in its object, before such tendinous part could
act according to the will, f

Paring the frog has to sustain other objections
also. In the first place, if admitted to touch the
ground, it helps to stop the horse from sliding,
as the figure of it plainly shows. Secondly, the
frog with its bars, occupying the hinder part of
the foot, is designed by nature to distend the heels,

* In " Veterinary Surgery," (page 472,) we had already
drawn attention to the distinction that exists between strain and
sprain. In plate 2, fig. 1, at fa ), this tendon, einerging from its
sheath, is seen descending to the sole. — Edit.

t That tendon has the property of elongation, Osmer allows
at a subsequent page (tlie-30thin chapter iv. and the 42d in
chapter v') as, indeed, he could not avoid doing in the face
of all authority, the word tendo signifying to stretch, to bend,
SlC. We conclude, therefore, that he intends to say they are not
elastic laterally.— Edit.

Vhap,!.] OF PARING THE CRUST. 11

or, as we now say, to keep the heels open ; but
when cut away, and their strength impaired, this
suffers the heels, the quarters, and the coronary
ring to contract upon the internal structure of the
foot. Hereby another description of lameness is
produced, of which I shall speak in the 5th and
6th chapters, as diseases of the navicula and of the
coffin-joint ; neither of which can be ascertained
with any degree of precision, certainly not distin-
guished from each other, to any useful purpose,,
until after death.

The bars are situate between the heel, the
frog, and the quarter on each side, and should not
be scooped out according to the general mistaken
practice, for the reasons just mentioned ; because,
in conjunction with the frog, their use is to keep
open the hinder part of the foot, as well as to de-
fend it. Neither is the spongy, skinlike substance
to be cut away until it becomes raggy, because it
is the expansion of the skin round the heei, its use
being to unite more firmly the foot and its contents ;
as well as to keep the cellular parts of the heel
from growing rigid ; it also surrounds and covers
the coronary ring, and may be observed to peel
and dry away as it descends thence upon the hoof.

The crust. Those are the general rules to
be observed with respect to every kind of foot.
But, because Mr. Lafosse has said the sole and
frog should never be pared," many smiths of our
country, mistaking the extent of his meaning, have
fallen, into another extreme, and do not pare the

12 DIFFERENT NATURE OF HORN. \_Part I.

foot at all. Yet is it quite necessary, that the
crust of all horses' feet which are shod should be
pared more or less, according to its different de-
grees of strength ; although it must be allowed that
no general instruction can be laid down, as to how
far this paring is to be carried, because the nature
of feet differ greatly from each other, in size, in
thickness, and in hardness or brittleness — by which
circumstances alone the workman is to be guided.
And to prove the necessity of thus paring the crust,
it is to be observed, that the ground surface of the
crust of every foot — that whereon the shoe rests,
invariably becomes rotten in a few weeks ; so that,
if a new shoe be set upon an unsound foundation,
it cannot stand firm or long. In such cases, the
crust will also shell off, or break away, leaving
large chasms, which the smith in vain endeavours to
amend in working horses by turning down an ade-
quate portion of the iron.

Now, as it follows, that where the foot is deep
and the sole hollow, the crust is generally thick and
strong, such a crust cannot be pared down too low
— so as not to fall into the quick; because, if suf-
fered to remain, the strength of the crust alone
will occasion such a compression on the interior
parts of the foot as to produce lameness — as will
be shewn further down.

In all broad fleshy feet, the crust is thin, and
should therefore suffer the least possible loss: on
such feet the rasp alone is generally found suffi-
cient to make the bottom plain, and produce a

Chap,!,'] THE SHOE; ITS FORM4 I.: %B

sound foundation without employing the desperate
butteris, or even having recourse to the less offen-
sive drawing knife. Thus it is each kind of foot
should be treated — according to its different degree
of strength or weakness.

The shoe. — The superficies of the foot round
the outside being now made plain and smooth, the
shoe is to be made quite flat, of an equal thickness,
all round the outside, and open and most narrow
backwards at the extremities of the heels, Jor
the generality of horses ; whilst those whose frogs
are diseased, either from natural or incidental
causes, require the shoe to be ivider backwards.
Then, to prevent this^af shoe from pressing on the
sole of the horse, the outer part thereof is to be
made thickest, and the inside gradually thinner.
With such a shoe, it will be seen, the frog is ad-
mitted to touch the ground, the necessity of which
has been already shewn. Add to all this, the horse
stands more firmly ; his feet may be said to take
firmer hold of the ground, having the same points
of support as in the natural state. Osmer^s shoe is
depicted in plate 1, fig. 1.

Here, the reader will perceive, is a plain easy
method of forming the shoe, agreeable to common
sense and reason ; being strictly conformable to the
anatomical structure of the parts, and therefore in
accordance with the design of nature. A method
so plain, that one would think nobody could have
fallen into any other, or commit any mistake in an
art, where nought more is required, than to keep in
mind three things, viz.

14 ORIGIN OF NAVICULAR DISEASE. [Parti.

1. To make smooth the surface of the foot ;

2. To ascertain what loss of crust each kind of
foot will sustain with advantage to itself; and

3. To nail thereon a piece of iron^ adapted to
the natural tread of the horse ; the design, good,
or use of the iron, being only to defend the crust
from breaking — the sole wanting no defence, if
never pared.

Let us next examine the prevalent manner of
shoeing, by comparing it with what has been al-
ready said, and we shall soon perceive its sad
effects.

CHAP. II.

- Of adapting the Shoe to the Structure of the Foot.

Navicular diseases, so called, are brought
on, in nine cases out of ten, by bad shoeing ; for
the modern artist employs very little difference in
the treatment of every kind of foot that may come
to hand ; but with a strong arm and sharp weapon,
carries all before him, and takes away more from
a weak-footed horse at one paring, than nature can
furnish again in some months, whereby permanent
lameness is brought on, sooner or later. Whilst,
if a strong-footed horse, with narrow and contracted
heels, is brought before the smith, such an one
meets * with treatment still more severe. Thus,
under pretence of giving the horse ease, the bar is

C7^apJ/.]FR00PS OBTAINED BY DJS6ECTI0N. 15

scooped, the frog is trimmed, and the sole is drawn
as thin as possible, even to the quick ; and all this
jis done without mercy, as it is without judgement,
in the workman, who assigns as a reason, that the
*^ horse is hot-footed, or foundered, and cutting
away will give him ease whereas, if the animal
were really lame, this treatment would but confirm
the evil, and render it more inveterate. How all
this is brought about, is only to be ascertained by
examining the structure of the foot internally.

In the interior part of the foot (which few or
none of those workmen have ever examined) there
is a broad cartilage annexed to each upper end or
corner of the foot-hone^ (called by the moderns

coffin-bone"); there is also, a small bone, called
the navicula, or nut-bone, placed cross-wise in the
foot behind the conjunction of the coffin-bone, and
the coronary-bone,* the ends whereof are articu-
lated to the inner sides of the coffin-bone, which
ends are also cartilaginous ; and from the situation
and functions these have to perform in every motion
of the foot, it is necessary they should be of a car-
tilaginous and pliant, or yielding nature.

Now, it fSllows, that when this same foundered
foot (as it is called) is robbed of those parts that

* Described by us moderns as the small pastern ; a bone that
is big at both ends, small in the middle, the small part being
embraced by the coronary -ring, (where the hair of the foot
touches the horn), one-half the bone lying concealed within
the hoof, the other ascending out of it. The lower-«nd articu-
lates with the coffin-bone, the upper end with the large pastern,
forming the/e^focfo-joint. — Edit.

16 PROPER BEARING OF THE SHOE. [Parti.

were designed to keep it open, the heels and the
coronary-ring become contracted more than they
were before, by which means those cartilages of
the foot-bones I have just described, are more
compressed or contracted togetlier. All the mem-
branes and tendinous expansions of the foot, also,
are compressed and inflamed, and the cartilaginous
ends of the nut-bone, together with the ligaments,
are squeezed tojgether as in a vice. Therefore, is
it well worth observation, that whenever the heels
of a horse are deep or narrow, stricture ensues
around the coronary-ring, and such feet fall more or
less lame, after some use, and that from no other
cause than the compression above described. [The
accuracy of the foregoing representation may readily
be put to the test, and the industrious inquirer re-
tire more satisfied with his labours, by his examining
the internal structure of the foot upon dissection with
his own hands, as directed in " Hinds's Veterinary
Surgery," page 443. But as few persons set about
such a job, with full leisure and sufficient inclina-
tion for the performance, in plate 2 I subjoined a
view of the bones just described, with their carti-
lages marked ; and the back sinews, also, or flexor
tendons, by which the foot is lifted up, or suff^ered to
fall on the ground, the which were spoken of above,
at pages 8 and 10, notes.

The TREAD. — But the modern artists, not con-
tent with ruining and destroying the work of Pro-
vidence, by the means just described, seem resolved
that all their operations shall be of a piece, and in

Chap, II.'] LAMENESS FROM BAD SHOES. 17

every thing act by contraries. To prove that this
charge is not hastily made, I will demonstrate, that
the kind of shoe in common use is at variance with
sense and reason, as well as contrary to the natural
tread of the foot.

In the first place, it is taken for granted, that no
horse can go, if the shoe bears upon the sole ; but,
to avdid this evil, we hear them say, the modern
shoe must be formed and stand concave! There-
fore do they make their shoe thinnest on the outside,
and thickest on the inside.

Mark, now, the inconveniences arising from the
unequal surface of such a shoe ! The horse, having,
by those means, fewer points of support, is more
liable to blunder, to strain the tendons, injure the
cartilages and ligaments, break the bones of the
foot, and to dislocate some of the joints of the
fore part.*

The weight of the horse bears chiefly on the inner
side of this shoe, which is the highest part ; so that
the nails next to the heel, when the horse comes to
work, must break, or give way, or tear the crust.

* Although the horse be liable to all those consequences of
bad shoeing, it does not follow that breaking of bones, or dis-
location of some part should happen. The college people (a few
of them) have taken up this sentence 190 literally, and talk about
" dislocation of the coffin -join t,'^ as positively as if they had
seen this accident, which, however, none of them pretends to
have done. Whether concussion or compression injure the con-
tents of the hoof, the whole is then affected with " numbness,"
as Bridges (in " No Foot no Horse") termed it. The subject is
handled fully in my "Veterinary Surgery," pages 451-4. — Edit.

18 LAMENESS PROM BAD SHOES. [Parti.

Hereby, the shoe gets somewhat loose, the fine sand
of our roads insinuates itself between the foot and
the shoe- heel, and the horse is then said to be
gravelled; or he gets a corn, perhaps, with which
he goes lame for life, no effectual remedy being
known for this evil.

In the next place, by employing this kind of
shoe, though the frog be not pared away, it will be
raised to such a distance from the ground, that it
cannot be admitted to touch it ; by which interven-
tion of the shoe between the frog and the ground,
the flexor tendon within the foot loses its support,
as much as if the frog were actually pared away,
and disorder of the tendon ensues. Furthermore,
the heel of the horse is hereby corroded and eaten
away, and the crust is also more liable to be broken.
Notwithstanding all these facts are so easily ascer-
tained, those men are obstinate and weak enough
to affirm the direct contrary, and give it as a reason
for making the outside of the shoe thinnest, not
perceiving the consequences of such unequal pres-
sure on the crust. Or, we might say, more pro-
perly, the total absence of pressure on that part of
the crust which most requires it, and which by its
superior hardness is most capable of sustaining
pressure, namely, the outer or external face of the
hoof.

Having thus shewn what a variety of lameness is
superinduced by the wrong manner of shoeing, I
shall leave all that has been said to the sober con-
sideration of my readers, under the expectation

Chap. III.] SHAPE OF THE SHOE. 19

that they will try the experiment of a change from
what cannot be worse to what may be better — and
go on to state my opinions and experience of the
improved and, as I think, only proper method of
shoeing.

CHAP. HI.

Particular Directions for Shoeing rightly.

Shape of the shoe. — Let th^ shoe on every
description of horse stand wider at the points <o^
the heels than the fo^t itself ; otherwise, as the
foot grows in length, or luxuriantly, the heei of
the shoe, in a short time, gets imbedded in the
heel of the horse ; and this pressure often breaks
tb& crust, or produces temporary lameness, pro^
hftbly a corn.

I^et every kind of foot, on being shod, be kept
;as short at the toe as possible ; so as not to affect
the quick; far, by leaving a long toe, the foot
becomes thin and weak, and the heels low, whereby
the flexor tendons of the leg are strained ; whilst
the shortness of the toe helps to widen the heels,
or, as some say, to keep them open and expansive.
So, in all thin weak-footed horses, the rasp should
be laid on the toe in the like manner, with a view
to render it as thick as possible ; for, hereby the
whole foot becomes gradually thicker, higher, and

20 SHORT TOES THICKEN HORN. [Parti,

stronger, and is thus rendered more capable of
resisting injuries, and the wear and tear of tra-
velling. But, in all those feet where the texture
is very strong f the rasp may be laid obliquely on the
fore part of the foot towards the toe, and the toe
itself thinned, whereby compression on the parts
is diminished by lowering the strength of the crust.
This rasping, however, is to be used with great
discretion, lest the crust, being thin, and therefore
unable to support the weight of the horse and his
load, a sand crack ensue ; which frequently follows
a too free or unskilful application of this tool, or
from the naturally rigid texture of the hoof next
to the coronet.

[At first shoeing a weak, or thin-hoofed horse, on
the improved plan, it is advisable for the workman,
when he cuts the toe short, to leave it nearly square,
merely rounding ofl* the angles with the rasp. Of
course, no nails are to be driven into the hoof
farther forward than these angles ; even in the
stoutest hoofs, nor so far in general. By these
means, he not only prevents stumbling down hill,
but the nourishment that would descend to the toe,
now goes to strengthen the heels, and to keep them
open. This latter piece of advice applies more to
the hinder feet than to the fore ones ; because the
horn is always thicker at the toe before than behind
of every individual horse, whilst the quarters are
ever thicker of horn behind than before, by reason
of the wearing at the toe being greater behind than
before ; a comparative fact, that teaches us to keep

Chap, III.'] OF PARING FROG AND HEEL. 21

short the toe before, if we would have good sound
quarters, cause the horn to fill up sand-crack, &c.

The heel of the shoe, moreover, on all strong
and narrow heeled horses, should be made strait .
at the extreme points ; the form of the shoe, in
some measure, helping to distend the heel of the
horse. For the same reason, the shoe on no horse
should be continued farther than the point of the
heel.

Of paring.— It has been said already that
neither frog or sole should ever be pared away ; ne-
vertheless, it must be understood, that it is impossi-
ble to pare the crust without, at the same time,
taking away a portion of the adjacent sole ; it is
also further requisite, in order to obtain a smooth
and even surface, so far as the weh of the shoe
reaches, but no farther.

The frog, too, will form an exception to the
general rule, as it often becomes ragged, and loose
flakey pieces will occasionally separate from the
body thereof ; and this will take place sometimes
in one foot and not in the other, arising from the
greater heat or fever in the foot so affected, either
by reason of some disorder of the lungs falling
down thus partially, or by its being the leading
leg when the horse is put on his best pace.
Whenever this happens, the loose pieces should
be cut away with a knife, to prevent gravel
lodging therein. But, if this discretionary power
of cutting away be left with the workman, he will
be sure to take away more of it at one time than

22 NATURE, FORM AND TEXTtJRE (Part t.

will grow again in many weeks. The lower point
of the frog, towards the toe, should also be taken
down whenever it grows too high or luxuriant.

Calkens. — The indefatigable Mr. Lafosse has
also given his readers a caution against the use
of cramps, or what we in England term calkens ,
and vulgarly corking; that is to say, turning up
the shoe at the point of the heels to prevent
slipping on the stones in frosty weather. He says
that " the frog being hereby removed to a great
distance from, the ground, the tendon will be
inevitably ruptured." But this is true only in part;
as, in all minor strains of the tendons which do not
amount to absolute disease, these give or relax a
little, so as to ease off the concussion that would
rupture them. In summer time, I am free to
allow, this effect would frequently happen when
the ground is dry and hard, and the horse put on
his best pace ; but then, no one thinks of calken
at such a season, whilst, in the winter season,
when the ground is usually wet and soft, this
cannot happen in a flat shoe, because the calken
of the shoe-heels then buries itself in the ground,
so that the frog is still admitted to touch the
ground and to rest thereon. I therefore conclude
it is necessary and proper that all sportsmen who
hunt over hilly or slippery countries should have
their horse-shoe heels turned up in winter time,
especially the hinder ones, for the security of their
persons : they may do so, if they choose, without
danger of rupturing the tendons, and some would

Chap, IlLI OF FEET DIFFER.

23

come home less lame with calkens than without
them.

[A method of applying moveable calkens is de-
scribed in Hinds's Veterinary Surgery, thus : — "The
necessity of frequently removing the shoe, and thus
impairing the wall, or crust, may be superseded by
making screw-holes in the ground surface of the
heels and providing a suitable supply of screws with
steel heads, that may be applied and screwed on
anew every day, if need be." In fig. 2, plate 1,
I have represented the screw, with the tool
which is used for applying the same to the heel of
the shoe. When the shoe is made, in winter time,
a female screw is to be worked into each heel of
the shoe, and a quantity of male-screw calkens got
ready, that are adapted to these holes, respectively :
to prevent bungling, or delay, each lot should be
numbered, lest the screw enter too deep for the
thickness of the shoe-heel.

The foregoing method of treating the foot, with
such a kind of shoe as has been described, I have
used many years ; and, to the best of my remem-
brance, have not had a horse lame since its adop-
tion, except when pricked by the workman.
Hence, it was a matter of great astonishment to
me, and so continues still, how any other form of
shoe could ever get into general use at all ; and
more so, that it should maintain its erroneous prin-
ciple and practice four-fifths of a century after the
present exposition of its evil tendency.

Yet must it be allowed that no precise method

24 FROG PRESSURE; FUi.LERING. [Part L

of shoeing can be laid down as strictly applicable
to all horses alike ; which arises from the different
nature, form, and texture of horses' feet: but the
prejudices of mankind on all such occasions may
be worth remarking upon, as having been the let
or hindrance to improvement. Thus, one man
invents a new piece of machinery, which he finds
to be very useful and proper in many respects, and
let us add, just too. Hereupon, his pride and self-
love would fain extend its application to all pur-
poses whatever. In this light, he warmly recom-
mends it to his neighbour, who having tried it,
and finding it fall short of the pretensions so set
up, he falls into the other extreme, and declares it
to be good for nothing. Hence, that which may
possess many claims to adoption, when treated
with moderation^ becomes neglected of those who
should be its patrons, and is totally thrown aside.
Hence, also, the perfection of some arts is less
extensive than it might be ; and this one of de-
fending the feet of the most useful and noble
animal on earth among the rest, supremely.

Now, this flat shoe that I have been speaking of,
is not to be made with a smooth surface, after the old
French fashion, but channelled round, or what is
called fullered, after the English manner ; by which
form the horse is better prevented from sliding
about, and the heads of the nails are less liable to
be broke off — both which inconveniences attend the
shoe with the ground surface quite smooth. But
so ignorant are these our artists (who say they do

Chap. III.'] CUTTIKG ; CAUSE AND REMEDY. 25

not require teaching) that not one of them can
make these flat shoes, though a pattern lies before
them, for which reason they generally dislike and
condemn them.

Cutting. — It has always been deemed a diffi-
cult matter to prevent horses from cutting^ when
once they have fallen into that evil way of going ;
it is, nevertheless, very easily accomplished, if
people will but attend to the causes which produce
it. Whoever will be at the trouble of examining
the feet of such horses as cut, will, at all times,
and in all descriptions of horses, find the cause to
be the same ; namely, to turning out their toes, and
consequently intruding the inner heel of the shoe
towards the corresponding leg and foot. Hence
arises the necessity of boots and bolsters, and ban-
dages, round the fetlocks of half the horses trained
at Newmarket, to prevent knocking their joints
together; which all our thoroughbreds are likewise
liable to incur in training, at strong work, by their
manner of tm^ning, especially when the turn is
short or hastily made, when it is effected by their
passing the forelegs over each other.

Now, by way of remedy, let us examine the
cause ; which will be found in the form of the colt's
standing to graze. As all the younkers, particularly
well bred cattle, are high-mounted, that is to say
long in the legs, they take the grass with an out-
stretched foot, whereby it rests mainly on the inner
quarter, and this part is worn lowest. This fact is
usually disregarded by the breeding farmer ; whence

c

26 CUTTING; CAUSE AND REMEDY. [Part L

an evil habit of standing is acquired, the toe grows
outward, and the foot becomes crooked from the
fetlock-joint downwards — whereupon we say, it
points hadly.

It may, perhaps, be repeated that this habit of
turning out the toe is entailed on certain horses by
nature ; that is to say, foaled high before ; or, the
leg behind being low set on, or coming too much
underneath the body (as happens to filly foals,
mostly), which seems to throw up the fore-hand
inordinately. But, whether it be natural or ac-
quired, the immediate cause of cutting is still the
same in all horses so afflicted, and depends on
nought else, than the inside heel being lower than
the outside. And, to prove that this doctrine is
true, as well as to remedy the evil betimes, let the
farrier, as soon as he perceives the colt's toe turning
out, pare down the outside of the foot as much as
he can ; let this be repeated as often as the foot
will allow of it, but leave the inner quarter alone :
thus will the animal grow strait on his legs and feet,
with the toe pointing forward, and never cut or
knock himself about when he comes into use. The
crust should also be suffered to grow fullest on the
inside of the foot, and the outer part thereof be
rasped away as far as can be spared.

By following this method, we may also prevent
grown horses from cutting, if the foot be strong
enough to bear a sufficient loss ; if not, the sub-
stance of the iron defence may be made thicker on
the inside of the foot, from the heel to the toe, than

Chap. III.] COLTS AND MARES.

27

it is on the outside ; and, where it is practicable,
and shall appear necessary, both those methods
may be employed, and each will assist the other in
attaining the desired purpose. I have rode a horse
treated in this manner several years, and have found
it of but little inconvenience to his going, or to his
feet ; much depending, in such cases, on the good-
ness of the hoof itself. In like manner, such of
the dealers as are masters of their business, use
this kind of shoe to raise the inside of the horse's
foot, and make him pointy or stand strait on his
feet; the which object being achieved, cures cutting
before or behind, or high or low. The purchaser
of such a horse, who thinks he has bought a strait-
legged nag, is much surprised, and with reason, at
the alteration he perceives in him, the first time it
is shod in shoes that are equally thick on both
quarters.

Our modern shoeing-smiths, however, in this as
in many other affairs they undertake, act by con-
traries, and rasp away as much as they can from
the inner part of the feet, whereby the outer part
of the wall gets stronger and stronger every day,
and cutting is superinduced in horses originally
strait-footed, for they are thus compelled to turn
out their toes, and then it is the inner heel of the
shoe that inflicts the cut.

c2

38

FROG-EXPANSION. [Part I.

CHAP. IV.

0/ Lameness, produced hy SJioeing, principally ;
* ' and Treatment of the Hoof,

Compression of the hoof. — It has been
already said, that all horses whose feet are con-
tracted round the hinder part, or the crust is deep
and strong, are generally more or less lame when
they have been shod and used any length of time,
and that simply from compression on the very sus-
ceptible contents of the hoof. And I now mean to
add thereto the proofs, that no method of shoeing
whatsoever can prevent lameness of some such feet;
and yet no man alive ever saw a horse — with this
or any other kind of foot — lamed, but by the in-
fliction of some injury, or by leaving too great
length of toe, whilst the young one remained un-
broke, and running about in a state of nature.

Now, if ever the shoe before spoken of as La-
fosses be useful, it is chiefly in this case ; for in
such a shoe the heel and frog of the horse rests, in
great measure, upon the ground, receives some
share of weight, and is, by means of such weight and
pressure, kept open and expanded ;— by which ex-
pansion of the heels, the compression on the interior
parts of narrow-footed horses is removed, and he
that was before lame is, by degrees, as the foot
spreads, rendered sound, — provided there be no
specific disease in the interior parts of the foot.

Chap, I v.} SHORT SHOES: TIPS.

29

Again, where horses have feet inclined to the
other extreme, whose heels are weak and low, if
the shoe be set somewhat short at the points of the
heel, such will, by degrees, improve, and grow
higher. Yet a farrier can never be prevailed on
to believe, that weak low heels will become stronger
by leaving them exposed to hard substances. But it
must be expected, that horses with weak or dis-
eased feet, which have been accustomed to go in
long broad shoes, will at first go very lamely in shoes
which are either short or narrow- web. And many
that are lame of the shoer with various disorders in
their feet, would be cured by short or narrow shoes,
if the frog, sole, and bars were not pared out. But
when those parts which are designed by the Divine
artist as a natural defence to the interior part, are
cut away by the superior wisdom of our earthly
artists, why then, undoubtedly, short shoes will not
do ; for the horse requires some artificial defence,
to supply the loss of the natural one. Now, it is
the great weight, unequal pressure, ill form and
action of the iron made use of to protect the foot
when it is thus horribly abridged by our artists, that
is productive of almost all the evils incident to
horses' feet.

In like manner, for training, Lafosse's short shoe
will be proper for horses whose feet are of too
strong a texture, as well as for those which are too
weak, or affected with any disorder. But for
horses that have good feet, I would prefer having
the iron continued to the point of the horse's heel,

30 TRAINING— SHOES PROPER. [Part I.

but no farther ; and for all horses that are used on
training ground, the iron should be very narrow,
little wider than a plate, without the wash, of a
thickness sufficient to keep it from bending, ac-
cording to the size and weight of the horse. But
my knowledge of the good and bad effects of the
short shoe for horses used upon the road, even for
such as are benefited by it on the turf, does not
extend so far as to settle this matter ; about which
there are many disputes and contradictory opinions
amongst the most unprejudiced men, that bid fair
to last to the end of the nineteenth century at
least. All which accounts are, I dare say, very
well founded, but amount only to this, that some
horses can go upon the road in these, or without
any shoes at all, and some cannot.

These are the advantages attending the short
shoe; but, if Mr. Lafosse were to ride a fox-
hunting down the sides of our steep and slippery
bills, I dare say he would not use them twice ; for
horses so shod, have, in this kind of work, great
difficulty to stand at all ; besides, from such slip-
ping and sliding about, they are certainly more
liable to be lamed; and from the inequality or
sloping of the ground, that hunters go over in most
countries, the tendinous fibres of the leg are, oc-
casionally, strained and elongated, more or less. —
And this I can from experience aver, having my-
self lamed a horse in the tendons of both legs, the
very first day of hunting him in these short shoes.

There are many men, who can distinguish these

Chap, IF.] ASS-FOOT : CHEST-FOUNDER. 31

ass-fooied horses, and pronounce with certainty the
lameness thereof, even without seeing them move
at all, as readily as other men shall distinguish gold
from silver, or lead from iron. But, because all
men have not been attentive enough to make the
same discoveries, some, through ignorance, or pre-
judice to their own opinions, have asserted and
maintained other kinds of lameness, which do not
exi^t at all ; and talk of horses being cJiest-foun-
deredy and shook in the shoulders, when the disor-
der is in the feet alone.

Shoulder-strain.— From those premises I
am led to insist, that whosoever talks of horses
being chest-foundered, or shook in the shoulders,
is an ignorant pretender to the knowledge of this
animal, and is himself shaken in the head. To
prove the truth of this doctrine, and that shoeing
is but a partial good, take this same narrow-heeled ,
or strong-footed horse (which, because it is fair to the
eye, is, perhaps, called a very good one), pare down
the crust as much as you can, cut the toe off round
and short, and turn him out to grass bare-footed,
he will become sound in the course of time, if the
interior parts of the foot are not otherwise diseased.
The true cause of which is, that the foot not being-
confined in a shoe, the weight of the horse expands
the same ; the crust, and the stricture of the coro-
nary-ring, is relaxed by the dews and moisture of
the ground, whilst the evil compression on the in-
ternal parts is removed.

In this respect it is, that the unskilful are imposed

32 COMPRESSION AND EXPANSION. {Part I,

on by the farrier, who (having done something to
your horse, for what he calls a lameness in the
shoulder, and ordered him to be turned to grass)
vainly believes such soundness to be the effect of
his remedy; and you, for want of better know-
ledge of the animal, are persuaded to give him
credit for the assertion. To prove this by the re-
verse, you have but to take the same horses which
may have been so cured, whose feet by their open
figure and relaxed state are pronounced sound, con-
fine them again in a shoe, keep them at house, and
spite of all that art can do some of them will become
lame again, perhaps the first time of riding ; espe-
cially if the weather be hot and dry, merely from
the compression above described. Then for the
remedy. Who at this day has not seen the horrid
barbarity of rowelling, blistering, nay, even boring
the shoulders with a rod-hot iron, (under pretence
of curing some lameness therein,) committed on
this most noble animal, by the obstinacy, pride, or
folly of mankind !

Yet would I not be understood to say, that there
is no such thing as a lameness in the shoulder ; be-
cause the muscles and ligaments thereof are liable
to be strained, as well as other muscular and liga-
mentous parts. But, that no man may hereafter be
mistaken, I will lay down one unerring rule,
whereby he may distinguish the real disorder from
any other lameness, without consulting the farrier
at all ; which is, that the horse, which has strained
its shoulder, drags his toe upon the ground ; for it

Chap, IF.] DISLOCATION OF THE SCAPULA ; 3.5

is impossible that the horse can extend his foot to •
go on, without extending also the muscles of the
shoulder; which act of extension he, to avoid pain,
or from inability, does not choose to have per-
formed.

It appears also, from the nature of the articulation
of the humeral-hone with the scapula, or blade-bone,
that this joint is liable to dislocation, either forward
or backward ; and there are many farriers in this
kingdom, who pretend to have cured this disloca-
tion, by the means of the patten-shoe put on the
foot of the lame leg ; the truth whereof they would
attest, on oath, I dare say, or seal with their blood,
probably. But ^ pat ten- shoe, in this case, must of
necessity do harm instead of good ; because it will
force the head of the humeral-hone further from its
articulation with the scapula, that is to say, the
angle these form will become more acute, in conse-
quence.

Dislocation of the shoulder. — Since
the first puhlication of this treatise, I have seen an
instance of a dislocation of this joint in a horse,
which was easily reduced by being immediately
taken in hand, which puts this matter out of dis-
pute ; I say dispute, because some of our learned ,
writers on the subject of horses, have boldly said,
such a dislocation cannot happen. — Which ex-
treme doctrine of theirs serves to shew how little
such men are acquainted with that part of the ana-
tomy of a horse, which relates to the nature of
articulation. When this dislocation of the hume-

c3

34

CASE; OPERATION.

[Pari L

Tal-bone is reduced, and not till then, I allow, it is
very proper for the horse to wear the patten-shoe
for some time afterwards, until the ligaments that
cover the joint, have recovered their former ten-
sion and strength, towards which the frequent use
of vinegar will contribute as much as any other ap-
plication I know of.

The proper method of reducing all dislocations
is by making extension both ways.

Then take of strong vinegar, enough, cold : sa-
turate a woollen cloth therein and apply, by rub-
bing as hard as the animal can bear, three or four
times a day ; be tender the first day^ — but after-
wards the friction does as much good as the
^'inegar.

*Tis true, that by diseases arising from the con-
tracted form of the feet, from consequent pain, and
manner of standing in the horse, to ease these feet,
the muscles of the shoulders occasionally waste
away ; and this is what is really meant by the terms
chest 'foundered, or shook in the shoulders, which
mistake arises from not understanding the nature
of feet. So, from the pain occasioned by ^spavin,
or other disorders in the joint of the hock,
the muscles of the hind quarter will frequently
waste away also ; but it will be equally absurd in
either of these cases to say, that the lameness of the
horse is in the shoulder, or in the hind quarter; in
both these cases the cause is the same, namely,
great pain in the feet and a bad habit of standing.
And yet it must be allowed that from any violence

Chap, IF.] TOE SHORT; MARES IN FOAL. 35

received on the shoulder, the muscular parts may
waste away, in like manner as in the human
species. But, to set this matter in the clearest
light, it is worthy of observation, that where both
shoulders are wasted, you will readily perceive the
cause of it in hoth feet ; but if both feet are not
concerned, or one shoulder only be wasted, it is
owing to some impression or violence upon the
nerve, or an artery, for which, I believe, there is
no remedy in either case. These distinctions,
though apparently trivial, are so far of use, that they
may be the means of preventing our punishing the
animal to no purpose, which too often happens,
from our not being acquainted with the real causes
of the disease.

Paring the toe. — To prove still further that
shoeing is but a partial good, let us examine another
kind of foot, one that is become shelly and broken,
the crust thin, or the heels low. Turn such a horse
out to grass without shoes, rasp the foot short at the
toe, keep it constantly rasped as it grows, and we
shall find that such a foot will, in a short time,
flourish again, and become just as it was in a natu-
ral state, when he was a colt. And here let me
add, that it is much to the advantage of all colts to
keep their toes short. Mares, also, in foal will, by
this means, carry their load much easieT. Discre-
tion being had thereunto, as in paring the human
nail, which, if cut too close, will cause a temporary
soreness. Nevertheless no harm, except an im-
mediate soreness, which will soon go off, attends

86 LAMENESS CURED AT GRASS. [Part L

cutting the toe of the horse even to the quick, as I
shall shew immediately.

If you have a horse, whose foot is fleshy y or
whose sole is higher than the crust, take him and
cut him round at the toe, till the blood follows, and
stands in drops; then turn him to grass bare-
footed, and he will in a short time make a new
shoot at the coronet, the weak crust will become
by degrees more solid, and the thin sole more obdu-
rate ; the heels, also, will get high and strong, and
behold, where you could not before well find a place
to drive a nail, the whole foot is now rendered
tough and firm, will bear hammering like a piece
of board, will carry as flat a shoe as any other kind
of foot, and will continue so to do, if it be never
pared or stopped ! Provided always, the interior
parts of the foot have not been injured by any spe-
cific disease or accident. Hence it is manifest
enough, that all horses, when turned to grass for
any length of time, should have their shoes taken
off^, and their toes kept rasped round and short.

The feet of stallions are also best without shoes,
whether they are kept at house or abroad ; the
crust at the bottom of the foot being occasionally
pared down, according to the depth, strength, and
growth, thereof. In proof hereof, let any man
keep one foot of a stallion so managed, and the
other in a shoe, he will soon find a wide difference
between the two feet. Hence it follows, that
all breeders of horses should be well versed in the
different kinds of feet ; the laws of nature seldom

Chap. V.'] STOPPING AND GREASING. 37

varying in this or any other respect, though they
are so often contravened by man. Among these
we may reckon the mistaken judgement of our
grooms in the indiscriminate custom of stopping
and greasing all sorts of feet; for greasing and
stopping those feet, of which we find tJie crust
weak, and the sole spongy, will have the effect of
rendering them weaker and still more spongy : on
the contrary such feet cannot be kept too dry, at
the bottom, or at the sole and heel.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to anoint the coro-
nary-ring of such weak feet with some cooling oil,
ointment, or mucilaginous composition, to keep it
pliant, and free from contraction and rigidity.
Urine will also render the crust of weak feet tough,
and help to consolidate the sole. On the other
hand, the hoof being capable of contraction and
expansion, strong feet cannot be too often anointed
with tar or oily for the reasons before given.

CHAP. V.

0/ Lameness from various Causes,
Diseases within the coffin. — From the
time oi Lafosse, to whom the patient inquirer into the
structure of the horse is so much indebted, to the pre-
sent year inclusive, what a deal has been said, and
to how little purpose, on fractured bones within the
foot ! For my own part, I (William Osmer) have

38 NAVICULAR DISEASE, AND [Part I.

never seen any such thing, but can easily give
credit to the possibility thereof " [What is more,
** dislocation of the coflSn-bone," or disease of
the navicula,'' about which so much has been said,
by way of displaying their learning, can never be
ascertained with any serviceable degree of preci-
sion; an after-death examination being the only
clue to its having existed at all, unless they will
consent to take heat, tension, and evident enlarge-
ment of the cartilaginous processes of the coffin-
bone to be symptomatic of ** fever in the feet," as
it is ; and we needed no further addition to the no-
menclature of diseases, which it seems to be the
aim of the present author to reduce in number, and
to divest of their complexity. When the tension
or rigidity at the coronet and heels supervened
without extraordinary heat, old Bridges termed the
attack, numbness of the foot ; and he was quite
correct enough, when coupled with the former term,
or fever in the foot, when this symptom evinced
itself to the touch ; always keeping in mind, how-
ever, that the two disorders require a totally diffe-
rent kind of treatment — the foot benumbed by a
blow standing in need of re-animation, whilst the
one heated by painful exercise, or by sprain, would
require the greater access of blood to the foot to be
retarded by the cooling process, or to be suffered to
escape at the toe.

[No difficulty exists in allowing that such a mis-
fortune happens, sometimes, as dislocation of the
joint within the foot called the coffin-joint, though

Chap, F.] LAMENESS, — DISCUSSION. 39

we of this pen never met with such a case, nor can
we see how it could readily occur in a box or coffin
like the hoof. Neither do those advocates for it
treat the disorder according to the term given it— •
namely, a dislocation, which requires extension
ahove and below, to bring the joint to its just arti-
culation ; but they make the animal stand upon the
injured limb, as they do when the injury is less
severe, and they then term it strain of the coffin-
joint," meaning of course sprain ; for the cure is
only to be effected, as just said, by straining, or
" making extension both ways."

{Navicular lameness is a much more probable, but
not more easily curable disease of the foot. Let us
see how it is so often incfurred, without any term
whatever being applied to it; and endeavour to pro-
pose a remedy, or to suggest preventive measures.

I have seen many instances of sudden lameness
brought on horses in hunting and in racing, simply by
a false step, which have continued lame their whole
lives. Upon after examination, I have found the
ligaments of the nut-bone, or navicula, rendered use-
less, for want of timely assistance and knowledge of
the cause. Hence, the cartilages of the same have
been sometimes ossified — and the bones of the foot
have been some times wasted, and at other times
enlarged ; it being no uncommon thing to meet with
a horse, whose feet are not fellows, the natural form
of the injured foot being generally altered hereby.
After mature consideration, I am convinced that
nothing can contribute more to such an accident,

40 ANCHYLOSIS OF COFFIN-JOINT. [Part J.

than the unequal pressure of the foot in our modern
concave shoe.

Of stiff joints. — The stricture occasioned
by a deep crust, and narrow form of the foot, with
hard riding, and much ill usage, will also produce
ossification of the cartilages of the joint of the
foot, termed the coffin-joint, whence stiffness in
the part always ensues. This may be considered
a spurious anchylosis. There is also another kind or
degree of anchylosis, by which is to be understood a
total loss of motion in the joint, the first kind being
marked by suffering only some small degree of it.

Joint'oiL — In every joint there are numerous
glands, the use of which is to secrete and pour
forth in action a certain mucus. To these are added
certain vessels, that discharge a thinner fluid,
which, being mixed with the other, makes a
liniment of a proper consistence, whose use is to
lubricate and defend the ends of the bones; all
which, for the sake of promoting motion, are
covered with a cartilage, or gristle. Now, when
these glands are inflamed by severe work, they
grow occasionally rigid, pour forth more sparingly
their mucus, and at length become dry and indu-
rated. Hence, I have been led to think this ossi-
fication of the cartilages is but a secondary disorder,
depending on the state or diminished quantity of
this mucous liniment. That such an inflammation
attends the glands, I have seen frequent instances ;
one, where the fetlock-joint of a hunted stag had
been cut asunder in the summer time, when the

Chap, F.] VISCIDITY OF SECRETIONS. 41

leaps were strong, and tlie ground hard and dry ;
the mucus thereof having been found of a very
sanguine colour. Who, then, shall doubt the same
may happen to the hdrse, especially when another
weight is added to its own ? Moreover, there are
instances, where the mucus of the joint in human
bodies has been so diseased, either by accident or
bad habit of body, as to corrode the cartilaginous
ends of the bones ; and this will account for the
true anchylosis in some measure ; which entire
coalescence of a joint can never happen, without
some corrosion in the cartilages thereof.

Occasional lameness. — The glands are
liable also to disease, as well as other parts — and
the long disuse of a joint from a continued and
casual lameness, where the glands of the same are
not primarily concerned, is capable of producing
the spurious anchylosis, from the thickened and
inspissated state of the mucus ; which inspissation
happens from want of friction of the heads of the
bones upon each other. Hence, the particles of
this mucus not being divided, there will be a
crispness in the ligamentous fibres of such joint.
This inspissation of the mucus from any other cause,
will account for the reason why the horse^ which
goes lame out of the stable, becomes, by degrees,
more sound ; namely, because the heads of the
bones do, by their action, attenuate this mucous
fluid, whereby the parts are better lubricated.
For this disorder, turning the horse out, or keeping
him loose in some open building, will much con-

42

OCCASIONAL LAMENESS. [Parti.

tribute to his advantage, though it may not effect
a complete cure.

On the contrary, a joint may, in great measure,
be deprived of its usual motion by redundancy of
this mucous fluid ; which may be produced by bad
habit of body, or because the vessels called lym-
phatics, which are appointed to absorb, or receive
the same, are not able to perform their office. The
mucus f or genial secretion, then becomes pus, or
matter, that tends to corrode or destroy the parts :
it is particularly dangerous near joints.

The fetlock-joint, also, is liable to' frequent
lameness, from blows received thereon, whereby
the ligaments surrounding it become inflamed and
rigid, and the integuments are thickened or in-
durated.

Lameness may be occasioned by strains of the
muscular, or tendinous parts of the leg, continued
down to the foot of the horse ; and acquire the
terms windgall, running-thrush, splints, ring-bone,
canker in the foot ; straining the tendons, and what
is called a letting-downf or relaxation of the sinew,
as well as broken bones and dislocations. These
which have been recited, with those in the fore-
going chapter, are the only kinds of lameness, I
have ever been able to discover attending the fore
part of the horse ; except such tumours as are
occasioned by the crisis of a fever, or by injuries
received from extraneous bodies. And I have
been the more particular in setting forth the nature
of some of these, that the unskilful may not be

Chap. F.] STRAINS, AND DISLOCATIONS. 43

imposed upon by the ignorance of farriers, nor
the horse punished with medicine for incurable
disorders.

In the hinder pari of the horse, lameness is
much less frequent than in the fore part, and less
various.

A DISLOCATION OF THE HIP, or whirlbone,
happens very seldom ; and whenever it does, it
proceeds from a rupture of the round ligament,
occasioned by some violence, or an elongation, i. e.
strain, of the same, from a disease of the part;
instances of both which I have seen in a bullock
and a horse, as well as of fractures of the head
of the thigh-bone, and of the as iliunif or hip-
bone. As usual, in all such cases, it is very de-
sirable that we should ascertain the seat of the
injury and its amount. To distinguish with cer-
tainty which of these has taken place, it must be
observed that when the bone is broke in either of
these cases, the animal will in a few days begin to
rest upon that leg a little, and gradually more and
more, till the bone consolidates, and becomes
united : but, when the round ligament is ruptured,
or elongated to a certain degree, the head of the
bone falls from the socket, the leg swings, the
animal cannot rest upon it at all, and by cdntinually
bearing all the weight upon the other leg, he soon
becomes lame of that also, and, at last, does not
choose to stand at all. Moreover, in the case of
elongation or rupture of the round ligament, the
whole limb becomes longer ; but in the case of a

44

LAMENESS BEHIND,

[Part 1.

fracture of the thigh-bone, it becomes shorter;
whilst in a fracture of the os ilimn, this shortening
may or may not happen, depending alone on the
nature or manner of the fracture.

But the common lameness attending this joint is
occasioned by the relaxed state of some of the
ligaments belonging to it, brought on by some
strain at first, and by exercise continued on a weak
part. These are, — 1°. Capp'd hock. 2°. Thorough-
pin. 3°. Spavins. 4°. Curb.

1°. From a sudden strain, or continued exercise
on such weak part, a swelling will arise on the
hock, attended by lameness.

2°. From a sudden strain sudden swellings will
arise in the cavities on each side the hock, attended
with great pain.

3°. Of SPAVINS there are two sorts; one called
the bone-spavin, the other bog, or blood spavin.

A CURB is a swelHng on the joint of the hinder
leg below the hock. — All these are generally pro-
ductive of lameness.

Symptoms of lameness. — These different kinds
of lameness befalling the hinder parts of the horse
are, I think, easily distinguished from each other
by their effects on the horse, when put in motion.
For instance, if the horse, when made to go on,
be lame in any of the muscular parts belonging to
the foot, he will endeavour to give the foot ease,
by not setting it fully on the ground ; but, if the
lameness be in the fetlock-joint, or the tendons of
the leg, or proceed from thoroughpin, or be in the

Chap. F.] VARIETY ; TUMOURS.

45

hocky or proceed from any swellings surrounding
the hocky or be occasioned by a curb, or spavins,
or canker t all such causes will be very manifest to
the eye. If the lameness be in the stifle^ he
cannot so well perform the extension of the limb,
but will drag his toe upon the ground, more or less
according to the degree of injury he has received,
as in the manner of lameness in the shoulder before
described (page 33) ; and if it be in the ligaments
belonging to the joint of the hip, or whirlbone,
he will, in such case, rest his foot fully upon the
ground, but will halt or step short in his trot with
that leg, and yet perhaps be very sound in his
walk; and these rules cannot vary, because the
parts affected do, from their nature and use, if
understood, readily point out the true cause, or
seat of complaint ; that is to say, the motion of
the limb will be certain and determinate, according
to the injury done to particular parts.

Tumours. — Another species of lameness there
is, which, according to the jockeys' style, proceeds
from the humours. But most of the learned world
who have wrote on this subject, have made them-
selves merry with the jockeys and farriers, for using
the word humours, when the horse is supposed to
have a crazy constitution, or bad habit of body.
And yet, herein the learned and unlearned both
mean the same thing, as appears from the practice
of the one and writings of the other. The un-
learned, in this case, administer physic and pissing-
drinks, put in rowels, and turn to grass ; the

40

THE HUMOURS VITIATED? [Part/.

learned recommend purging, and alteratives, and
salt-marshes. But as all words are arbitrary, and at
the will of the imposer, it seems of little conse-
quence what choice we make of words, provided
always they are used to bear a determinate meaning;
so that, for the sake of peace, distinction, and
custom, I am well content this good old phrase
should stand its ground unmolested.*

There is lameness, then, proceeding from vitiated
humours ; that is to say, the blood and juices in
some constitutions being thick or viscid, and not
passing readily through the several canals of circu-
lation; hence, obstructions arise, by which the
soft parts are affected with pain and swellings, and
lameness ensues, sometimes in one part and some-
times in another ; and, though they may not always
engender matter, and become tumours, yet are
both ascribable to the same cause.

Pray, then, let me ask, why is not the word
humours as proper here as any other word, if not
applied to any other purpose ?

* " We have agreed to call this disposition to contract
diseases the humours, for want of a better term; which we
consented to illustrate by allowing that it may be * the humours
diverted from their healthy course/ whereby the animal system
is vitiated, and lies open to incur the first attack of any sort
which may supervene." Vide Hinds's Veterinary Surgeon,
page 331.

Chap. F/.] SHOULDER-SHOOK. BLISTERING. 47

CHAP. VI.

Medical and Surgical Treatment of Lameness;
Prescriptions, Operations, and Stable Manage-
ment,

General remarks : Errors. — When the seat
of lameness in the fore part of the horse is not
easily ascertained, the generality of persons about
the stable boldly insist that it lies in the shoulder ;
whilst a few, better taught, say that it exists only
in the foot. What barbarities the first set practise
was noted higher up (page 31) ; these latter, having
fixed upon the right spot, first proceed to blister,
and then to fire upon- the coronary-ring all round,
at various intervals of space.

But blistering inflames, and firing contracts the
coronarj^-ring, which is, or should be of a pliant
nature, and renders it more rigid ; the eff'ects of
which would seem to want no annotations, though
I shall enter into some particulars shortly, when
treating of that most frequent of lameness — strain
of tendons, fetlock, &c.

For strong and deep or narrow feet, keeping the
horse at grass, or loose in a house, with short shoes,
are very beneficial ; and most horses with such
feet, especially on training-ground, would do full
as well, perhaps better_, if their fore feet were not
shod at all, but were simply kept rasped short at
the toe, and their crust at the bottom occasionally
pared down.

48 DRAWING SQLE; ASS-FOOTED. [Parti.

Concussion. — For lameness arising from a
sudden false step, which Lafosse calls concussion,
and which he accounts for by the action of the
coronary-bone, then pushing the nut-bone against
the tendon, and compressing the same as between
an anvil and a hammer, he has proposed two reme-
dies, to remove the inflammation that ensues, and
its bad consequences. — One is to draw the outer
sole ; — the other is to pare it, till it becomes thin
and flexible, to bleed in the foot, and to use emol-
lient poultices and fomentations round the foot and
the coronet. Three-fourths of these cases, he says,
are cured by such methods ivithout drawing the
sole; and I beg leave to add, that I believe all
might be, if they were taken in hand immediately,
and the crust or hoof were also pared down as low-
as possible, and rendered thin on every part; —
because, the interior inflamed parts will be more
relieved by external applications, when the thick-
ness and stricture of the crust are removed, than
when the outer sole only is pared away. But the
great objection I have to drawing the sole, besides
the cruelty of the operation, is, that nineteen horses
in twenty (here in England I mean) have always
been more or less lame afterwards, when used
again, and that from contraction of the hoof occa-
sioned by such operation- In either case a run at
grass effects wonders.

Compression ; or ass-footed.^ hndi here I beg
leave to add one observation more on the folly and

Chap.VI.} COMPRESSION OF THE SOLE. 49

absurdity of our English shoers, with respect to
their treatment of ass-footed horses, and which
has been in part spoken of before, (page 30.)
Now, horses with such feet being generally lame,
it is a constant custom with these men to pare
away all the outer sole of such horses as much as
possible, and to render their feet hollow. By this
operation they propose to remove the pressure or
binding of the outer sole upon the inner, and so to
cure his lameness, which, by the by, I never yet
saw afford even so much as a temporary relief; —
but if it did so, still it would be a had custom ; —
for, the pressure or binding of one sole upon the
other, is in this case owing to the depth and
strength and contexture of the crust or hoof first
compressing the outer sole. Hereupon it must be
obvious, that by paring away the outer sole, which
helps to keep the crust or hoof expanded and open,
such crust or hoof is rendered deeper, stronger,
and narrower also, than it was before ; by which
addition of strength, depth, and contraction, the
outer sole, as it grows again, is also more strictly
embraced and compressed than it was before ; hence
the pressure or binding on the inner sole is increased,
and that still more, every time such outer sole is
pared away, till the horse at length becomes so
lame that he cannot well carry himself.

Cu7'e. — But a little practice will prove that the
only proper way of treating such feet is, to pare
down the crust as much as possible, without falling

D

50 COFFIN-JOINT DISLOCATION. [Parti.

into the quick, to keep the frog high, and the outer
sole full, and even with the crust, and to relax, and
soften and expand the hoof by all methods.

CoFFiN-JOiNT — strain or dislocation? — But a
more severe degree of concussion ( secousse J than
that just contemplated, occurs but too often, and
is found to be replete with insurmountable effects
and almost irremediable lameness. Mr. Lafosse
calls it " a strong concussion," and directs us how
to ascertain when it has happened, namely, by
feeling an enlargement under the coronet, and by
the great pain evidently occasioned by pressing the
thumb against this enlargement ; but then he cites
two cases that were not cured, although the sole
was drawn as he directs. Now, I very much ques-
tion, but these swellings at the coronet described
by him were partial dislocations of the coronary-
bone, i. e. coffin-joint ; and, though I would not
detract in the least from his merit and skill in the
anatomy of the horse, yet I am the more inclined
to think him mistaken in this particular, because he
lays it down as a rule, that the coronary-bone imll
admit of no dislocation, being so securely tied round
by ligaments, tendons, cartilages, and the construc-
tion of the hoof ; whereas, in fact, all bones, which
help to compose a joint, and that are capable of
motion, are capable also of dislocation; and that
this coronary-bone is capable of such motion will
be easily proved by examining into the use or
functions of a muscle which is inserted into it — the

Chap, FI.] OSSIFIED TENDONS.

51

foot and pastern-bone having each of them also a
muscle inserted to them. Now, the tendons of
these three muscles may occasionally perhaps be-
come united, from hard labour, so as to appear one
tendon; and yet, in fact, what is commonly called
the great tendon of the fore leg has three distinct
muscles, with three insertions into these three bones
before-named.

[This doctrine regarding dislocation of the coffin-
joint, or, as they now mollify the term, strain, and
that twin produce of concussion navicular dis-
ease," (see page 38,) having brought up a good
deal of discussion lately, and more assumption of
superior wisdom than seems befitting men of real
science, deserves a timely word or two, in this place
above all others. Had they the tact to describe
when we might ascertain, by apparent symptoms,
the existence of either disorder, or to discriminate
one from the other, which might probably lead to
the application of some remedy, we should have
owed to them our thanks; but they do neither,
because none pretends to have seen either the
strained coffin-joint nor the navicular disease, nor
do they appear to know aught more of the matter
than is contained in the foregoing pages of William
Osmer; as indeed, how could they, seeing that
they do not examine dead horses at the College,
but confine all their physiological researches to the
dissection of the Ass! No matter to our present
purpose whether our author be more correct than
Lafosse, or whether the *' false step" spoken of

/d2

52 PROFESSORS, ETC. STEAL IDEAS [Part I.

at the head of Chapter V. (page 37,) be only a
minor injury of the same nature as this partial dis-
location, brought on by the more severe concussion
(forte secousse ); yet this we must insist upon, on
behalf of Osmer, that when the professors thought
proper to adopt his doctine regarding the dis-
placement or injury of those bones, they ought in
common candour to have acknowledged the source
whence they derived their new lights ; they should
have hinted at the origin or authority (at least) to
which they were indebted for their information,
first notion, or primitive idea. But they do not so:
they claim to be discoverers ; although neither they,
nor their pupils who cry them up, ever pretend to
have seen this disease, upon dissection. Neither
does Osmer, as regards the greater injury, though
he says, of the lesser injury, " upon examination I
have found the ligaments of the nut-bone rendered
useless that is to say, ossified. And so are the
cartilages of the coffin-hone by the greater injury
or severe concussion, disposed to ossify and to com-
municate the same tendency to all the similar pro-
cesses of the internal foot — to tendons; ligaments,
and muscles alike ; whereby the foot acquires the
disorder formerly termed numbness," i. e. want of
feeling and want of action, or incurable lameness.

[After all, it signifies nought which of the two
diseases has been incurred, if either be suffered to
make head ; it terminates the same, unless the heat,
tension, and lameness be reduced in the first stage.
But none of those discoverers or writers tell us

Chap. VI.] AS TO COFFIN-JOINT LAMENESS. 53

this, nor how to take measures accordingly ; they
wait until called in for advice," upon the Guinea-
trade system : to one of these writers — Mr.William
Percivall, a worshipper of Mr. Coleman's — we would
say, that " we heartily wish he would employ him-
self to better — he cannot to less — purpose,'' than the
Guinea-trade. He is a good writer notwithstand-
ing; and we said so much of him heartily, before any
one else said the same thing — if they ever did.

[Notwithstanding the pretensions to novelty, just
noticed, these ailments were known to the earliest
writers on farriery : they appear among the sorances
of Gervase Markham, two centuries ago, who attri-
butes these as well as strain of the pastern-joint, *' to
some wrench in the stable, when the planchers are
broken under him, or by treading awry upon some
stone or cart-rut, as he travelleth by the way. " Master
P. p. 230. We are disposed to treat both degrees
of concussion — whether that come of treading awry,
or upon some stone, or a blow on the hoof — all in
the same manner as one disease, but differing in
amount, and as a species of ailment more likely to
come of hunting over uneven ground than any
other. The rider generally is cognizant of the ac-
cident, for the horse goes lame immediately. He
should, then, put up as soon as possible; most cer-
tainly dismount and lead his disabled nag, and at
any rate, upon coming to stable, set about the
remedies. If the horse has gone lame gradually,
at or after coming home, the lameness arises from
this being the leading leg, and the superior batter-

54 COTSCUSSION DISCRIMINATED ; [Par^ /.

ing it has received in the journey or run, causing
the blood to flow thither, and that in a bad state
probably— this h fever in the footy and is to be got
rid of by cooling physic and cold applications, with
a run at grass to complete the cure. And so is this
of concussion of the bones within the foot, whether
of navicula or of coffin, only that this latter kind
of attack being caused by a larger injury, and much
more likely to cause the loss of a foot — and of
course the whole horse — requires more assiduous
care, and takes a longer time in removing.

[The symptoms of the larger injury being in-
curred,— next to the sudden concussion and lame-
ness,— are, great heat of the whole foot when com-
pared to the corresponding one ; tenderness at the
coronary-ring, towards both quarters and heel,
where may be felt an enlargement of the coffin-bone
at its upper edge ; whence proceed strong cartilages
that now harden through increased action of the
blood, and where it is (so we apprehend) that the
main injury has been sustained, and sufficiently near
the joint, it is most true, to acquire the term
" strain of the coflSn-boue-joint." When the main
injury has fallen on the navicula, or nut-bone, the
same first symptoms supervene, and the sense of
pain will be evinced by the patient upon pressing
the finger in the region of that bone at the cleft of
the heel, and bars. Either attack will cause ossifi-
cation of the cartilages and ligaments in a few
days, according to the bodily health or robustness
of the subject. Bleed and purge, and give the

Chap, FJ.] TREATMENT FOR.

55

white waters (as oatmeal-gruel) and soft meats, fol-
lowed by green food ; if these reduce the heat and
tension of the foot, do not bleed again, under the
idea of following up the cure, nor purge unneces-
sarily, nor until six or eight days' end. All this
while stop the foot with cooling materials, as cow-
dung, oft changed, hand-rub the legs and heels and
in front well, after washing it (and all the legs) in
warm water, not hot. If the pain and anguish
affect the coronet all round, or higher up, bandage
the legs at night, but do not stop the circulation.
Should the pastern-joint feel the influence of the
pain, a turnip-poultice once or twice^ in which is a
solution of salt, will alleviate pain: apply it by
means of an old stocking, and hempen cloth outside
it. Take the stocking entire, draw it on, and tie a
ligature round the hoof under the coronet to the
heels, and fill the stocking from above ; make fast
by strong tapes, or web, across and athwart the
withers and chest. Take oflf the .whole after six or
eight hours, hand-rub the leg, and then bandage from
foot to knee with several yards of web, passing
spirally upwards, over a piece of woollen, just
tight enough to keep up ; the feet being stopped
with the cooling applications during all these ope-
rations, and changed as often as may be at first, or
twice a-day at least. Those means usually prevail,
in reducing the heat, and with it the tension and
enlargement within the foot, and must be followed
by a run at grass, as in every other case of lame-
ness. If they do not succeed, the ossification goes
on, and the animal is lost to his owner: firing and

56 BLISTERS AND FIRING IMPROPER [Pctrf L

blistering the parts have been long exploded ; for
they seldom do any good in such cases, only inas-
much as rest and a run at grass necessarily follow
the application of the ever barbarous cautery.

STIFF JOINT,— {See page 40), from all that
has been said, then, we may set it down as an uner-
ring rule, that

1st. Where the cartilages are ossified, there is
no cure; — 2d. for genuine anchylosis, or stiff
joint, there is no cure ; — 3d. where the bones
of the foot are either enlarged or wasted, there is
no cure.

Lameness of the fetlock-joint: i.e.
strained tendon. To remove inflammation of the
glands, consequent upon a heavy field day, and to
prevent induration and enlargement of the ligamen-
tous parts, and the integuments of the fetlock- joint,
the consequence of repeated violence, it is a good
custom for all sportsmen to cause these joints of the
horse, after a day's hunting, to be well fomented with
flannels dipped in simple warm water, or, better
still, in a decoction of some emollient herbs, as
marsh-mallows ; and afterwards some warm flannel
cloths should be moderately bound thereon, for the
ensuing night, as for want of this, or some such ap-
plication, lameness often happens to the joint.

Firing, destructive. — To cure this infiam-
mation the farrier blisters, or he Jires upon the joint
unmercifully ; by either of which methods, applied
whilst the parts are inflamed, the inflammation
thereof is most certainly increased. Hence, callo-
sity on those parts is most likely to be entailed for life.

Ckap. FJ.] IN ADHESION OF TENDONS. 57

instances enough of which we may see every day ;
ahhough this practice is as much at variance with
the disorder, as endeavouring to extinguish a fire
by pouring spirits of wine thereon. For lameness
at the tendon the mistaken man adopts the same
destructive method of proceeding; but scarcely
any other blunder committed on the sick horse is
more demonstrably erroneous than this one of firing.
To this end, let us examine the structure of the
parts to be acted upon. All tendons are enve-
loped in a sheath, each, whereon are situate maay
small secretory glands, that are forced by the
action of the tendons to pour forth a mucus, which
serves to lubricate the same, like oil, and to keep
them from growing dry and rigid, as otherwise they
would do, like any other cord or string. Between
this sheath and the skin of the leg, where nothing
intervenes but a thin membrane, what hand can
determine the boundaries of these bodies, whose
appearance, by the heat of the iron, is made undis-
tinguishable to the eye ?

Now mark the effects of firing, in its several
degrees of severity. 1°. If the fire reaches no
further than the skin, no advantage can accrue to
the tendon, but the fibres of the skin will become
contracted, and less pliant ; — 2°. If the fire reaches
the membrane, or sheath of the tendon, some of its
glands are destroyed, and the tebdon becomes
more or less rigid ; — 3". If the tendon be burnt, the
consequence will be still worse ; and in either case
the velocity of motion will be impeded : no man, I

d3

58 FOMENTATIONS, BLISTER, GRASS. [Parti.

believe, remembering a race-horse once fired, equal
to what he was before. Firing then, as a last re-
source, will act as a bandage ; and although it is
sure to spoil the racer, it may on some occasions be
found beneficial to horses of the third, fourth, and
fifth description.

Cure. — In both cases of inflamed fetlock where
the skin or ligaments surrounding the joint, or a
tendon, is inflamed or enlarged by repeated violence,
or exercise continued on a weak or inflamed part,
the following method may be used.

Bleed your horse plentifully, and give him a
mild purgative, as cooling salts, let the injured
parts be fomented twice a day with the decoction
of some emollient herbs boiled in water, such as
white lily roots, marsh-mallows, elder leaves and
flowers, bay leaves, or the like. Turn him loose in
some open building. The parts, when dry, are to
be rubbed with elder-ointment, as a cooler, and
some of the fomentation is to be thickened with
oatmeal, to the consistence of a poultice, and kept
thereon, by the same means as directed at
pages 53 and 54.

When the induration and tension is gone off*, a
cataplasm may be applied twice a day :

The Salt Cataplasm,

Take of table salt 6 oz.

Whites of eggs 2 oz. fluid.

Vinegar and oatmeal enough to form the poultice
of a due consistency, and apply by means of the

Chap. FJ.] REST INSISTED ON.

59

stocking. (See page 55). When the poultice comes
off, bathe the parts assiduously with vinegar, cold,
because heat evaporates the subtile spirit thereof.
If these remedies do not avail, why then the use of
blisters, after those previous evacuations have taken
place, m^y perhaps be the means of effecting a cure,
by unloading the vessels contiguous to the parts
affected. On all such occasions the horse should be
turned to grass, and indulged with proper rest, that
the diseased parts may recover their former fineness,
tone, and strength.

With respect to rest, the farrier has a great ad-
vantage over the regular practitioner by his blister-
ing and firing ; because the leg is so inflamed
thereby, that it is impossible to ride the horse for a
considerable time after the operation ; so- that, if he
happens to get sound, it is generally thought to be
the effect of the blistering and firing ; which ought,
in reality, to be imputed to the rest he has had,
and to nothing else. But when any other method
has been used for this purpose, and the part looks
fair to the eye, the rider mounts, his horse is lame
again the first day, and the groom wisely concludes,
he will never stand sound without being fired.
Than which nothing can be more impotent; for let
any man, who has ever strained the tendon of his
wrist or ancle, reflect on the pain he has suffered
from the least motion of the parts ; and how long a
time has been required, before he has been able to
bear the extension of such tendons, even when all
appearances have been fair. . Will not the case be

60 STRAINED TENDON IN TRAINING; [Parti.

the same with the horse 1 And is not rest plainly
indicated — freedom from labour, in one case as in
the other 1 And here I cannot help censuring the
jockey, who, having his horse matched to run, and
in his strong exercise the tendons become so in-
flamed, that he cannot be allowed to gallop, yet
constantly takes him out morning and evening to
give him walking exercise, by way of keeping
down flesh and keeping up his wind.

But this walking exercise can contribute little
towards keeping him in wind, or making him other-
wise fit for the race, yet still helps to fatigue the
tendon. Whereas, if the horse was kept quiet,
and proper prescriptions applied to the injured
part, it is very possible he might recover soon
enough for his purpose. Therefore, when it is
thought improper for him to gallop, it must be much
better for him to lie quite idle ; and the most
proper applications I know of in this case are to
bathe the parts with cold vinegar, to rub in some
cooling ointment when it is dry, and to renew the
salt cataplasm (page 58) twice a day ; salt, exter-
nally used, being the greatest discutient I am ac-
quainted with, and taken inwardly it is an excel-
lent deohstruent also.*

The use of ardent spirits, so often recommended,
do harm to tendinous parts when there is any ten-
sion, because, if then applied, these render the

* See Table of hard words at the end of this volume for an
explanation of those hard tvords ; and, for the virtues of Salt,
consult the Appendix to Grooms' Oracle, under the word Salt.

Chap, F/.] CONCAVE shoe, improper. 61

fibres rigid ; but, when the tension is gone off, such
may help to brace and strengthen the parts. A
high-heeled shoe will also be of signal service in
this case, as it helps in some measure to keep the
tendon relaxed. See, also, pages 10 and 30.

Shoe for lamed tendon, — To conchide this part
of my topic, I beg leave to repeat what has been
said in part already ; namely, that all lameness in
the tendons of a draught, road, or running horse,
happens generally from the unequal surface of our
modern concave shoe, and from robbing of its proper
support that tendon, — which is continued to the bot-
tom of the foot, and there become the sensible sole,
by paring away the frog unmercifully. Hunters,
indeed, may occasionally contract lameness in the
tendons, from various injuries and violence re-
ceived in their different kinds of work, and are
very liable thereto, as hath before been noticed.

WiNDGALLS do not always occasion lameness ;
though they be proof of over much work. The
method of curing ivindgalls, according to the pre-
sent mode, is various ; but before any thing is said
touching this practice, it is necessary to shew what
they are ; and, first, as to the cause. From strains,
or blows received on the tendinous or membranous
parts, the juices of the glands are poured forth into
the cells of the membrane, and become enveloped
in a cysty or bag. Its contents are similar to the
white of an egg, and the disease is sometimes
termed ganglion, similar to that on the human wrist.

The cure is attempted by some farriers' letting

62

FISTULOUS TUMOURS. [Parti.

out the contents of this encysted tumour with a
knife or lancet ; which is always sure to fill again
when the wound is healed, after having been at-
tended with much pain. Others blister, which for
a time seems to have discharged the swelling, but
when the horse comes into use it soon fills again.
Others, again, fire upon the part, by which the
outer tegument, or skin, is rendered rigid and
indurated; hence the pain occasioned by these
tumours becomes greater than it was before, and
the horse is fit for nothing but the cart.

But the proper method is to make an incision into
the skin, and take off the same with the bag, and
its contents. Sometimes these cysts, or bags, lie
superficially on the coats of the three flexor tendons
(which are by all writers called one, and known by
the name of the great sinew) and sometimes they
are buried and continued from one side of the leg
to the other, through and betwixt the interstices of
these tendinous bodies. In such cases, also, the
cysts must be dissected out, and entirely destroyed,
or else the wound most frequently becomes fistulous,
or the cysts fill again ; but when the cyst lies deep
the operation is very difficult, and dangerous too,
chiefly on account of the horse's struggling. See
pages 10, 42, 44.

Besides those there are other encysted tumours
incident to the horse, the difference whereof consists
only in the nature of their contents, and which are to
be cured after the same manner as the former. By
the way, dogs, also, are subject to this disorder, on

Chap. FJ.] SPLINTS : TREATMENT.

63

the knee ; for the cure of which, blistering and
firing are improperly used: thus, many a good
fox-hound has been spoiled, that has been of more
utility to the world than two farriers. Many of
these I have cut out with a pair of scissars,
leaving the cure to be finished by virtue of the
dog's tongue.

Splints are another of the consequents of
hard work, or of concussion of the bones. Splints
will sometimes occasion lameness, but if they do
not, it is much better not to meddle with them at
all. The use of Misters on these does little more
than inflame the parts, and the use of a hot iron
often rouses a sleeping lion ; the bone of the
whole leg being very often enlarged thereby ; but
when they do occasion lameness, they may be
destroyed by mild caustics, that will not, if pro-
perly applied, leave any permanent eschar, nor
even occasion the loss of hair.
Take of Spanish flies, powdered . . half an ounce.

Oil of origanum 1 drachm.

Corrosive sublimate 1 drachm.

Hog's lard 1 ounce ; mix.

Clip off* the hair, and apply some to the part, re-
peating it occasionally, a little at a time, for several
days, till an eschar begins to separate, keeping the
horse's head tied up all the while, lest he gnaw it.
When the eschar appears, the blister ointment is to
be scraped off^, and the part anointed with some
cooling oil ; after which nothing more remains to
be done, than to turn the horse to grass, and keep

64 SPAVINS. SINEW, RELAXED. [Parti.

the part daily touched with train oil. By these
means, various eschars will scale off one after
another, till the part becomes smooth and well.

But from the effect spirit of salt ( muriatic acid)
was found to have on venereal nodes, I was induced
to try the virtue of it on splints, bone-spavin, and
other nodeSy which, when applied with caution and
prudence, is a wonderful remedy in these cases. The
acid maybe used in its concentred or strongest state,
by a steady hand, whereby the splint will be com-
pletely reduced, but until expertness in the applica-
tion is acquired great care is necessary. Meantime
let it be diluted with a third part water, and even
in this reduced state it has the effect of destroying
the skin, if allowed to touch it. See page 41.

Letting down. — For this, or as it is better
termed, a relaxation of the sinew, the best remedy
is to apply an astringent poultice.

Take of Milk 2 quarts.

Alum, powdered 4 ounces ;

boil the milk, and, as soon as it rises, add the
alum : curds and whey are the product. Foment
the part with the whey, and bind the curds thereon
by way of cataplasm. After a few days, colcothar *

* Colcothar, or chalcitis, a very useful preparation of vitriol,
in the veterinary practice, but upon which the moderns have
unaccountably turned their backs. Take of common green
vitriol (vitriolated iron), put it in a fire-proof pot, or crucible;
let the fire be gentle, but sufficient after awhile to turn the
vitriol to a red colour. Any vehicle may be employed in
mixing up — except those of a greasy nature.

Chap.VI.'] SPRAIN^ OR ELONGATION. 65

of vitriol finely powdered and mixed with white of
eggs, is to be applied as a charge every twenty-
four hours, and a smooth bandage kept on the
part. Remember that the use of oil in this, or
any like case must do harm, because its tendency is
to relax the fibres of the tendon, which are already
too much relaxed, and constitutes the disorder.

Shoulder-strain. — When the muscles and
ligaments of the shoulder are strained, keep the
horse tied up and free from motion as much as you
can. Warmth, discutient fomentations, or the
frequent use of vinegar, will probably restore the
lamed patient; but the muscular parts generally
recover much sooner than the ligamentous or tendi-
nous, and the animal appears to be recovered long
before it is so in reality. — See pages 31, 33, 34.

Sprains of joiNTS.—Extension and counter-
extension are proper methods of reducing all joints.
— Vinegar and the salt cataplasm is to be used
after the reduction of the bone; a bandage should
be applied round the joint, and proper rest must
be allowed. — Oil or ointment is to be avoided
here ; because the fibres in these cases want to be
braced, and not to be relaxed, as just before ob-
served. But if there be already great distension
attending the sprain, with inflammation of the parts,
such should be relaxed with oil, before the reduc-
tion of the bone is attempted.

Whirlbone-lameness. — In the case of a
dislocated whirlbone, where the head of the hip-
bone is fallen down from its socket, either by rup-

66

STRAIN OF STIFLE; CURB. [Part L

ture, or elongation of the round ligament, I believe
it is vain to think of a remedy. But where the
ligaments surrounding the joint are supposed to be
relaxed, blistering and firing (which are always
coupled together like two hounds) are the methods
generally followed. Here it must be allowed, that
blistering, if it be ever proper, is in this case likely
to be of use, by inflaming the parts, and giving a
new and increased heat to the flaccid and relaxed
fibres: it may be occasionally repeated. Warm
strengthening charges should be applied afterwards,
and proper rest given. But, all that firing can
effect, on this or any other occasion, seems to be,
that by contracting the fibres of the skin, the re-
laxed fibres of some part underneath may become
more strictly embraced; which cannot happen in
the present case, because there are strong muscles
intervening between the skin and the ligaments;
and I think that firing seldom is of much use in
any kind of lameness whatever. But, according to
the best of my observation, more horses are undone
than are benefitted by it.

Stifle. — For the same reason, when lameness
happens at the stifle, I have found blistering the
most immediate and effectual remedy. — On this
occasion, a broad piece of cloth should be kept on
the adjacent part of the flank of the horse, to pre-
vent the inflammation, which would be otherwise
produced by such blistering on the stifle.

Curb. — By repeated blistering, a curb is easily
cured, if taken in time. — See page 44.

Chap. FI.] THOROUGHPIN ; CANKER. 67

Enlarged hock. — If the joint of the hock is
much enlarged, whatever be the cause, there is
generally a redundancy of the mucus ; and the
ligamentous parts and cartilages will in all proba-
bility be affected. Here again the custom is to
blister and fire ; but here also, if the parts are in-
flamed, as they are most likely to be, blistering
must be wrong — vinegar, or warm fomentations,
with spirit of sal ammoniac, (or muriate of ammo-
nia,) are to be used, and the cataplasm of salt
should be applied twice a day. — In this, and all
other inflammatory cases, cooling medicines should
be given inwardly, and previous bleeding is often
necessary. — But when these methods prove unsuc-
cessful, blisters may then be tried, as a last resource,
though I have never seen one instance of their
doing good in this case, after a number of repeated
trials. But this disorder is usually incurable, by
reason of the ends of the bones being in this case
often enlarged.

Thoroughpin. — When sudden swellings arise
in the cavities on each side of the hock, bleeding
is necessary ; the part is to be bathed frequently
with cold vinegar, the salt cataplasm is to be used,
and such a bandage with bolsters on each side
applied, as will most effectually compress these
swellings ; so will they disappear, and the horse
become sound. — See page 44.

Canker. — For a canker in the foot; powdered
verdigris, blue vitriol powdered, and hole armoniac,
with vinegar added to the same, will generally be

68

THRUSH ; BLOOD-SPAVIN. [Parti,

found a suflScient remedy. — If the case be obstinate,
a few drops of nitrous acid may be mixed there-
with.—See page 41.

Thrush. — Running-thrushes will be cured with
lint dipped in strong blue vitriol-water thrust lightly
into the part; but this discharge, once diverted
from its usual channel, some more noble part may
perhaps be affected, or blindness ensue. Where-
fore, when this mode of cure is attempted, the
horse should be immediately purged two or three
times, and go through a long course of the salt
petre, or some other cooling salts. — See page 41,
and Nitre and Salts in Index.

Blood-spavin is a preternatural expansion of
the vessel passing over the hock. The general
method of treating this disorder, is to make a liga-
ture round the vein, above and below the swelling,
to prevent further circulation; after which, blis-
tering is usually applied to the swelling. But I
think it a more certain cure, to make an incision
through the skin, upon the swelled part, then to
pass a ligature round the inferior part of the tume-
fied vessel, and to dissect the superior part of it
quite out; after which it is to be dressed according
to the methods that will be directed for wounds in
general, in the next chapter.

Ring-bone and bone-spavin. — As to these,
I never yet saw any method of cure that may be
relied on as effectual. But I know, that the usual
method of curing these disorders, is by the appli-
cation of some medicine of a caustic quality, which

Chap.VI.] OPERATION FOR BONE-SPAVIN. 69

being of necessity continued for a time, to produce
an eschar, destroys the hair, and always leaves
behind it a certain ugly blemish. But the most
proper method is as follows : —
I First f Clip the hair from the diseased part ; and
make several punctures on the same through the
skin with a sJiarp pointed instrument then make
a longitudinal incision through the skin, above the
diseased part, about the middle thereof. There
introduce a pointed probe, and dilate the skin with
it, as far down as the swelling reaches. Next,
make another smaller longitudinal incision through
the skin below the swelled part, directly opposite
to the wound above, in doing which, your probe
introduced at top will direct you. At the superior
wound a caustic, wrapped up in a piece of lint, is
to be introduced, and there left. As the caustic
dissolves, it is carried off by the inferior wound;
the whole is directly to be covered with a warm
adhesive charge — and this is the whole of the ope-
ration. The caustic thus introduced under the

* The puncturing instrument resembles somewhat a shoe-brush,
the hair being substituted by a number of sharp-pointed high-
tempered nails, acting like so many lancets. When these have
been driven through a piece of wood (beech), another piece of
the same size is to be fastened on the back of the former ; and
so much as may be deemed necessary of the instrument being
applied to the diseased part, a tolerably smart blow will, of
course, make as many punctures as the number of lancets that
are so brought to bear. A design (fg. 2) is given of this instru-
ment, which conveys a just idea of what it ought to be. The
nails, or lancets, need not exceed half an inch each, and should^
be all of the same height. See plate 2.

70 FALLING DOWN OF THE HUMOURS. [Part I.

skin acts both ways, namely, on the membrane
underneath it, and on the outer tegument upon it ;
thus the membrane, the outer tegument, and the
charge, throw themselves off together, and the
diseased or swelled part becomes fair and smooth.
The horse should be turned out, or kept in a loose
stable, and if the charge comes off before the wound
is well, another should be applied immediately.
But in spite of this, and all other methods used for
these disorders, the horse will very frequently re-
main full as lame as he was before, although the
appearance of the disease is removed ; the reason
of which is, that the periosteum, or membrane that
covers all the bones, only is then diseased ; at other
times the bone itself and its cellular part are so ;
yet, I dare say, there is not one farrier in this
kingdom, but has an infallible and certain cure for
all these disorders, alike.

FxVLLING DOWN OF THE HUMOURS.—The

causes of those different species of lameness, may
generally be traced to bad shoeing, or to known
accidents, as was shewn in the preceding chapter,
pages 37 to 46. There is also another almost
inscrutable kind of lameness, that comes we know
not how, and goes oflT again according to the gene-
ral health of the patient, and is mostly observable
after the horse has recovered from some notable
sickness. The fact is, that the humours, or secre-
tions, on which something was said at pages 45, &c.
not going on aright, the vitiated effects thereof
fall down into the feet, geiierally the fore ones, and

Chap, FI.] FALLING DOWN OF THE HUMOURS. 71

occasion lameness, that is not exactly discernible.
Osmer advises, for lameness proceeding from what
is called the humours, after bleeding- and proper
purgation, the cure is to be attempted by such
medicines as will most effectually produce an alte-
ration in the blood and juices ; amongst which class
of medicines I have found saltpetre to be very
efficacious, when given daily, and continued for a
long time ; which may be done without any inter-
ruption of exercise, if there be no other cause to
prevent the same.

72

WOUNDS OF THE FEET. [Part II.

PART II.

OF SURGICAL OPERATIONS AND APPLICATIONS.

CHAP. I.

The Nature and Treatment of Wounds.

[Definition. — Wounds are either punctured,
incised, or contused wounds : i. e. occasioned by
a blunt material, as a stake or flint, &c. ; or by a
sword, knife, &c. These may lie deep, or are su-
perficial only : i. e. far into the muscle, and are
termed deep-seated^ or else merely punctured ; or
simply consist in abrasion of the skin, by the horse
being driven against carriage, wall, &c. They may
either be dependent ^ i. e. the mouth or orifice down-
ward, or they may be inflicted high up, on the
withers, neck, croup, &c.; and are then very trouble-
some to cure, as the method of procuring the
means of the matter running off, then becomes ex-
tremely diflScult.]

Wounds of the feet. — As to punctures
inflicted on the feet, the rules laid down by Mr. La-
fosse appear very accurate, and anatomically cor-
rect; for which reason I shall only observe, and
would have it laid down as a general rule, that

Chap, I.] TREATMENT OP WOUNDS.

73

whatever wound may happen to the coronary-ring, or
the cellularspongy partof the heel, whether by punc-
ture, tread, incision, laceration, or other accident,
no medicine of an unctuous nature (except in case
of sandcrack ) is to be applied to the part ; such
applications always producing fungus or spongy
flesh, which occasions much pain and inconvenience
to the horse, as well as some trouble to reduce,
which is only to be accomplished with caustics.

With respect to the treatment of wounds in
general, there seems but little skill required, es-
pecially where the habit of body is good, the orifice
of the wound depending, and there is room sufficient
for the matter to discharge itself. The proper me-
thod of treating wounds in general, may be summed
up in a few words.

If an arterial blood-vessel be wounded,* the
bleeding will be stopped by making a ligature with
a needle and thread round the upper end of the
same. If the hasmorrhage, or bleeding, be small,
lint dipped in flour, blue vitriol- water, or oil of
vitriol, will generally have the desired effect. Over
this the digestive ointment, as below, spread on tow,
is to be applied, and the whole covered with a
poultice of bread and milk. After two days this
dressing should be taken off*, and the part fomented

• When an artery has been divided, the blood issuing from it
may be known by its not coagulating as venous blood does : it
also flows with a jerk in unison with the pulsation, and not iu
a steady stream, like blood issuing from a vein.— Edit.

E

74

DRESSINGS.

[Part 11.

daily with some warm fomentation, as below. The
digestive also, and the poultice is to be continued,
till the matter appears pale and healthy, and the
flesh of the wound begins to look of a red and florid
colour.

Digestive Ointment.
Take of Venice turpentine. . ") of each

Hogs' lard i 3 ounces,

Bees' wax ' 1 oz. melt, & add

Red precipitate powder .... 2 drachms, mix.

Fomentation.

No. I. — Take of marsh-mallows an arm full :
boil in water an hour; and bathe the parts with it
while warm, by applying the herbs in substance.

No. II. — Take of sage, lavender, rosemary,
wormwood, centaury, camomile-flowers, or any
of these, a sufficient quantity ; boil in water, and
apply warm, as above.

When the flesh about the wound begins to look
red, nothing more is required than gradually to heal
the same ; to this end, the fomentation and diges-
tive are to be laid aside ; and, instead thereof, lint
dipped in water, strongly impregnated with blue
vitriol, to keep down the fungous flesh, is to be
applied, and covered with a plaster of Turner s
cerate.

If the hlue lint should not be sufficient to keep
down the spongy flesh, some drops of aqua fortis
may be added thereto, or the same may be sprinkled

Chap. /.] WOUNDED TENDONS.

75

with red precipitate powder, and covered with a
pledget of the above digestive ointment or the
cerate. Or, instead of this method, take of blue
vitriol-^ow^er one part, of bole ammoniac four
parts ; this is to be strewed slightly on the wound,
and the same covered with a poultice : the quantity
of vitriol-powder may be occasionally increased, its
use being to keep down the growing spongy flesh.

The use of some such medicine or poultice con-
tinued even till the wound is healed, is much
neater, and more eligible than the common method,
and perhaps effects a better cure ; for, by means of
these, some discharge of matter is still promoted,
even till the wound be well ; whereas, according
to the common method of healing wounds, some
wash, or powder of an escharotic quahty is generally
applied to the part ; whereby the wound is dried
up immediately, with an eschar thereon, which
scales off by degrees : but, by such immediate
drying up, an indurated swelHng often remains on
the part, more especially if it be situated near a
joint, — whence also anchylosis is to be feared.

Wounded tendon. — When wounds happen
to the tendon of a horse's foot, great pain and in-
flammation, perhaps fever, ensues, which requires
to be reduced. But I once saw an instance of the
contrary treatment, in which case a flexor tendon
of a horse had been wounded by the point of a
sharp flint, (as it was supposed,) in hunting. As
usual in those times, a farrier was sent for, who,
not discovering this small punctured wound, de-

e2

76 MIS-TREATMENT. PATTEN-SHOE. [Part IL

clared the horse to be lame in the shoulder, as they
generally do upon all occasions ; and, to cure this
shoulder lameness, he put a patten-shoe on the foot
of the sound leg, that the horse might be obliged to
stand upon the lame one : this gave him so much
pain, by stretching the wounded fibres, that he did
not chuse to stand at all.

After some days had elapsed, I was desired to
look at the horse. Upon examination I found the
true cause ; the part was dressed with a medicine of
an agglutinating quality, namely, lint, dipped in
equal parts of the balsam of turpentine and oil of
turpentine; this was covered with the digestive
plaster, and a poultice applied over the whole.
With some difficulty I prevailed on the doctor to
take the patten-shoe from the foot of the sound leg,
and to put it on that of the lame one. By these
means the horse became well, and as sound as
ever; for the extreme ends of divided tendons, if
brought into contact, will, in a reasonable time,
unite again as well as divided bones.

At this place it is necessary to observe, that all
tenting of wounds is a pernicious practice ; for, by
thus stopping up the orifice, the matter, which ought
to escape, is confined; the tendons, ligaments, and
cartilages, are injured; and bones are rendered
carious or rotten : besides other inconveniences,
arising from the pain, inflammation, and fever con-
sequential thereto. In like manner, where the
matter lies lower than the orifice of the wound, and
cannot flow out, it reduces fistulous cavities in the

Chap, J.] POLE-EVIL AND FISTULA.

77

parts ; therefore is it always necessary to go to the
bottom of such, by incision or otherwise ; else no
cure can be expected, but the contrary.

This is the case with respect to what is called
pole-evil in the neck, and fistula on the wither ; both
which would be easily cured, if cut to the bottom
as soon as they are ripe enough to open : observing
carefully to distinguish between these cavities and
the interstices or division of the muscles, and not to
wound the cervical ligament, by cutting across in-
stead of lengthwise. The proper method of
treating these evils, after the necessary incisions
are made, and the bleeding is stopped, is to fill the
mouths of the opening with dry lint, and the wound
to be treated in every respect according to the
general rules before laid down.* But the farriers,
in these cases, after making the incisions, always
begin at the wrong end ; that is to say, they make
use of escharotic applications at the very first
dressing ; hence, a sufficient quantity of granulated
'flesh not being suffered to increase, the parts, when
well, become indented, with an unequal surface,
and much loss of substance; and the animal be-
comes crest-fallen to the end of his days.

Deep-seated wounds. — In all deep wounds
of the muscular parts, caused by puncture, stab-
bing, sword-wound, or staking, the orifice ^oi the

* Working-horses are most liable to pole-evil. An elaborate
account of, and improved mode of treating those disorders of
the countryman's team is given in Hinds's Veterinary Surgery,
which it w^ould be superfluous to repeat here. — Edit.

78

PUNCTURED WOUNDS ; [Part II.

wound should be made wider, as soon as can be :
for such wounds do not discharge a laudable pus, or
matter, by means of which the inflammation attend-
ing them would be carried off ; but a bloody ichor
flows therefrom, and the wound is ever ready to
become closed again, if the orifice thereof be the
most narrow part of it.

Staked horse.— When horses are staked in any part,
the vulgar custom is to thrust a candle up the wound,
as far as can be, and to keep it confined therein,
by which mean numbers are killed. But, if any
happen to survive, it is entirely owing to the con-
stitution of the horse, the wideness of the orifice of
the wound, and its depending state ; for, if the
matter in this case be confined, or not well digested,
inflammation, tension, fever, gangrene, and death,
most certainly ensue ; whereas, the proper method
of acting in this case, is to make a crucial incision
in the orifice of the wound, which is effected in this
manner, x : let it be sufiiciently wide for the matter
to be discharged, according to the nature of the parts
and the situation of the wound. Hereupon, the lips
of this incised wound are to be filled with pledgets
of lint, thrust gently between them, to prevent their
uniting again, taking out those pledgets three or
four times a-day, to allow the matter to escape,
until it. assumes a healthy appearance, when the
pledgets are to be omitted entirely. If any consi-
derable eff'usion of blood attend the crucial incision,
it must be stopped by such methods as have been
before directed for this purpose (page 73), and by

Chap.!.] AND SUPERFICIAL — TREATMENT. 79

various others: but, whichever is adopted, let it be
covered with the digestive plaster before-named,
and a poultice applied over the whole. This dres-
sing is to remain on the part two days ; after which,
such methods are to be used as is above directed
for wounds in general.

Superficial wounds.— When shallow punc-
tures happen on the joints or limbs, from thorns,
stubs, or other sharp bodies, if such reach the liga-
mentous or tendinous parts, the small discharge
flowing therefrom, once stopped by a medicine of
a repelling or discutient quality, will generally
produce great inflammation, with other bad symp-
toms, and much matter may be formed ; and yet
I have known several instances of such punctures,
both in the equine and human species, cured by
fomentation, and the use of salt. But, in all such
kinds of punctures, emollient fomentations, with a
poultice made of bread and milk, or oatmeal and
strong-beer grounds, kept on the part, are the most
eligible methods of cure.

In lacerated wounds of skin or muscle, a needle
and double thread may be used to unite the divided
parts, according to the depth and nature of the
wound, leaving proper intervals of space between
each stitch for the matter to flow out. To prevent
pain, as much as possible, from the stitching, a
roller bandage should be applied upon the part,
and the divided parts kept together as much as
possible by the bandaging : if not, the stitching will
be painful: but if, notwithstanding this, great

80 WOUNDS LEAVE INDURATION. [Part II,

inflammation ensue, and much matter be produced,
and lodged in the part, it is necessary to cut away
the stitches, and the inflammation will cease ; but
wounds of the skin will generally be cured by the
simple application of lint dipped in Friars' balsam.

Incised wounds will also be cured, in general, by
by the same means.

In gun-shot wounds, the methods before directed
will take place, all foreign bodies being first ex-
tracted, if it can be done. A horse will carry a
pistol-shot in him for years, without apparent
inconvenience.

If an induration remains on any part when the
inflammation is gone off, whether it be the effect of
drying up a wound too fast, or the consequence of
a puncture by a thorn, or other accident, the parts
should be well embrocated with some cooling oint-
ment, and the use of emollient poultices and
fomentations. Repeated blisters will be found
serviceable, when judiciously, applied, to the indu-
ration left behind by deep-seated wounds.

Let the wounds, of whatever description, except
gun-shot, be washed out clean with warm water,
and the parts bathed therewith by the application
of cloths; and, if a wound be deep, a syringe
should be employed. The fomentations prescribed,
at page 74, will have the effect of lowering the in-
flammation that ensues lacerated and contused
wounds. In these cases give a purging ball, but
not a strong one, unless the horse be constipated.

Chap. I/.] SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 81

CHAP. II.

Further Surgical Operations.
Bleeding the patient is an operation that is
too frequently undertaken without any necessity,
and even when no disease exists ; is it, then, to be
wondered at, that it should sometimes be per-
formed clumsily and dangerously, leaving behind it
a long" and lingering disorder? Further, it happens
at times that the operator hits so hard with his
blood-stick as to divide the artery that lies just
under the vein, and death would oftener ensue
such an hemorrhage but for the opportune visit of
a skilful veterinarian, to take up the artery, and
thus prevent further bleeding. How this taking
up is to be performed, is shewn in a preceding
page, 73.

It also frequently happens, for want of proper
care in bleeding at the neck, or afterwards, that a
swelling falls on the part, attended with many bad
symptoms ; sometimes with the loss of the vein, at
other times with gangrene and subsequent death.
Delay occasions the most dangerous consequences ;
but, notwithstanding it is generally a long time in
hand, it may as generally be cured in a few days,
and that by the following means.

As soon as you perceive this evil effect of
bleeding, the use of warm fomentations, cooling

E 3

82

SADDLE-GALLS.

[Part IL

ointment, and a poultice of bread and milk, will
very probably remove the swelling". But if these
methods do not succeed, a rowel is to be put into
the skin, in the middle of the horse's bosom, and
with a tobacco-pipe, or any other tube, blow up
the skin quite to the part affected ; so will an im-
mediate derivation be made therefrom as soon as
the rowel runs. If after this any swelling or indu-
ration still remains on the neck, it may now be
removed by poultices and fomentations^ or the
following mixture may be adopted in the first
instance.

and, with lint or tow, apply it to the part, and
clothe the horse in warm hood and breast-piece,
without which the appHcation will be found little
serviceable.

Bleeding has been frequently spoken of, in the
course of these pages, as a highly necessary and
judicious operation ; cases occur, also, wherein it
has been resorted to with the most unhappy conse-
quences ; for both points of information, the reader
will consult the Index, which refers him to several
other precautions to be taken, if he would avoid
dangerous accidents. He will also therein perceive
the propriety of giving opening physic after every

Discutient Lotion,

Take Spirits of wine

Camphor

Bole armeniac

4 ounces,

2 drachms,

1 drachm ; mix

Chap, IJ.] TUMOUR, ENCYSTED.

83

BLEEDING, but uever too strong, especially in cases
of catarrhal inflammation.

Saddle-galls. — When swellings happen on
any part of the back or withers, from bruises of
the saddle, the discutient lotion is of more efficacy
than any other I am acquainted with ; for it will,
in a few days, either dissipate such swelling en-
tirely, or bring it to matter; and, what is worthy
of notice, when matter is ultimately produced, the
swelling itself is then of much less magnitude than
it would be by any other application of ours, which
might produce matter. The lotion may be used
twice a day, rubbing some of it upon the swelling,
and wetting some lint or tow therewith, to be
bound on the part.

But if, notwithstanding our endeavours, matter
be formed in this case, discontinue the application
of the discutient, and as soon as you perceive it to
fluctuate under the finger, let it out with a knife,
lancet, or bistoury. Some lint dipped in the same
lotion, and applied to the part once or twice a day,
will cure the same, without using any digestive or
other means. It will also cure a rawness on the
back, or other part, provided the fungous flesh
which generally attends bad cases be not grown
too high. And when this has happened, let it be
reduced by the means prescribed at page 74, ere
you further attempt to heal the wound.

Encysted tumours will also happen from bruises
by the saddle on various parts of the back. These
are to be cured like other encysted tumours, by

84

CANKER ON THE TONGUE. [Part II.

taking out the bag and its contents. But should it
so happen that, in taking out an encysted tumour,
the sac, or bag, should be wounded, and its con-
tents let out, which may happen to any operator,
however circumspect, care should be taken to
destroy the bag, as much as can be effected, with
the knife — which is to be dressed with the digestive
plaster and poultice ; and when the wound appears
red and florid, dress it according to the general
method before directed, page 74.

Canker on the tongue. — When an obstinate .
ulceration in the mouth happens to the tongue of
the horse, take of oil of turpentine, olive oil, and
oil of vitriol equal quantities ; mix, and touch the
sore part with a rag tied on a stick, and dipt
therein : repeat at proper intervals, and the cure is
certain.

Operations for various other ills also occur
under their proper heads — as, for concussion, hoof-
bound, spavin, wounded artery, fistula, tumour, la-
cerated wounds, relaxed sinew— all which may be
found by turning to the word " Operations," in
Index.

THE DISTEMPER.

85

PART III.

DISEASES OF THE CONSTITUTION.

CHAP. I.

Fever; Distemper, Staggers, Tumours.

Not only are the various kinds of lameness
greatly misunderstood, as I have shewn, but I have
been long of opinion that many diseases of the
whole constitution are in the same sort of predica-
ment. This I am enabled to state freely, from
the long experience I have had in such matters ;
and I believe I shall be able to shew, that all the
writers hitherto who have written learnedly on
these subjects, have been as much mistaken in the
nature and cure of some of these as the commonest
farriers are. The which authors have also made
many useless distinctions of diseases, that tend
only to perplex the reader, by multiplying the
number of terms for the same species of attack ;
some of, which do not apply at all, and others not
in such a manner as they set forth and maintain.

[The distemper. — Whenever great mortality
prevails among cattle of any description, the origin
whereof is supposed to be the s^me, it receives
the name of distemper, generally ; it then occa-

86

CAUSES OP EPIDEMIC [Part III.

sions great dismay among proprietors, and much
perplexity in the minds of practitioners. A state
of things that need not exist to such a degree as
we often witness ;* if each separate case be taken
as its own, unconnected with the prevalence of the
disorder, and the treatment varied according to the
state of the individual attacked. An eye should
also be had to the remote cause of this prevalence ;
namely^ the kind of season in which the preceding
harvest was got in — as to hay or oats^ to which
distemper has been attributed by most writers and
thinkers on the subject; or it may be owing to the
existing state of the weather at the time, or to
both those causes combined. From the effects of
the first we may escape, in some degree, by
adopting more freely the use of other articles of
food than that which has been ill got in ; and by
counteracting the effects of a bad article, if we
cannot wholly avoid using it. When the water,
ihat source of so many ills, whilst impregnated with
offensive particles, or extreme coldness, may be
suspected as the cause, let the means of correction
be employed.f The articles termed absorbent (not

• In autumn 1824 and 1828, the distemper prevailed much,
and carried off numbers of valuable horses : we had it slightly
in spring 1823. In France it carried off many horses by at-
tacking the brain ; spring 1825,.

t Some long and instructive conversation was held in " The
Grooms^ Oracle, by Mr. Hinds," as to the nature of tenter, its
several kinds, the means of detecting the presence of harmful
substances, and of removing the same. See it.

Chap. J.] distemper: the seasons. 87

medicines exactly) should be mixed in the water,
as chalk, magnesia, prepared oyster-shells, char-
coal, neutral salts, &c. and the three first-mentioned
may be given in chaff and oats, or among the haij.
More frequently, however, the distemper may
fairly be attributed to the existing season, at the
time it prevails. Hot and sunny days, succeeded
by cold and humid nights, as often happens in a
protracted Autumn, after a wet summer, debilitates
many horses at a time, nay, those of a whole
country district, at times. Defend the cattle from
its effects by housing them nightly, by comfortable
stabling ; and, if they be of the tender description
of horse, by sufficient clothing.] — Now, hear Osmer
himself —

One year, in the days of my youth, the distemper
amongst the horses was more universal than at any
other time. Various were the symptoms, and very
different the degrees of illness amongst different
horses. Some had a discharge of matter from the
eyes, nose, and mouth, others had none ; but in
all there were great tokens of inflammation, at-
tended with fever, and a violent cough.

I had at that time in London a favourite horse,
that was seized, amongst a number of others at a
livery stable, with this distemper. He had no dis-
charge of any kind, but had a dry cough, and a
violent fever; was very dejected, would touch
nothing, and was more likely, as I thought, to die,
than to live. Of course I was very anxious about
the welfare of ray horse, and having never seen

88 CRITICAL DISCHARGE; HISTORY. [Part III.

any thing like this kind of illness before, I consulted
such people as I thought were most likely to under-
stand its nature; but I received no satisfactory
solution of my difficulties, every one being at a
loss in what manner to act. But I soon found that
most of those horses which had a plentiful discharge
of matter from the nose, &c. recovered; and where
such discharge did not happen, nor a critical
abscess fall on some part, such cases proved fatal.
My horse continued in the same state two or three
days ; for I was over-persuaded not to meddle with
him, but to wait in expectation of what nature
might do, by promoting some discharge, (i. e, cri-
tical purgation,) which yet did not happen. In
this dilemma I visited several horses just dead of
this distemper, which had no discharge from the
nose, &c. in hopes of discovering the cause of their
death, and so finding a remedy. On many of these
I made several incisions in the skin, on various
parts of the body ; and wherever an incision was
made, I found in all of them a quantity of extrava-
sated serum, lodged between the skin and the
membranes. [That is, in the reta mucosum,

1 was no longer in doubt what was to be done
in this case, but immediately ordered him to be
bled ; and several rowels were put into the horse,
to the number of six or eight, which the bystanders
said would soon mortify, and in their opinion the
poor animal was condemned to die. But, behold,
in about thirty hours he held up his head, began
to look cheerful, and to eat his meat; and, in

Chap, J.] ROWELS, EFFECTS OF: FEVER. 89

another day, became, apparently, as well as ever
he was in his life. Notwithstanding, after all this
discharge, when the rowels were taken out, and
he had been twice purged, an edematous swelling
soon after fell into one leg and thigh; which, I
apprehended, might arise from the vitiated state of
the blood and juices, or from too brisk an opera-
tion of the phi/sic in such a depraved habit of body.

At this circumstance I wondered much, and con-
cluded, according to the best of my judgement,
that there is no knowledge falls to any man's share,
in any science, physical or other, but what is ac-
quired by experience and observation. Therefore,
upon reflexion on the success of these rowels on
my own horse, I began to think, that the use of
them, even on horses that had the discharge at the
nose, might be very conducive to the cure ; be-
cause nature, as I thought, plainly indicated the
way, in endeavouring to throw off the disease by
such discharge; for, by nature alone, as I have
been told, the doctor should always be guided.
Soon after, on trying the effects of rowels upon
horses that had the discharge at the nose, I found
my expectations fully answered ; for they got over
the distemper much sooner than those which had
no such assistance.

Fever. — From the good thus discovered of
promoting secretions of one kind, I considered it
might be still better, if other secretions could be
promoted, also, at the same time, which would
help to cool the inflamed blood, as well as to unload

90 EPIDEMY; ALL SEPARATE CASES. [Part HI.

the vessels, and consequently to abate the fever.
For this purpose I employ cooling salts, as a pro-
per medicine, given frequently, in every case.*
In other respects, when the horse is seized with the
distemper, the treatment should vary according to
the different symptoms that attend him. For in-
stance, when the patient has a violent fever, with a
dry cough, and there be no concomitant discharge
or running at the nose, he should be bled largely,
[or several times ?] On the contrary, if a discharge
at the nose appears, bleeding will be found to do
harm, being contrary to the efforts of nature in
making such discharge ; but in both these circum-
stances, he should take cooling salts every six
hours, three or four rowels should be put in various
parts, where the skin is loose, and the excrement

* Epsom salts, or sulphate of soda, lias gone into disuse lat-
terly in the veterinary practice, chiefly on account of the ex-
tremely large doses that are rendered necessary to procure pur-
gation, viz. 10 or 12 ounces. It is also a cold and comfortless
dose, for horses having any breeding in them, with tender
insides, to say nothing of the quantity of the drench, or its
nauceousness to the horse-palate. Aloes is ever a more
eligible purge; and if the salts is found desirable, on account
of its operating on the kidneys, no less so is aloes, when com-
bined with much soap, the potass whereof operates upon the
same viscus. But should the administering of the saline mixture
still find advocates —

First, take of the blue pill, in mass, 1| drachms, (15 gr. cor.
sub.) and give at making up ; next morning, before exercise,

give — Epsom or Glauber's salts 4 to 6 oz.

Water 2 pints.

mix intimately, but do not go out to strong work until the physic
be settled,—EmT.

Chap. /.] ROWELS? MARES AND FOALS. 91

should be often hack-raked from him ; if he be
costive, cooling and laxative clysters should be
thrown up, as thin oatmeal-gruel, with a solution
of table-salt in it — four ounces to the quart.

Rowels. — Some of the writers on the subject of
horses have given mighty precautions against the
use of rowels in feverish disorders, and talk of the
danger of mortifications attending them, when in
reality there needs no such fear. But allowing it
to happen by chance, it could not be deemed a
sufficient reason against the universality of the
practice, any more than it would be against the
use of blisters on the human body, because some
men in a fever by chance have died with a mortifi-
cation of the blistered part. But if any such symp-
tom as gangrene should appear, on this or any
other occasion, warm fomentations, with some
spirits of wine added at the time of using it, and a
poultice made with oatmeal, cummin-seed, and the
grounds of strong stale beer, to be kept on the
part, are the proper remedies.

Mares and foals. — Since the year before alluded
to, this disease has visited by turns each stud and
stable, has fallen on horses of all ages, at various
seasons of the year, and in different shapes.
Wherever it comes I believe none escape the con-
tagion ; and when it falls on the sucking foals, they
are generally stunted thereby and spoiled, unless
some such precautions are taken as I shall shew
presently.

Sometime since I happened to be at the house

&2

DISTEMPER ; CASES. [Part III,

of an acquaintance, who had a large stud of mares
and colts, of various ages, ill with this distemper.
As usual, they were attacked in various forms ;
some had a discharge from the eyes, nose, and
mouth; some mares had the critical swelling on
the udder, some on the shoulder, others on the side
of the jaws, under the jaw, and on other parts.

As they fell ill they were taken to house ; and I
staid at this place several weeks, to try what course
of treatment might be of most service to the ani-
mals; and to make such observations thereon, as
might contribute to regulate my future practice.
Accordingly, calling to aid my former experience,
they were bled, or rowelled according to their
different ages and symptoms, and saltpetre was
given them, by which means the mares all became
soon well, but not so the sucking foals. When
critical swelling appeared, I made a large incision
on the part, and let out large quantities of matter.

The surgeons generally esteem critical abscess in
such cases to be a certain cure ; and though I am
very sure that I did not open one swelling, till it
was fit for the operation, [ ? ] and which contained
at the time laudable matter, yet so much is the
blood sometimes vitiated with this disorder, that
after the wound was well, many of them had other
critical swellings fall on other parts, again and
again, which when ripe were all opened, and by
which means, at length, they also became well,
[But we, of to-day, imagine, that the first swellings
were not suflSciently ripe, and required poulticing.

Chap. /.] FOALS INCURABLE.

93

By way of experiment, others (as soon as ever
the swelling appeared on any part) were bled, had
several setons put in the skin, some on the depend-
ing" part of the swelling, and the saltpetre was
given ; thinking by these evacuations to divert the
febrile matter, and effect a cure. But, after a trial
of many days, I found this method of no use, the
swelling all this time neither advancing or receding.
Whereupon the setons were taken out, the salt-
petre left off, and in a few days the swelling came
to good matter, by the discharge of which the animals
got well in due course of time.

But, for the sucking foals no remedy availed, the
disease baffling all attempts of art and nature to
effect a complete cure. For, if we bled them, ^
swelling, perhaps, came on the part, and would there
remain indurated several months, and was neither to
be dissipated, nor brought to matter: the same
kind of indurations [i. e. indolent tumours] would
also fall on other parts. Again, if matter was
formed, and let out, fresh swellings succeeded each
other, or some other symptoms of the disease re-
mained for several months, even until they were
weaned — the cause of which soon became very
evident.

As to the mare, whilst giving suck, she is never,
at least so far as I could perceive, affected with
this disease; which, in all probability, proceeds
from the constant secretion of milk, whereby her
vessels are still kept emptied, and she herself
thus freed from any symptoms of fever; and yet
her blood may be much vitiated and corrupted.

94

CHANGE OF SYSTEM. [Part III.

For I have seen several foals at the mares' foot,
whose blood has been so poor, as to occasion their
legs to swell, even when they have been running
about in the field ; which same foals, if continued
sucking much longer, must inevitably have died : —
but when taken from the mare and weaned, they
have soon recovered, by the very same means as
before were found ineffectual. From which in-
stances I am ready to conclude, — first, that this
long-continued illness of the foal is entirely owing
to the depraved state of the mare's milk ; and se-
condli/f if we could be lucky enough to discover
the cause, it is twenty to one but we find a
remedy.

In order to this, it will be necessary to think
about managing so as to alter materially the blood
and juices of the mare. In order to this design, she
should be bled two or three times, and take some
cooling salts every day ; and the same given to the
foal once a day, or oftener (if occasion be), with
the use of setons, will be the means of curing him
also. The milk of the mare should be drawn from
her, although it is proposed to wean the foal ; in
either case, the foal is to be supported upon cows'
milk, mixed with wheat flour, till his health is re-
instated ; by which time the habit of body in the
mare will be amended also.*

* If the flour be prepared by previous boiling, as directed under
White Water, No. G," in " The Grooms' Oracle," it is reii^
dered thereby more digestible. The Arabs suckle their colt-
foals on camels' milk, though they may ail nothing : the fillies
are allowed to suck their motliers.

Chap, I.] PUNCTURING FOR AN ISSUE. 95

When a critical swelling appears on any part, all
means used to divert it are wrong and ineffectual,
as I found in other cases. (See page 92.) But
^poultice of bread and milk should be applied to
the part, to bring forward the matter 3 which, when
ripe, and not before, is to be let out by an incision
on the most depending part ; and to prevent any
future swellings on the same or other parts, the
discharge of matter should be maintained for a time
by an artificial drain : then give, daily, some cool-
ing salts to correct the vitiated blood ; but not
until the issue gives out of a paler colour and less
in quantity.

Issues. — To this end I have followed a method
somewhat different from rowels or setons, though
strictly analogous thereto, which I think much
more eligible than either of them ; — 1. Because it
sooner brings on a discharge, and that in more
abundance ; — 2. It is attended with less inflamma-
tion ; — and, 3. It may be continued as long as is
deemed needful. Thus, make a number of incisions
in the skin, on any part where it is loose ; dilate or
separate the same with the finger, all round as far
it v/ill reach, and moderately fill such part every
day with fresh lint or tow, dipped in the digestive
directed for wounds (page 74), first taking out the
former dressing.

By those methods all the symptoms attending
this alarming disease in horses of every age will be
removed, and its usually destructive consequences
prevented.

STRANGLES. [Part III.

But I shall be induced shortly to enter much fur-
ther into the particular distinctions of those consti-
tutional attacks of a feverish nature, which receive
the common name of the distemper ; to de-
scribe the several species by their various symptoms,
and to apply the remedies appropriate to each class ;
for great danger has been found to ensue the vul-
gar practice of lumping the whole under this one
name, and treating the several species in the same
manner, without regard to the difference of the
symptoms, nor to the part of the animal that is
affected ; an error they fall into by reason of
many horses, or other cattle, being attacked at
the same time, which is owing entirely to the bad-
ness of the season, or that which has preceded it,
and produced bad provender.

Strangles. — Amongst the critical swellings,
just spoken of, I think the strangles may justly be
reckoned ; the situation of which disorder is under
the jaw, threatening strangulation; whence, I sup-
pose, it may derive its name. But this disorder of
youth, is not to be mistaken for the distemper y nor
this for the former.

In all these cases of tumour, horses should be
kept warm, and by no means go out of the stable
whilst matter is forming ; — this also [i. e. strangles']
is to be treated after the general method, just laid
down for other abscesses, or critical swellings. And
here, too, the use of incisions in the skin, as drains,
or issues, and cooling salts, will be very proper,
after the swelling, or tumour, has been opened or

Chap, J.]

STAGGERS.

97

burst, and the wound bids fair to become well ; —
for this, also, is the crisis of a fever y though it hap-
pens to all colts, sooner or later ^ and falls on the
same part in all cases.

At this place, I cannot help relating an instance
of the most gross ignorance, which I once saw
committed by a farrier of great fame. A horse
had been ill with the distemper^ and nature had
been kind enough to form a critical swelling on the
back,, in which there was matter ripe and fit to let
out. When it assumed this favourable appearance,
the doctor came, but, instead of letting it out, he
made use of a discutient fo?nentation, by means
of which, if the matter could have been repelled,
and again taken into the circulation, the animal
must have died a most wretched death.

And here is the proper time to show, that the
learned authors, who have wrote on this subject,
have been much mistaken with respect to the nature
of diseases.

Staggers. — For example, the mad-staggers
has been treated by all the old writers as an apo-
plectic or nervous disorder; which alleged nervous
disorder is a something they know not what ; but
is clearly a kind of subterfuge for what they do not
know.* But the mad-staggers is in reality a fever,
of which I have cured many horses by the same

* Apoplexy is a nervous affection of the severest kind, in
which the pa'ients fall, as if knocked down, at the very first at-
tack ; but in no case of staggers does this happen in the first
instance. — Edit.

F

98 APOPLEXY. VERTIGO. EPILEPSY. [Par< J/J.

means as those directed for the fever, called dis~
temper. In like manner all the different diseases
called by the names of convulsions, epilepsy, ver-
tigo, and apoplexy, are, nineteen times in twenty,
no other than secondary effects, or symptoms of
fever. Just so it is amongst men, some of whom
have with a fever the concomitant symptoms of
coma, or sleepiness, delirium, or madness, spasms,
convulsions, &c. yet these affections in the horse
are always treated as original diseases by our far-
riers ; who, to give the strongest proofs they can
of their ignorance in these matters, have lately
found out a new way, by which they expect to cure
these disorders, that is, by giving the horse a drench
through the nose instead of the mouth ! — If horses
were to doctor men, could they act with less ra-
tionality ?

But, so far from depending on the nervous sys-
tem, some of those symptoms that acquire the
names of vertigo, apoplexy, and epilepsy, may hap-
pen to the horse simply from repletion,^' when there
is no apparent fever, and from various other causes;
for instance, the worms in horses, as well as in
men, will occasionally produce the appearance of
all other diseases. Now those concomitant symp-
toms of delirium, coma, convulsions, &c. do not
require our particular attention in horses as in men ;
but when the fever is attended with any of those

* Repletion, or fulness of the system, is one great cause of
the strangles, when young horses are allowed to devour too
much food .

Chap, /.] CASE OF STAGGERS.

99

symptoms, large and repeated bleeding is our chief
dependence, more especially if the jaws are shut
so fast as to render it impossible to give the horse
any internal medicine. Here again, incisions of
the skin, before recommended, (No. 1 or 2,) as
drains, and clysters should be used, and nitre
given internally, as soon as the horse's closed mouth
relaxes, taking care to join some laxative salts
with it, to keep the patient's body open, or rather
loose.

Fever Powdery No, 1.

Nitre, powdered 1 oz.

Camphor 2 drachms ;

mix, and give in mucilage of gum arabic ; or the
whole in oatmeal-gruel, twice a day, and give until
the water produced is abundant.

Fever Ball, No. 2.

Nitre, powdered , . . 6 drachms.

Camphor drachm,

Tartrate of antimony 1 drachm,

Liquorice powder 2 drachms ;

mix, for one dose, with mucilage of gum arabic
and meal, enough to form the ball ; give a horn of
gruel upon the ball.

Nitre should always be accompanie4Jby the gum,
lest it occasions pain in the horse's stomach. When
much water is passed, cease the nitre altogether.

A case of staggers occurred in my practice
which convinced me, more than ever, of the value of
salts in the cure of horses' diseases, and this parti^jular

f2

100

NITRE IN FEVERS. [Part IIL

ailment eminently so. It so happened, that a horse
mad with the staggers [caused by walking round
and round, generally] broke out of a stable be-
longing to a gunpowder-mill, and got to a large
cistern of water, in which so much saltpetre^ was
dissolved, that it was barely in a state of fluidity.
Hereof he drank, or rather swallowed, several
gallons ; this soon promoted a very copious secretion
by the urinary passages, after which, he became
immediately well, without any other assistance.
This case is mentioned here to shew the good
effects of nitre in fevers, and that some horses are
able to take any quantity of this salt; and yet
others, from a difference of constitution, more
particularly when they eat grass, shall not be able
to take the smallest quantity, without being af-
fected with gripes or cholic ; therefore, it is always
best to begin with a small quantity, not less than
an ounce, which should be mixed, and made into a
hall, with some mueilage of gum arabic and meal ;
and if the horse be not affected with cholicky pains,
the dose may, by degrees, be increased to a greater
quantity, according to the different age and symp-
toms. But when gripes ensue from the use of this
salt given in small quantities, you will find that
tartar soluble, sal regeneratum, or any such kind
of neutral salt, will answer your purpose, given
twice or thrice a day in such quantities as you
would use nitre.

4 * That is to say, nitre, or nitrated potass.

Chap, I.] FULL SYSTEM, PHLEGMATIC. 101

Melting the grease, — When the horse is thrown
into a fever by hard riding, (which the farriers, and
most writers also, call melting the grease,) he will
be cured by the same methods. For this melting
of the grease is nothing more or less than the
serous particles^ of the blood having been extrava-
sated by too much heat and labour; which serum
may be found betwixt the skin and the membranes,
(as noticed at page 88,) when the horse dies of
this or of some such inflammatory fever.

By the same treatment, the pampered stallion
is saved, who has revelled in love and plenty all
the summer; when, indeed, these are happily
joined together. But when the heat of Autumn
comes, and the seminal discharges are over, he is
commonly still fed as high as ever by his mistaken
owner; from which full habit of body, fevers often
arise in various shapes, mostly attended with costive-
ness, and death ensues. Then, again, in a breeding
point of view, what can be expected from such
sires who live in a constant series of indolence and
luxury, but a dull, diseased, phlegmatic produce ?
Wherefore, when the covering season is over, the
stallion should have strong exercise, if not labour,
and less hard food ; and when the Spring comes
on again, he may be allowed to live on more
luxurious articles than chaff and hay and grass,
whereby he will acquire fresh spirits and new vigour
to perform the feats of love with commensurate
effect.

By the means just described, every kind of

102 VARIETY OF REMEDIES. [Part III.

fever in horses will be most frequently cured, if
taken in hand before the juices (or secretions ) are
fallen into a state of putrefaction, remembering
still that horses are mortal, as well as men ; but
this treatment is founded on reason, and the obser-
vation of Nature's laws, and has^Jjeen confirmed
hy experience, which is all that physical knowledge
ever yet pretended to, or ought to assume.

Cooling salts. — The use of these, with proper
bleeding and clysters, as before directed, (p. 99,)
will generally be sufficient to remove most common
fevers. But should the case appear urgent and
dangerous, then, by way of security, incisions of
the skin, as drains, should be used also (p. 88).
For want of such due secretions and evacuations,
the horse, though he may happen to recover of his
fever, is liable to, and often is ruined by disorders
consequent upon, or left behind by the effects of
the fever, and the rough means employed for its
removal. These are the farcy, broken windedness,
tubercles on the lungs, consumption, glanders, and
oedematous local swellings, that are never removed,
i. c. indurated by the heat of the body.

To the mode of treatment here recommended,
the learned may, perhaps, object, that so many
different evacuations and secretions, promoted by
bleeding, nitre, and the other drains, employed
all together, impede the operation of each other.
With all my heart, so be the theory ; I don't know
but they may in practice: yet do these, when
united, help to abate the inflammation, attenuate the

Chap, JJ.] THE DISTEMPER.

103

fluids, and discharge the same, better than either of
them used alone. But my design in this exposure is
not to trouble the reader with mere speculative mat-
ters^ but to tell him plain facts, that he can readily
understand ; and to shew him some rules whereby
he may haply save forty-nine horses out of fifty in
every kind of fever, without applying to any farrier,
who, most times, turns out a greater enemy to the
horse, in these disorders, than the disease itself,
by the rude, violent treatment with which he efiects
a cure (if, indeed, he ever succeeds); whereby
some other disorder falls on the recovering animal,
as recounted in the preceding pages.

CHAPTER II.

Observations on Malignant Fever and Epidemy ;
Symptoms and Cure,

Distemper.— From the close observations I
have possessed the means of making on the various
diseases of horses for many years, and taking into
consideration the nature, sameness, and simplicity
of their food, I was long inclined to think that
horses were not subject to malignant disorders as
men are ; but the epidemical disease that has oc-
casionally raged amongst them for several years,

104 SYMPTOMS OF DISTEMPER, [Pari III,

and which still shews itself at short intervals,"* has
taught me the contrary. For I notice, in this disease,
which, I own, is new to me, since the publication
of my second edition, that the horses so seized are
attacked with a variety of symptoms, that require
each a very different treatment from every other.
Of course, particular regard should be had to the
symptoms attending every fresh case, which must
form the proper criterion or direction how the cure
is to be undertaken. This indispensable. mode of
discrimination is what I now undertake to teach
the attentive reader.

The symptoms. — The commencement of the
disease is marked by great debility of the limbs,
so much so, in some cases, that the weakened
patients reel and stagger about when led along,
and that almost as soon as they are taken ill. Loss
of appetite comes on, generally, with a short dry
cough ; the e}?es become suddenly dim, and glazed,
and lifeless : they are also particularly free from all
inclination to drink. Besides those general symp-
toms of the distemper, some of which prevail more

* In the spring of 1828, the catarrhal epidemic prevailed
generally, with symptoms nearly resembling the third and fourth
classes of Osmer, but in London the attacks partook of the
whole of those described in the text. The only report pub-
lished was that of a practitioner in Leicestershire, who bled
and rowelled — and he lost his patients ; he changed his plan
according to Osmer, and was successful. The same success
attended the town cases, when treated as our Author has
directed.— Edit.

CJmp. 11.] DISCRIMINATED.

105

than the others, that are otherwise indicative of the
disease having fixed on particular parts of the
animal, I shall endeavour to distinguish them as
near as I can for the reader's further guidance
when this distemper again makes its appearance
among us.

First. — Besides the symptoms already described,
some horses are seized with coldness of the external
parts, are chiefly affected with a weakness behind,
but have no fever or other tokens of inflammation :
there seems to be a tendency towards a genera!
stagnation of the fluids.

Second, — In this class are great tokens of in-
flammation, the fever is high, and the external
parts are hot and burning: the sight is affected,
and the head generally so.

Third, — The disease falls mostly on the throat
in the third species of attack, with manifest tokens
of great soreness there. These seldom have any
feverish heat, are not so much affected in their
limbs or sight as those of the first and second
classes ; their appetite and inchnation to eat, also,
seems better than in those two classes. Before
this soreness goes off, however, the patients become
miserably reduced, though this falling away ought
not to be imputed solely to their fasting ; because
all horses in this disease, that are attacked severely,
are thereby reduced, in a very few days, almost
to the degree and leanness of a dog horse.

Fourth class, or the mild attack. — These are
seized at first with a cough only, and shew little or

f3

106 SYMPTOMS OF DISTEMPER. [Part III,

no symptoms of illness, nor of any unusual heat
or cold ; in general, a discharge of a serous fluid
from the nostrils comes on, as in the inflammatory
fever. As the patients of this class are the least
affected, so they recover soonest of any, and that,
too, with little or no assistance.

Fifth. — Along with the cough of the last de-
scription, some are troubled with a phlegmon, or
boil, on some part of the head or body. In such
cases, if the heat of the patient's body and strength
be sufficient, the tumour comes on to ripeness,
when its bursting, or being let out with a lancet,
is critically a cure of the disorder. But, in some
poor creatures, whose system may be in a low
state, the vital heat is so little, that their lives are
manifestly endangered before the tumour can be
brought to a head sufficient to open by the usual as-
sistance of poultices and cherishing diet.

Vital heat, however, upon which depends the
spontaneous termination of a large class of dis-
tempered horses, deserves a moment's consider-
ation here ; inasmuch as the different progress
of the critical boil, or tumour, in different horses,
is owing to difference of their fluids, and the more
brisk or languid circulation thereof, as they happen
to be more or less viscid. If this be not the true
cause, I beg to ask from whence should arise the
two extreme sensations of cold and heat in different
horses affected with the same epidemical disease
in the same stable, and, of course, under the same
management 1 It may, also, be here instructively

Chap, 11.] TREATMENT.

107

remarked, that those horses are most affected with
cold and shivering (the presage of death) in whose
blood is found the least proportion of serum*

Treatment, Having described the different
symptoms that denote this disease according to the
previous condition of the individuals attacked,
come we now to the proper method of treating
each class, respectively.

For those of the Jirst class, bleeding is found
particularly to do harm ; and, if it be drawn in large
quantity, the horse soon drops, a violent palpitation
of the heart succeeds, and death, most probably,
follows soon. The blood of sick horses belonging
to this class, when taken away, and exposed to the
air for twenty-four hours, is found to contain not
one drop of serum in it, but remains a coagulated
sizey mass. Neither do horses of this class of
distemper, when costive, derive any advantage
from clysters (as in every other disorder), but rather
this eligible method of softening the foeces, has the
contrary effect. Rowels, also, seem to do harm
to horses under the circumstances before described.
Give the following —

Distemper BalL
Take Crude sal ammoniac .... 1 ounce.

Nitre 1 ounce.

Hard soap 4 drachms.

Camphor 2 drachms.

Linseed oil, and mucilage of gum arabic,
enough to form two balls.

108 CLASSIFICATION OF DISTEMPER ; [P«r^ JJJ.

Let the camphor be rubbed down in the oil, and
mix. Give one ball in the morning, the other at
night, for three or four days ; but, if the medi-
cine have little or no effect on the urinary secretions,
increase the quantity of nitre and sal ammoniac ^
according to the horse's bulk, strength, and habit
of body. His proper food, at the beginning, is
hay and scalded bran, if be will eat it ; his drink
should be moderately warm; and give whatever he
seems to like best, and as much as he chooses. By
the continuance of this medicine for a few days, as
the stagnated fluids become thinner, the bodily
strength returns, and soon after, as the urinary
secretions appear to be augmented, he begins to
drink freely; whereupon he generally becomes
well of a sudden, recovers from the affection in
his limbs and his appetite, at once. His cough
alone remains a little while, until he recovers his
condition. When these favourable symptoms ap-
pear, and the horse's appetite is good, discontinue
the halls, lest the blood become too much atte-
nuated, and dropsy ensues. Indeed, give no
medicine whatever, now; for nature will, in
general, best do her own work, without the aid of
art. Mashes of bran and oats, scalded together,
and oatmeal gruel, or, if the patient be an old one,
a little scalded malt : broken beans will coax him
to eat and blow himself out. During his whole
illness he should not be taken out of the stable on
any account whatever, nor afterwards^ until he has
completely recovered his flesh, and has taken a

Chap, II,] VARIED TREATMENT.

109

purging ball, which, most probably, he will not be
able to bear for a considerable time. As in all
inflammatory fever, keeping the patient cool is
found highly beneficial, so, in this disease, keeping
him moderately warm with good rubbing down, if
he is inclined to be cold and stiff in his movements,
is very necessary and proper.

Second class of distemper. For these, moderate
bleeding is found very beneficial, more especially at
the commencement of the disease. Evacuations
by clysters will here be found serviceable, and the
medicine before directed should be given in like
manner. If the heat and fever continue twelve
hours,^ and the vessels on the membranes about the
eye appear red, inflamed, and distended, a second
bleeding, in moderate quantity, is plainly necessary,
and will be generally found sufficient to lower that
and other symptoms. But as to quantity, or repe-
tition of blood-letting, the operator will receive the
best monition by the abatement of those inflam-
matory symptoms, and lowering of the pulse;
always keeping in mind that the horse in this
disease can bear the loss of only a small portion of
blood at any one time : respect being had also to
his size and strength.

When the blood is drawn from horses with those
symptoms, and has stood a little time, it will be
found very sizey, of a bufi' colour, and has but
little serum in it. In this case, therefore, rowels
will be found exceedingly improper ; because the
lymph and thinner fluids are hereby discharged, of

110 CATARRHAL DISTEMPER. [Part III,

which there appears to be already a deficiency, or
rather some degree of stagnation in the circulation
thereof.

Third class of the disorder, that in which the
throat is affected with soreness, it would be very
improper to employ either bleeding, clysters, or
rowels: unless that symptom be accompanied by
manifest tokens of fever and inflammation. In
either case, the medicine before directed (page 107)
is proper. These patients will eat the oatmeal gruel,
with bread in it, and the other feeding mashes as
they grow better.

Fourth class. For those distempered horses which
have a discharge at the nostrils, bleeding is highly
prejudicial ; because this discharge is an effort of
nature to relieve itself of something that is offen-
sive, and may be looked upon as a kind of crisis to
get rid of the disease.

Clysters are seldom required in these cases ; be-
cause the horse has, under these circumstances,
generally an appetite to take a sufficient quantity
of scalded bran, to keep his body open. But
rowels, here, with the medicine before directed,
help to assist nature in unloading the surcharged
vessels, and getting rid of the extravasated fluids ;
for, although many horses do well under those
circumstances, by the efforts of nature alone, yet
I have seen many instances wherein, for want of
artificial helps, the fluids discharged at the nostrils
have been of so sharp and acrid a kind^ as to
corrode the soft membrane ( schneiderian) which

Chap. IJ.] TUMOURS: RUNNING NOSTRILS. Ill

lines the internal cavity of the nose. Hereby, also,
ulcers have been formed ; the which, lying out of
the reach of topical applications, often turn to the
real glanders.

For the fifth class of distemper, a poultice of
bread and milk, with hog's lard in it, should be
applied, twice a-day, to the boil or tumour, until it
points and fluctuates under the finger-touch, when
it may be opened. The practice might be deemed
quite reasonable, when the pulse is low, the circu-
lation languid, and the external parts cold, to give
the patient some warming medicines,"^ (formerly
termed alexipharmics,) to enable nature to promote
the work of suppuration ; but this is, nevertheless,
a mistaken notion": such medicines being found,
in several cases, of no service whatever ; therefore,
when I have observed the tumour to stand still for
several days together, and not advancing, in the
least, towards maturation, whereby the horse is
submitted to much danger, I have discontinued the
warm medicine and given the balls before directed
(page 107) with a greater quantity of the camphor,
with the intention of thinning the fluids and thus
carry off the disease by the other common secretory
ducts. This treatment has often succeeded accord-
ing to my wishes. But what is very remarkable,
and may occasion surprise, as being contrary to
speculative reasoning [theory] ; the phlegmon
tumour, or boil, which before stood still (as I ob-

* Sweating powders ; fever powders ; prepared emetic tartar,
&c.

112 BILIOUS SECRETION. [Part III,

served), and wonld not advance at all, has, upon
the urinary secretion increasing in quantity, come
to suppuration. Although this fact may appear
somewhat strange to the learned, yet it ought to
be remembered, that bleeding has occasionally
brought the phlegmon in men to suppuration, which
had previously made no advances thereunto.

To conclude this topic about the distemper or
epidemy, I may aptly add, that I have by thus
adapting my treatment to the different symptoms as
they arose, saved many horses, having lost a few
only out of a great number of patients. Notwith-
standing this fact, I am free to allow, that when
this disease first made its appearance I certainly
did endanger the lives of many a horse —a piece of
candour this that we may never expect to hear
from the mouths of farriers in general, nor, perhaps,
of veterinarians from the half-bred schools, where
they dissect none but asses ! and sell their dead
horses to the knackers without opening the bodies.

CHAP. III.

Diseases arising from imperfect Secretions — the
Bile, the Humours, S^c.

[Th e foregoing lucid description of the symjHoms
that attended the epidemic distemper, under our
author's own eye, will not be without its uses.

Chap. IIL]

THE YELLOWS.

113

whenever it so happens that such a plague again
recurs, as sure it will when the same causes prevail.
For, what can such a contagion be designated but
a plague, which commits such ravages, and was
so ill encountered by the remedies prescribed, that
what was very proper in one series of cases were
found destructive of life in another ; the coming
of a tumour, or bubo, (as they termed it,) being
considered as the only genuine plague, whereas
this appears to be the most favourable symptom,
provided it be brought to maturity and discharge.
These are the unfortunate mistakes in practice,"
that form the odium of the curative art in every
branch of it, and is only to be overcome by watch-
ing the varied manner in which animals of different
constitutions receive the infection, or contract the
disease originally. But there are other diseases of
a febrile nature incident to the horse and other her-
bivorous animals, which appeeir with symptoms va-
rying according to the constitution of the individual
attacked, to the digestion, and to the bilious secre-
. tion ; — whence all other secretions are hable to vi-
tiation, and the humours they secrete, instead of
being beneficial, according to the design of nature,
become harmful. The secretion performed by the
liver is eminently in this predicament.

The yellows. — There are two diseases indiscrimi-
nately called by the name of the yellows, from the
leading symptom, which, being different in their
nature, seem to require some distinction ; and the

114 INFLAMMATORY FEVER. [Part III.

more so, because they will require to be treated in
a manner somewhat different from each other.

In the jftrst place — one is an inflammatory fever,
attended with such symptoms as appertain, in gene-
ral, to that which is commonly called the distemper
in horses, with a discharge of a yellow serous matter
from the eyes and nose, &c. and is generally pro-
duced by heat, and close stahling. In this case
bleeding is improper, because the efforts of nature
are thereby impeded, but the drains, salts, and
clysters, as before recommended, should take place,
as in other inflammatory fevers.

The second description of the yellow9 is that
wherein the finer vessels, and the cuticle of the
eye, are tinged with a yellow hue, and not attended
with the discharge from the nose, &c. which is cha-
racteristic of the first kind, and is the effect of ob-
structed bile. In such cases bleeding (though
always used) must be very improper, when there
are no tokens of inflammation ; neither can rowels
in this case do any good ; but nitre and antimony ,
with Castile soap, and a decoction drawn from one
ounce of madder, given twice a day, are the proper
remedies. In an attack of this kind, by the daily
use^of saltpetre alone, continued as an alterative
after the distemper was reduced, I have rode my
horse a fox-hunting in half the time that I could
have done, if he had gone through a course of
physic, and he has performed as well in every
respect.

Chap. III.] COOLING REGIMEN.

115

Fever, erroneous practices. — If such are the
beneficial effects of cooling medicines in fevers,
what is to be expected from a contrary treatment,
or the inconsistent medley of cordials, nostrums,
and specifics, given by grooms and farriers, without
knowing the least tittle of anatomy, or the animal
economy; consequently, without so much as know-
ing wherein the disorder consists, nor even the
nature of the medicine they use as a remedy. But,
however, not to detract from the merit of these
men, it must be granted, that what they want in
knowledge is amply supplied by the goodness of
their receipts. And it would be a very hard case
indeed, if in a receipt, consisting of a great num-
ber and variety of articles, one of them should not
happen (as they say) to lay hold of the disease.
However, a more fallacious mode of reasoning was
never set forth on any other occasion than this one,
which affects the lives of valuable animals ; and I
lament to say, the error is not yet wholly extin-
guished among us.

Will their knowledge of the proper treatment of
tumours, wounds, and various lai^h^^^s, (let me
ask,) without being acquainted with the nature and
uses of the component parts, be more extensive
than it is in the proper treatment of constitutional
diseases? But time, and rest, and wonder-work-
ing nature, and the simplicity of the horse's food,
oftentimes effect a cure in spite of all their absurd
applications, which they, from vanity and ignorance,
conclude to be the effect of their own skill, in ap-

116

HEAT. STABLE AIR. [Part III.

plying hot burning mixtures to the cure of diseases
already caused by the presence of too much heat.

A case occurs to me, quite in point, as proving
to those persons what evils may be produced by
excessive heat ; as it also gives the more learned
reason to pause and consider, what future good may
in such cases be derived from local acquired heat.

A man was inoculated for the small pox , but, in
tiie interval of time, between that and the eruption
coming forth, he was seized with tJie gout in both
feet. He was ordered to apply flannels to the
same, and when the pock came out, he had none
but upon his feet, which were very full.

And here may be justly said (what was said before
as regards the lameness of horses) that nineteen
times in twenty THE DISEASES befalling all
HORSES, are occasioned by TOO much heat,
and too confined air of the stables. Is it not, then,
extremely wrong judgement in the jockey, to stop
up every avenue, even to the key-hole of the stable
door, whereby the pure atmospheric air, composed
of oxygen and nitrogen, is excluded from the
faintly-respiring horse? For, hereby the serous
particles of the blood are discharged ; and hence
fevers appear in different shapes, as I have just
shewn pretty much at large ; and variety of illness
is produced from not distinguishing between the
effects of great heat and simple warmth.

Horned cattle, in their diseases, resemble the
horse in many particulars, the which I may not un-
aptly notice in this place, by way of comparison,

Chap. III.'] HORNED CATTLE.

117

as we approach the termination of this topic. Ac-
cording to the best of my observation, for many
years, what is called the distemper amongst horned
cattle, is exactly correspondent to the distemper or
epidemic amongst the horses, the symptoms in each
animal being similar in all respects. I therefore
conclude that the discharge from the nostrils, &c.
of the cow in these fevers, about the nature of
which, and of this distemper, there has been abun-
dance of fine writing, is nothing else but an extra-
vasation of the serous particles of the blood, the
effect of inflammation :-- -therefore it is I infer, that
in accordance with the attempts of nature to relieve
itself, our business is to invent all the methods we
can to carry ofl' this extravasaled serum ; so, let the
incisions, as before directed for the horse (page
69), be made in the skin of the cow, will, as it
does in horses with the same sort of fever, pro-
duce, in twenty-four hours, a nasty foetid purulent
matter. By making a number of such drains the
parts will be unloaded, and the animal relieved ; as
they do in every kind of fever amongst horses, and I
dare say will too amongst tSe cows, answer nearly
the same end and purpose as a critical abscess.
But, when no critical abscess happens, or no artifi-
cial drains are made use of, the natural ones, not
being sufficient to carry off the extravasated serum,
the viscera, and more noble parts, are in time af-
fected, the blood and juices devolve, by degrees,
into a state of putrefaction and corruption, and the
animal dies a most wretched death.

118 PUTRID FEVER, QUESTIONED. [Part III.

If any man object and say, this distemper of the
cows is infectious, and therefore it is of the putrid,
and not of the inflammatory kind, — I answer, that
it does not appear to be infectious ; because some
cows amongst a number of infected ones have
escaped it; and because these animals are not sub-
ject to putrid fevers, as men are, by reason of the
difference of their food. But, allowing it to be of
the putrid or pestilential kind, and to arise from air,
from infection, or both, these artificial drains made
in the skin will still be very proper, because they
will answer in some measure the same end, as the
bubo or critical imposthume befalling the human
species in pestilential disorders — if they are pro-
perly managed. And here it may be observed,
that when distempered cows have escaped death, it
has been generally owing to some critical abscess,
various instances of which I have seen. To the
employment of those artificial drains should be
added the use of cooling salts, and laxative clys-
ters, if the blind gut is disposed to fill.

It is necessary to observe, that bleeding (or
otherwise reducing tlfe system of) the Jiorse or
the cow will be wrong, and must do harm, when a
discharge from the nostrils, &c. is begun ; because
its tendency is to mar the efforts of nature ; and so
it is when there is any soft tumour or abscess, i. e.
a swelling that is tending to matter, which kinds of
swelling can be ascertained only by the most careful
examination of the body all over, the situation being
quite uncertain.

Chap. III.'] REBUKE. HOVED BULLOCKS. 119

From the observations I have made on the dis-
eases of both these animals, and from the sameness
and simplicity of their food, I think there is great
reason to beUeve that the same remedies will have
the same effect in one species as in the other ; and
it is much to be regretted that we have had no
opportunity hitherto of ascertaining so important a
fact, so as to be enabled to act upon it with confi-
dence. To this end, it is to be wished that the
legislature would give the farmers leave (whenever
this distemper shall again appear) to make trial
thereof, and oblige them to deliver in, at some
proper place, the symptoms of this disease, and the
effect of these proposed remedies.

As the author's sole motive in publishing this
treatise is the good of the community, he may be
allowed to observe that, if these methods prove
successful, particular men will be also benefited,
for the College of Physicians will be prevented
the trouble of any future meetings to consult on
the subject; the good bishops, too, will thus be
spared the fatigue of composing pious forms of
prayer to deprecate the evil; as if the Almighty
Being (like an earthly prince) was to be influenced
by human entreaties to alter his general laws,
whereby all things are governed ; not considering
that natural evil must unavoidably happen to the
creatures of this earthly state, from the contin-
gencies of food and climate.

Hove, or sprung bullocks. — -There is another
disorder incident to bullocks, I may as well notice

120 STRANGURY. TUMOUR CURES. [Par/ JJJ.

here, which the graziers call being liove or sprung;
that is to say, the animal, from overcharging the
stomach, is swelled in such a manner as to bring on
speedy death, unless soon relieved ; all digestion
being at a stand. This will be cured by raking the
excrement from the strait gut, and the use of
saltpetre, or any laxative salt given plentifully;
or by giving sea-ivater ; and bleeding^ in this case,
will so far do good as to alleviate the parts affected,
i. e, the gut and stomach.

Strangur y. — When a difficulty of passing tJie
urine befals a horse or bullock, bleeding, taking
away the excrements, giving clysters and saltpetre,
with other laxative salts, plentifully given in some
barley -ivater, which has gmn arabic dissolved
therein, are the proper means of cure. If these
fail of the desired effect, opium should be given
inwardly, and a clyster, in which camphor 2 or
3 drachms has been dissolved, may be injected.

Tumours are found to have sometimes caused the
obstruction in staling we term strangury ; the which
we can only discover by an after-death examination,
that is too late to do any good. In this case the
tumour (encysted) has so formed on the neck of the
bladder that no art can relieve, and if the cor-
respondence of symptoms, between any animal
under hand for a cure, agree with another which
has died of this infliction, the comparison will at
least teach us to cease our endeavours and knock
it on the head. The existence of such tumefied
glands within the animal, as well as without, is

OSMEit on Gie HORSE .

Chap. IV.I COLD OR cough:

121

justly ascribable to the evil quality of the horse's
blood, its superabundance, or its viscidity and
consequent incapacity for carrying on its functions
ariglit. Here again the timely use of nitre, or of
common house-salt, a run in salt-marshes, or any
other method of thinning the blood, is plainly in-
dicated, and should never be relaxed in regard to
horses that make blood too fast and become pursive,
A case, or two, of such an aifliction will be found
in the next chapter, viz, tumefied gland on the
ileum, and consequent strangulation of the guts
beneath it, vulgarly termed strangullion.

CHAP. IV.

Treats of Disorders arising out of a vitiated State
of the Bloody or that are aggravated thereby ;
of Physicking, the Botts, 5^c-

Coughs and Colds are usually attended with in-
flammatory symptoms, as the increased action of
the pulse plainly shews ; then bleeding, repeated if
the pulsation be not reduced by the first, with
warm moist diet, and the following medicine will
remove any recent moderate attack:
Linseed oil, cold-drawn . , . , 2 ounces,

Saltpetre 1 ounce,

Prepared ammonia ........ 1 drachm, mix,

122 CURE FOR RECENT COLDS. [PartJII.

and give so much daily in decoction of linseed, or
of liquorice, or barley-water ; but oatmeal-gruel is
best when the patient is low in condition. The
whole quantity need not be given at once or twice,
but in small quantity and often; and, above all
things, keep the horse within doors, air and motion
having the effect of irritating the parts affected, i. e,
the lungs.

Whenever it so happens that the cold continues
long on the animal, or he repeatedly incur this
malady in one shape or other, this proves that his
blood is in a bad state (or vitiated), and requires
cleansing. This may be undertaken by the means
I shall state more fully towards the end of this
chapter. After the bleeding a gentle purge y No.l,
should be administered, but, if the horse be in a
costive state, he will require a stronger medicinq,
divided into several doses, as the alterative. No. 2 ;
because, if strong physic be given with a view of
lowering his system, it may have the effect of
transferring an affection of the lungs to the bowels,
and the horse goes off quickly of gangrene.

No. 1. Mild Purgative,

Take Aloes, powdered 4 drachms.

Hard soap 2 drachms,

Oil of aniseed 12 drops ;

mix with mucilage and meal for one ball, and give
as soon as the bleeding is over : give thin oatmeal-
gruel before and after the purgative.

Chap, IF.] COLIC, OF two kinds.

12S

No. 2. The Alterative,

Barbadoes aloes 7 drachms,

Venice soap 4 drachms,

Gil of caraway 20 drops ;

mix, as before, and divide into three balls, to be
given on three successive days, unless a proper
motion is procured by the second. Give bran-
mashes, as much as the horse will take.

By oft recurrence of A cold, or long conti-
nuance of a cough, broken wind is superinduced ;
but let no man lend an ear to the announcements
of cures for broken-winded horses, how pompous
soever they may appear; because, in this case,
certain glands (called the lymphatic), which are
placed upon the air-pipe at its entrance into the
lungs, are become enlarged, and thereby the dia-
meter of the tube is lessened. Hence the received
air cannot so readily make its escape, nor respi-
ration be performed with such facility as before;
from which superabundant quantity of contained
air the lobes of the lungs are always enlarged, as
may be seen on examining the carcases of broken-
winded horses, after they are dead.

Gripes, or colic, are of two kinds: — 1°. the spas-
modic; 2°. the inflammatory. The first proceeds
from catching a slight cold in the bowels when these
may be foul, or from drinking cold water; the
second, or inflammatory, is brought on from the
same two causes^ more severely incurred, as well
as from costiveness and consequent heat terminating
in inflammation of the bowels ; as does tumour also.

g2

124

STRANGULLION, WHAT? [Part III,

The first kind of gripes is cured by one ounce
of the philonium romanum, and by repeating it, if
occasion be, with the help of oatmeal-gruel in any
quantity ; or, the gruel with any other cordial than
the philonium f which is thus compounded: —

Take Purified opium 3 drachms,

Ginger 6 drachms,

Jamaica pepper, powdered 1 ounce.
Caraway seeds, in powder 6 drachms,
Syrup of poppy, strong . . 3 ounces ;
mix in the opium with the warm syrup, minutely,
and add the three powders. Divide into five or
six doses. This is the opiate confection of

the shops.

In the second kind of gripes, or natural inflam-
mation, copious bleeding is proper; which should
be repeated if necessary, that is, if the pain and
pulse appear to be very violent. The excrement
should be kept raked away as it falls into the
rectum, or strait gut. Sweet oil should be given,
Ig pint, inwardly, to relax the intestines ; and then
cooling laxative salts, every four hours, to unload
the same ; for which purpose, also, any of the
neutral salts may be employed, as Glauber s salts,
sal catharticwn, with soluble tartar, or tartarized
kali; and oil given by way of clysters will also be
of use in this case. Here, saltpetre is not so
proper, because it acts as a diuretic, rather than a
laxative.

Now, this last kind of colic, proceeding as it
does from costiveness, or from a severe cold in the

Chap, IV.'] HARDENED DUNG.

125

bowels, causing inflammation of the bowels, is what
the writers and farriers indiscriminately call the
strangullion," or " twisting of the guts," for such
they always suppose it to be. Yet this never
happens originally, though it may be effected by
some other misfortune. The plain truth is, that
certain particles or pieces of dung, or excrement,
in passing through the guts, become hard or in-
durated from an excessive degree of dryness, or
heat in the system ; whence it comes to pass, that
the space of the gut where it rests is stretched and
enlarged. Hence follows a narrowness or stricture
round the adjacent part of the same, so that the
excrement cannot pass along. This occasions an
inflammation ; and the horse, if not soon relieved
by cooling and relaxing medicines, dies of a mor-
tification in such part. Another cause may be in-
flammation of some particular j9«rf of the intestines,
where the excrement may not be so lodged ; that
is to say, a tumour or tubercle on the mesentery.

[From the time Osmer first wrote, to this hour of
the improved edition going to press, we have no
instance of stranguUion (i. e. strangulation of the
intestines) on record ; as, indeed, how should it be,
in the absence of all liberality in the profession, as
to the communication of any extraordinary cases ;
and of nesiAy all means of making such pubHc, except
those, which were held out and tardily embraced in
the Annals of Sporting, during the six first years
of its existence ! But the French veterinarians had
watched the progress of this hideous, and as v/e

126 TUMOURS ON THE BOWELS; [Part III,

think, incurable disease, with some accuracy ; and,
in their Recueil VeterinairCf a well-marked case is
recorded, towards the commencement of the pre-
sent year, in which the symptoms (tuberculous)
were noted with instructive exactness, Introsuscep-
Hon is the scientific term applied to the strangul-
lion or mistakenly supposed twisting of the
guts which, in fact, consists in nothing more than
the tubercle, which has formed on the small gut
(ileum), by its weight dragging down a portion of
the gut through its subsequent foldings, and thereby
causing the strangulation above and below, as de-
scribed by William Osmer ; his induration of the
fceces having precisely the same effect as the
French case of tuberculous affection. The next
well-marked case put on record, was that of the
King's favorite gelding Adonis, as reported by Mr.
Groodwin, in September, 1829, whilst we were
yet at press.

[The symptoms attending this attack were those
of the second kind of colic described above, page
124, and which are in effect the same as those
characterised in Veterinary Surgery," page 253,
as inflammatory, and proper to be distinguished
from the first, or spasmodic-flatulent kind.

Mr. Goodwin " conceived the attack to proceed
from spasms," though *' the horse often threw him-
self down, making efforts to lie on his back, look-
ing back at his flanks with a peculiar anxiety;"
which symptoms are characteristic of inflammation
of the intestines, and not of spasmodic colic, espe-

Chap. IV,] SYMPTOMS OF—CASES.

127

cially if accompanied by cold ears. He gave oil
of turpentine, with clysters of the same, and back-
raked his patient, as Osmer directs. On an increase
of the pulse he bled ; and the animal died, as in-
deed it could not fail to do, spite of any treatment
whatever.

[On dissection, it appears, Mr. Goodwin ascer-
tained, that a pendulous fatty tumour, which had
originally formed on the mesentery,* had entangled
a knuckle of small intestine lying near the sto-
mach, and by its ponderosity had fastened its chord
inextricably round several convolutions of the in-
testine. The consequence whereof was, that in-
flammation, and consequent mortification ensued,
as described by friend Osmer. Further, to shew
the incurable nature of such an attack, in plate 2,
fig. 3, is drawn, the tumour hanging down by an
elongated chord of the mesentery; that now,
instead of keeping the intestines in position, is thus
drawn together in a knot, to the utter derangement
of its blood-vessels, absorbents (of both kinds),
its adipose structure and glands, and causing de-
plorable ruin, mortification, and death.

( a) The tumour ; (h) ^ strangulated knuckle of

* The nature, cause, and elfect of such tumours has been
discussed in my Veterinary Surgery," page 144, &c. Nothing
new appears in the case, than that one of the mesenteric glands
had separated through slight inflammation, and hanging down
in a cyst formed of cellular membranes, thus produced a chord
resembling a fiddle-string, of great toughness. The cause
hereof I should attribute to high feeding disproportioned to the
animal's work. — Edit.

128

FORMS OF PHYSIC. [Part IIL

intestine; c, d, e, f, other convolutions of the in-
testine, equally strangulated, gangrenous, and
mortified. The chord itself lies buried, of course,
in the depressed points of the strangulated gut.]

Thus, you see, how necessary it is carefully to
discriminate betwixt those different kinds of colic,
which will be best done by observing whether there
be fever attending it or not ; to ascertain the ex-
istence of which, or not, the pulsation of the artery
is to be consulted, which may be felt on the hinder
part of the fore leg, either above or below the knee
of the horse ; increased action thereof being indi-
cative of inflammation, which is ever accompanied
by cold ears and cold legs. Moreover, the horse
in this last case will be frequently looking back to
his flank, by which he points out in some measure
the seat and nature of his disease, though not with
absolute certainty ; for, the same symptoms will
attend the horse afflicted with the stone or gravel,
which, by the bye, I believe, happens but seldom ;
but much greater certainty may be gathered even
with respect to the difference of these complaintSj,
by paying due attention to the nature and dryness
of his dung or excrements, or his frequent attempts
and motions to void his urine. But, whichsoever
of these is the disease, thus far you will be right,
that the proposed remedies will be proper in both
complaints alike.

Of physicking away those and other ills, some-
thing may now be said with propriety.

With respect to forms of physic, every groom

O/iOp. IF.] FEVER IN THE FEET.

129

and every farrier has his receipts^ which he ever
thinks the best that can be prescribed. We may
even allow that the ingredients given in general
may have much the same good effect ; and that if
any mischief befal the horse, it is much more fre-
quently owing to subsequent bad management,
than to the physic itself, especially in the cure of
febrile disorders. For example —

Molten grease is generally brought on by good
living and strong physic. Then it is, that such
medicines as are of a stimulating nature should be
avoided, because they greatly deprive the intestines
of that mucus, which is designed to line and guard
them ; from the appearance of which mucus amongst
the dung of the horse, the farrier gravely and wisely
remarks, that ** he is very foul," whereas, this
appearance is but one of the efforts of nature to
relieve itself of a superabundancy.

The mischief that generally happens to the horse
in physic is owing to this cause, namely, that the
medicines, not working so much, nor so readily as
may be wished, the horse is trotted about till he is
ready to drop, and is thrown into a heat, if not a
sweat ; by raising which new secretion, the purging
is entirely stopped, and inflammatory fever ensues,
which terminates in the loss of eyes, in diseased
feet, (fever, &c.) or in death ; many instances of
all which I have known to happen.

Fever in the feet. — When the crisis of a fever
falls on the feet, on this or any other such occasion,

g3

130

EFFECT OF TOE-BLEEDING. [Part III.

the proper method of acting is to cut the hoofs off
round and short at the toe, till the blood appears ^
and with a drawing knife score the hoof all round
longitudinally, at proper intervals of space (till you
reach the quick), beginning a little below the coro-
nary-ring, and continuing the same to the end of
the foot or toe. Hereby the new hoof will have
more liberty to push itself out, and the matter to
be discharged ; the parts are to be dressed with
some cooling ointment, and the whole foot to be
wrapped up with an emollient poultice, by which
means the feet will often become as good and
sound as ever.

Cooling Ointment,

Take of hogs' lard 6 ounces,

pound it in water, and cast away
the latter in two or three hours,

Olive oil 1 ounce.

Sugar of lead 1 drachm^

Flowers of zinc 6 drachms,

incorporate the mass, and spread upon tow, enough.

Relapses, however, occur, notwithstanding this
method of scoring the feet longitudinally is come
much into practice, with a view to cure lameness
arising from the contracted form of the same ; which
method, together with being turned to gi-ass, ex-
pands the foot for a time ; but, when these scorings
are quite grown out, and the horse is taken to
house, such foot returns again in a short time to
its primitive natural contracted state, and he be-

€hap, IV.] EYES. PHYSICKING. ALOES. 131

comes just as lame as he was before, provided the
general health is impaired by physic.

Eyes. — Of diseases of the eye, which come of
seyere physicking, I have little to say, having never
seen any method of treating them but what is
uncertain, and cannot be relied on; yet frequent
bleeding, and the use of cooling laxative salts, often
are of great service.

Operation of physic. -—There are so many forms
of purging physic already prescribed by all the
writers and doctors, which, as I said before, may
be all equally good, that it would seem needless
here to direct any more ; yet, for the reader's
amusement, if not his instruction, I shall relate my
own method, shaped according to the modern
practice. The following is evidently intended
For two Purging-Balls.

I take of Barhadoes aloes a sufficient quantity,
which given from one ounce to one and a half is
enough for a middling sized horse; of powdered
jalap two drachms, and, because these resinous
gums remain long on the stomach without dissolving,
I add tivo drachnis of salt of tartar, (or potass,)
which is the proper menstruum or dissolvent there-
of ; and, to prevent griping, I add one ounce of
ginger powdered : then mix with soap and syrup
to make two balls.

But if the salt of tartar be first mixed with the
aloes, the compound becomes immediately so brittle,
that it cannot be given in the form of a ball ; where-
fore I sometimes mix the aloes and jalap together

132

FLUX, REMEDIES FOR. [Part III.

by the heat of the fire, and give it in a ball;* and
after that I give the ginger and salt of tartar in
some warm ale.

Over-dosing the horse is a very common error ;
for it frequently happens, from the stimulating
quality of the medicine, from too large a dose, or
weak, tender habit of body, that a flux or purging
continues many days ; in this case give him gruel,
made of boiled rice and water, with some gum
arabic dissolved therein, and repeat it. This will
sheath the over-stimulated bowels ; and pliilonium
romanum, (see page 124,) repeated at intervals of
time, as occasion shall direct, will stop the purging ; to
which more opium may be added, if there be need.
And when he will eat corn of either sort, let him
have it as a change ; or rice, either boiled or raw.
But if he refuse all food, balls should be given him
made of the flour of heans and rice, or boiled
wheat-flour. For this latter, see Grooms' Oracle/'
Appendix, article White Water, No. 6.

* This mode of making up aloetic purging-balls, by means of
the fire, bears analogy to the plan of casting them, recommended
in " The Grooms' Oracle/' Appendix, under the head of" Aloes,'^
section 7. I know not from whom I learnt it, or rather my
fatlier, but apprehend the art of casting them must have been
derived from William Osmer, through one or two mediums,
probably. His prescription of " an ounce or ounce and a half
of Barbadoes aloes" is clearly the old mistaken notion of giving
the most that a horse could bear ; whereas the present practice
is, to give the least quantity of aloes that will accomplish the
object of discharging the bowels of their contents. The previous
preparation of giving bran-mashes renders one such ball (as
above) quite sufficient for any ordinary purpose. — Edit.

Ckap.tV.'] MANNER OP PHYSICKING. 13S

The usual manner of treating horses when they
take physic, is to give them nothing but hai/ to eat
till the operation is over ; and not to take them out
to strong work on the day the physic is given. But,
thinking 1 could find a method preferable to this,
on some occasions, I have often ventured to deviate
from this old custom, by giving the horse what
corn he would eat, reasonably [if with a large dose
in him] ; and, by walking him out on the day he
takes physic ; but the next day, when it works,
according to my plan, he does not go out at all,-
nor is allowed corn till the evening. The only
effects I have ever found from this proceeding are,
that walking him out the first day creates an appe-
tite, so that, by filling his belly, he is less weak-
ened, his blood is less impoverished, and he
recovers his wonted strength much sooner, in such
a manner, that he will be able to hunt again in a
short time, or to run his match, if he has any such
depending. It must be confessed, there is one
apparent misfortune attending the horse in this way
of purging, more than in the common one, which
is, that he hardly ever seems ill with it; and a
greater misfortune is, that the generality of grooms
and farriers hardly ever think a horse is benefited
by physic, unless it very much affect him, and reduces
him almost to the degree of a dog-horse. To avoid
this, the medicine I recommend is composed of
aloes and soap, which latter acts as a diuretic as
well as laxative, and is a medicine of much efficacy
on many occasions.

134 EPFECTS OF PURGATION [Part III.

But here occars to me another good-for-nothing
custom amongst grooms, when they intend to purge
their horses ; and this is, to give them a sweat, * by
way of stirring the humours,* as they call it, the day
before the physic is given ; but, for my own part,
I am so peculiar as to be of a quite contrary opinion
in this matter, believing the horse should rather be
kept cool and quiet, for a day or two, before be
takes physic ; by reason that this exercise certainly
produces some degree of inflammation in the blood,
which is very likely to be the cause of swellings in
the extremities, if physic be given immediately
after it ; the which I am sure has often been the
consequence of such exercise, although imputed
by grooms and farrier to foulness (see page 129) ; a
term of art, which they alone understand the
meaning of, in their own way.

Again, when horses have those cold oederaatous
swellings in the extreme parts, before spoken of,
occasioned by the impoverished state of the blood
and juices, or bad usage, the custom is to purge
away, dose after dose, without knowing, that, by
such continued purging, they are doing harm ; for
the free use of purges will render the blood and
juices thinner, so that those swellings will be in-
creased rather than removed, unless some proper
warm potations are given between whiles, to amend
the state of the blood ; i. e, philonium romanum
(page 124), or the White Water, No. 3, or No. 5,
Grooms* Oracle, Appendix.

Scowering. When a horse is taken with a

Chap. IV.] ON LEGS, BOWELS, ETC. 135

dysentery, or scowering, to treat him first with
medicines of an astringent quality is highly impro-
per ; but the cause of the disease should be first
removed, by giving him toasted rhubarb and
nutmeg ; and^ when this may have been supposed
to operate, opium is the most effectual remedy, of
which ten or twenty grains may be given at a time,
and repeated as there is occasion. Seeing that
the intestines are, in this case strongly irritated,
and their mucus carried ofiT, his proper drink will
be gruel made with bean-flour, and some gum
arable dissolved therein ; his food should consist of
rice and bean-flour ; and a clyster of meat-broth,
without salt, thrown into the gut, would help to
allay the irritation or stimulus of the same.

Worms — Botts, of several kinds. Excessive
purgation, or the frequent exhibition of aloes,
leaves behind a disposition in the intestines to
become irritated upon the least incitement; a
feverish state that occasions the thickening of these,
and, indeed, all membrane, which thus become
softer^ and affords to worms a secure nidus, and
to the bott easier means of attaching itself immove-
ably, or of penetrating the intestine or stomach.

Ordinary worms will be cured by any form of
mercury given in small quantities, by the prepara-
tions of pewter, tin, and oil ; and I have been of
opinion, that botts, too, would be cured by the same
means, but later experience proves the contrary ;
[that is to say, the medicine does not succeed
always, there being no specific whatever for the

1S6 BOTT-FLY AND WORMS. [Part III.

worms, though sometimes one remedy prevails, in
other cases another]. It is worth remarking here,
that bitters can be no antidote to botts, because
they have been often found alive in the duodenum,
into which the bilious juice or gall is immediately
discharged, than which nothing is more bitter.*
Can bitters, then, have any better effects on worrns,
than on botts ^ if they are there found alive too? It
appears, from experiments also, that worms put into
the strongest bitters, live tis long as they do in
common water. [Worms, of every sort, are de-
tached from the intestines by reason of these being
restored to their proper tone ; they are not killed,
(as said,) but pass off alive.

But having lately had an opportunity of opening
a horse that died in convulsions, which was known
to have been troubled with botts, and to which they
had, in order to effect a cure, given a considerable
quantity of all that species of medicines f&r a con-
siderable time before, I found a great number of
them in the stomach, which was in some parts
nearly eaten through, and the intestines were in
some places eaten quite through.

Bott'jly and worm, natural history of. It was
Mr. Reaumur, in his " History of Insects," who first

* All bitter medicines are tonic ; but the bitter secretions
are only irritating : those substances belong to different king-
doms of nature, viz. animal, vegetable, and mineral. I appre-
hend that worms are cured by the use of bitter medicine, not by
its killing them, but by bracing the stomach, &c. so that they
are compelled to pass off, — Edit.

Chap.IV.'] TONIC MEDICINES.

1#

made some curious observations on this ever-inte-
resting subject.* He begins with saying —

* Amongst the animals that are useful to man-

* kind, the horse is certainly entitled to the first

* rank, and yet this animal, considerable as it is,

* and contrived by its figure and beautiful propor-
' tions to afford us pleasure, was not given to

* mankind alone ; for there is a species of fly,

* whose right in this creature may be looked upon
' as still better founded than our own.'

Now, if this should happen to be true, what
a mortifying circumstance, and stumbling-block of
offence, it will be to those unphilosophical people,
whom pride and custom have taught to beUeve,
that all things were made for man alone ! He
goes on to say —

* If the horse be useful to us, he is absolutely
' necessary to the fly ; the same Being that formed

* the horse having formed also this fly, which

* depends wholly on the horse for its preservation

* and continuance. The flies we are speaking of,

* like those of all other species, receive their first

* life and growth in the form of worms ; but these

* are worms that can be produced and nourished
' only in the intestines of a horse. It is there

* alone they can enjoy the proper temperature of

* Bracy Clark's Treatise on the Botts did not appear in the
world until half a century behind William Osmer's, and about
three-quarters of a hundred subsequent to the Frenchman's
History of Insects, quoted in the text. — Edit,

138 FEMALE BOTT-FLY, [Part III,

' heat, and receive the Dourishment necessary for

* their existence.

* Besides the long, and sometimes very long,
worms which have been observed in the bodies

* of horses, there have been seen also short ones/
fi. e, hotts), * All authors, both ancient and

* modern, who have treated of the diseases of

* horses, have taken notice of these short worms ;

* but Mr. Valisnieri (an Italian writer on Veteri-

* nary Smgery) is the first who traced them

* through the stages of their transformation, and

* has seen them change into a hairy kind of Jly,

* like the drone. The Jlies from which these botts

* are produced inhabit the country, and do not

* come near houses, at least, not near those of

* great towns ; and, therefore, horses are never
' liable to have hotts in their bodies, if they have

* been kept in the house, especially in a town,
' during the summer and autumn,

' It is in the former of these seasons, and per-

* haps too in the beginning of the latter, that the

* females of these flies apply themselves to the anus

* of horses, and endeavour to gain admittance, in

* order there to deposit their eggs, or perhaps
' their worms. The precise instant of their en-

* trance will scarce admit of an eye-witness, but

* by the merest chance ; yet Mr. Valisnieri says,

* that a Dr. Gaspari had attained this very uncom-
' mon sight. The doctor (he says) was one day

* looking at his mares in the field, and from being

Chap, IVJ] DEPOSITS ITS EGGS, HOW 1 139

' hitherto very quiet, he observed that of a sudden

* they became restless, and ran about in great agi-

* tatiorij prancing, plunging, and kicking, with vio-
' lent motions of their tails. He concluded, that
' these extraordinary effects were produced by some

* fly buzzing about them, and endeavouring to settle

* upon the anus of one of them ; but the fly not

* being able to succeed, he observed it to go off

* with less noise than before, towards a mare that

* was feeding at a distance from the rest ; and now

* the fly taking a more effectual method to obtain
' its design, passed under the tail of the mare, and

* so made its way to the anus.

* Here at first it occasioned only an itching, by

* which the intestine was protruded with an in-

* creased aperture of the sphincter ; the fly, taking

* the advantage of this, penetrated further, and

* secured itself in the folds of the intestine. This

* being effected, it was in a situation proper for

* laying its eggs. Soon after this the mare became

* very violent, running about, prancing, and kick-

* ing, and throwing herself on the ground : in

* short was not quiet, nor returned to feeding, till

* after a quarter of an hour.*

• In South America, the bott-fly ( Oestris equi) like all oth^r
insects of that quarter of the world, grows to a great size, in-
somuch that strangers have likened them to birds ; at least,
thus we find the kind rendered in a translation from thp Rus-
sian Captain Kotzebue's Voyage, in 1823 ; a venial mistake
that is very excusable in a translation from Colonial Spanish
into Russian, thence into German or French, and thence into
English. " The Governor of Manilla told me, that sometimes

140 BOTT-WORMS, FORMA.TION, [Part III.

* Thus we see the fly can find the means of de-
^ positing its eggs, or perhaps its worms (i. e.

* hottsj in the fundament of the horse, which,

* once effected, it has done all that is necessary for

* propagating the species. If the worms are not

* hatched when first deposited in the horse, but are

* then only eggs, it will not be long before this

* happens, from the nutritive heat they there receive.

* Soon after the worms make their way into the

* intestines of the horse ; they occupy such parts of

* this region, as are to them most convenient, and

* sometimes they penetrate even to the stomach.
' All the hazard they appear to be exposed to is, that

* of being carried away from the places they have

* fixed on, by the excrement, [and spiral motion
' of the intestine, we term the peristaltic,'] which
' may seem likely to drive all before it. But
' nature has provided for all things, and when we

* shall have further described these hott-worms, it

* will be seen that they are able to maintain their

* situation, and to remain in the body of the horse

* as long as they please.

the wild horses of the interior are subject to a singular fate : a
bird makes its nest at the root of their tail ; as soon as this
happens, the horse grows lean, and does not recover even after
the bird has flown away with its young.'* See Annals of Spor-
ting, vol vii. page 102. Later naturalists 'reckon three sorts of
Oestrk, or bott-fly ; the most pertinacious, noisy, and dangerous,
being the one just described ; the second kind attacking the
head principally ; and the third, less active, depositing its eggs
on the horse's coat, whence they are licked ofi' by the animal
and pass into the intestines. — Edit.

Chap, IV.} SHAPE OF, CLAWS, ETC. 141

* There is a season when these worms are of
' themselves desirous to leave this their habitation ;
' it being no longer convenient to them after the

* purposes of their growth are answered. Their
' transformation to a fly must, it seems, be per-
' formed out of the horse's body; accordingly,

* when the time of their transformation draws
near, they approach towards the anus of the horse,
and so, leave him of their own accord, or with the
excrement, with which they then suffer them-
selves to be carried along.

* In shape f or figure, the hott-ivorm affords at
first sight nothing remarkable, but appears, like
many other worms of the first class to which it
belongs, that change into flies with two wings,
and like the greatest part of the worms of that
class, they are provided with a sort of scaly claws,
with which they draw themselves forward.

In colour there is a difference observable be-
tween those that are taken or driven hy force
from the intestine of the horse, and those which
come aVay of their own accord ; some of the
former are greenish, some yellowish, and others
being nearer to perfection are brownish, these
last are nearest, and the greenish ones the
farthest from the time of their transformation.
' The claws form a peculiar and distinctive mark
of the bott'worm. If Mr. Valisnieri and myself
(Mr. Reaumur,) have rightly observed the posi-
tion of their claws, some individuals differ from
others in this respect ; but all are perfectly simi-

142 BOTTS AFFECT HEALTH. [Part III.

\^ lar in every other particular, and all change into
y flies so nearly alike, that I am convinced they are

* of the same kind and origin. However this be,

* the hott'WormSy which are the subject of our

* present pursuit, have two unequal claws ; and

* since I have been acquainted with the nature and

* use of them, I have had no difficulty to conceive,

* how they may still remain in the intestines of the

* horse, in opposition to all efforts to force them

* out. One worm that I was handling and exa-

* mining, fastened upon my finger in such a man-

* ner, that I found great difficulty to disengage
' myself. These claws are a sort of anchor, diffe-

* rently disposed, indeed, from those of common

* anchors, but contrived to produce the same effect.

* Besides these two claws, nature hath also given

* to each holt-worm a very great number of trian-

* gular spines or bristles, quite sufficient to arm it

* against the coats of the intestines, and to resist

* the force employed to drive the intruders to-

* wards the anus, provided the head be directed

* towards the stomach of the horse.

* It will be asked, no doubt, if these hott-worms
' are not dangerous to horses ? This will depend

* upon other circumstances. For example, the

* mares which afforded me, for several years, those

* worms on which I made my observations, did not

* appear to be less in health, than those which had

* none ; but it may sometimes happen, that they

* are in so great a quantity in the body of the horse,

* as to prove fatal to him.—- Mr. Valisnieri further

Chap, IF.] THE WORMS ; EPIDEMIC ; 143

* supposes these bott-worms, to have been the cause
' of an epidemical disease, that destroyed a great

* many horses about Verona and Mantua, some

* years since ; and the observations communicated

* to him by Dr. Gaspari suflSciently confirm his

* supposition.

* That gentleman, upon dissecting some horses

* that died of this distemper, found in their sto-

* machs a surprising quantity of short v^orms ; of

* which, to give us some idea, he compares to the

* kernels of a pomegranate, opened. Each of

* these worms by gnawing the coat of the stomach,

* had made for itself a kind of hollow nidus or
' cellule therein : these cavities would easily con-
' tain a grain of Indian wheat, each. It is easy

* to imagine how, by this means, the stomach must
be reduced to a wretched condition. The outer

* membranes were inflamed, and the inner ones

* ulcerated and corrupted ; a very small quantity

* of worms were found in the small intestines, and

* only a few in the larger, to which last they were

* found affixed, but had not corroded there, as in
' the stomach. A very few flies must be enough to
^* overstock the inside of a horse, provided, they

* should deposit all their eggs, and such should all

* be animated, Mr. Valisnieri having counted up-

* wards of seven hundred in ^ the body of one

* single fly.

* When one of these botts has left the anus of

* the horse, it falls on the ground, and immediately
' seeks out for some place of safety, where it may

* retire to prepare for the last stage of its transfer-

144 WORMS CHANGE FORM; [Part III.

* mation, by which it is to become a fly. And

* now by degrees the skin hardens, and thickens,

* and at length forms a solid shell or cod, the form

* of which differs scarcely any thing from that of
' the worm. At first it is of a pale red colour,

* which changes into chesnuf, and at length, by the

* addition of gradual and successive shades of

* brown, the shell is rendered black,

' The worm, or bott, before it passes into the
' nymph state is of the form of an oblong ball ;

* and retains this form much longer than worms of

* the flesh fly kind. I have met with worms, that

* retained this figure five or six days ; but as yet
' one can perceive no traces of the legs, wings,
' and head of the nymph. — Hence I first ascer-

* tained, that these bott-ivorms do not become

* nymphs immediately upon their first change ; but
' that, in order to become flies, they must undergo

* one change more than caterpillars ordinarily do

* to become butterflies.'

This doctrine, and our own observation, will teach
us some truths worth knowing. First, that horses
may occasionally die with spasms, and convulsions,
when these botts lodge in the stomach and intes-
tines, and corrode the same, instead of coming
away with the dung. Secondly, that no medicine
ought to be esteemed a specific remedy for botts,
till we see them brought away dead^ by their eff^ects ;
and therefore, if they did not generally make their

* What signifies whether dead or alive, so they come ? I
have been long of opinion, that korses take green food of an
anthelminthic quality when at soil. — Edit.

Chap. IV.] RECIPE FOR WORMS.

145

escape by some law of nature unknown to us, horses
would die much more frequently than they do with
the ravages of these insects.

Having said so much concerning those enemies
of condition in the horse, come we now to the
means of

Cure, Take of new milk one quart, honey half
a pound, mix and give the horse this in a morning;
let him fast after it an hour and a half, then give
himapintof strong brine, {i.e. salt and water,) more
or less, according to the size and strength of your
horse, fasting after that, another hour. Repeat
this treatment three or four successive mornings ;
this destroys the worms, and leaves no appearance
but of their skins, or shells, which are brought away
with the excrement. This treatment, with opened
bowels, kills worms of all sorts and sizes.

The farcy is another of those disorders that
arise from vitiated blood ; and when caught by
infection, as it may be by licking the matter from
other horses, the same effect will be produced.

When the skin breaks, and buds of sprouting
fungous flesh appear on any part, such are to be
touched with a rag dipped in corrosive spirit of
salt J (i. e. muriatic acid,) in strong spirit of nitre,
aqua foriis, or in any other such medicine. When
swellings fall on any part, which is no uncommon
symptom in this disorder, a poultice made with the
emollient fomentation thickened with oatmeal, is
to be applied thereto twice a day.

Scurfy eruptions. With respect to ma-

H

146 SEA-WATER, ITS EFFICACY. [Part III.

lenders, swelled legs, scratches, scurfy heels, what
is called the grease, and such like disorders ; these
all proceed from a languid and obstructed circula-
tion, whence ensues coldness in the extreme parts.
To remedy these evils, let warm fomentations be
applied to the parts ; good rubbing of the limbs is
necessary, and a poultice composed of rye-meal and
milk is a proper application to sore heels ; all
unctuous things doing more harm than good. The
habit of body also must be altered, if we would
amend the vicious state of the constitution ; for
which purpose, the medicines that are most proper
to be given internally for all those disorders, of
which I have been speaking, shall be set down
presently.

Meantime, let me earnestly recommend one
universal remedy and preventive of all bodily dis-
orders, that has been too much neglected by all
persons and degrees of the physic-giving genus.

Salt is that curative I allude to, in all its forms
and denominations ; whether under its most simple
acceptation as table salt^ or as nitre, Glaubers,
Epsom salts, or any other of its half a score combi-
nations. After a short while I shall return to the
subject more at large: namely, in Chapter V.

Now, the virtues of salt or sea water are in all
such cases of disease very remarkable, as I myself
witnessed, for many years ; for, having occasionally
resided near the sea-coast, I could not help observing
the beneficial effects of it. There is a well known
custom at Margate, when people bathe, to be

Chap, IF.] BITTEN DOGS, CURED. 147

drawn a little distance into the sea, in a machine,
with one Jiorse ; the which, by a constant succession
of bathers, remains in the sea perhaps every day of
the season, for four, five, or six hours together ; and
whatsoever ulcers or cutaneous disorders the horse
may chance to have, he is by such practice being
continued for a time, sure to be cured of, — I mean
in such parts as the water can reach.

Hence I was led to conclude, that the virtues of
salt water would extend farther than are yet
known, if the subject were properly considered.
For instance, in the case of people being bit by
mad dogs, that are sent to sea to be dipped, we
find that some are cured, some not ; and I believe
it is owing to this cause, that they are not all cured,
namely f that it does not operate aHke on all men ;
for some, who can swim well, having no fear of
drowning, though perhaps damnably soused by the
dippers, receive none of this water into their
stomach, whilst others who cannot swim, what
between the fear of being drowned, and gaping for
breath, do often imbibe a great quantity of sea-
water, and are hereby strongly operated upon both
upwards and downwards. In these operations, I
think, consist the virtue and eff'ects of sea-water, as
an antidote to canine madness, and not in the act
of bathing itself. What confirms me in this opinion
is, that if one dog be bit by another, in ever so
severe a manner, even in the head, which is by
some thought incurable, such dog, by often taking

148 SEA BATHING, IN RABIES. [Pari IH.

turbeth mineralf^ that operates upon him upwards
and downwards, or either way, will be most certainly
cured, at least I have always found it so. This
effect, I think, is brought about by the «c^/on of the
medicines, and not by any specific quality, either of
the salt or the mercury ; for, there is no medicine
known that can properly be said to contain any
specific quality. But, when we practitioners know
not how to account for the effects or mode of ope-
ration of any given medicine, we, to keep up the
shew of knowledge, and to gratify our doctorial
pride, have recourse to hard words, or terms of
art, that serve in reality to betray our ignorance.
But sea-w^ater has by no means an equal chance in
this respect with the medicinal remedies ; for, in
these last the patients persist for a time, and go
through a long course of physic and regimen;
whereas, in the other case, you dip once, and off
you go about your business. This naturally brings
us to inquire, if there be any virtue in sea-water
that may be an antidote to the bite of a mad dog,
(as undoubtedly there appears to be from many
instances,) why not stay and make sure of it, by
continuing to bathe, and to drink also, for a length
of time ? f

* Given in the quantity of half a drachm it irritates the
bowels of the canine species, but is too strong for the horse,
even in farcy, which it is well calculated to subdue. — Edit.

f We must not allow ourselves to be led away by the author's
confidence in the efficacy of sea-bathing as a cure for canine
madness: it has been tried on a large scale, and often, but did

Chap, I v.] SALT, MEDICINAL VIRTUES. 149

With respect to the more general medicinal
use of salt, T take leave to suggest that it may
be of as much service to mankind in many disor-
ders as it is to the brute creation ; respect being
had to the difference in size and constitution. For,
in scrophulous and scorbutic complaints, gravel,
cholicky pains proceeding from heated bowels, in
fevers, inflammatory disorders of all kinds, bilious
obstructions, rheumatic complaints, in intervals of
the gout, and many other chronic disorders, it will
be found a medicine of great efficacy, if continued
to be taken for a time. But the general misfortune
attending all medicines, intended to act as alter-
atives on the system, is, that the patient expects
to be cured in a few weeks of a disorder he has
been treasuring up for many years, and perhaps
continues daily to increase by free living.

To cleanse the stomach from sUmy viscid juices,
salt will be found a proper remedy, as may be in-
ferred from the use of sea- water ; which, if taken too
freely, will operate not only on the stomach, but on
the coats of the intestines also, in such a manner,
as greatly to discharge their mucus, and produce

not succeed ; and we are still without any remedy for this melan-
choly disorder, notwithstanding the great number of asserted
cures which we have heard of and tried during the last thirty
years. In this dilemma it is consolatory to know, that the
horse suffering under hydrophobia, in its worst forms, does not
communicate, by his bite, this disease to other animals, or to
man. The same is the case with horned cattle, asses, &c.— ■
Edit.

150' FOOD AND DIGESTION. [Part III,

violent bloody fluxes, various instances of which
have been known.

Origin of disease. — Now, food and climate I
take to be the origin of all disease ; by which two
things, the bile or gall is more immediately and
primarily affected in all countries, and in all consti-
tutions. From which last source (climate or season)
the generality of chronic disorders, and some acut^
ones, are also derived.

The use of this bile is to complete the digestion
by assimilating the food, and rendering its juices fit
to enter the lacteal vessels. It is the soap or men-
struum of the body ; the fountain and origin of all
other secretions, on the regularity of which health
depends, and without which every animal on the
earth would soon fall into a state of putrefaction.
Hence I have been led to think, that what we call
real [original] diseases, howsoever distinguished by
their various names and symptoms, are, after all,
no more in general than secondary effects, produced
by the state and nature of the bile, and altered man-
ner of the secretion thereof.

In colder climates, or inactive life, this bilious
juice is more sparingly secreted. Hence the various
kinds or loads of aliment imposed on the stomach,
not being duly assimilated, either from the quantity
or quality of this juice, other subordinate secretions,
depending on this proper one of the bile, will
not be regularly or truly promoted. Hence ob-
structions will arise of various kinds, and different

Chap. I v.} DISEASES HEREDITARY. 151'

animals will be variously affected, according to the
different organism of their bodily system.

The diseases we call hereditary depend alto-
gether (as I conceive) on the particular frame and
texture of these bodily organs, and is not any real
latent disorder, as generally understood. From a
similar cause, or habit of body in parents and off-
spring, similar effects are occasionally produced.
This doctrine will be more accurately understood
by observing, that one son shall be afflicted with
the same disease the father had, and yet another
son, though, perhaps, not so moderate a liver, shall
escape this particular disease, by being constituted
like the mother.

To this it may be objected, that many people,
who were always very abstemious livers, have been,
even from their younger days, afflicted with the
very same disease their fathers had, and, therefore,
such disease is real and self-existent. To which I
answer, that the effect of climate, as well as of
food, will bring on particular diseases, on people
particularly constituted ; for instance, many persons
afflicted with the gout, scurvy, rheumatism, and so
forth, in one climate, shall, by living in another,
entirely lose such complaints. [For proof hereof,
instances enough to convince a sceptic might be
adduced ; and in case of ague, in entire districts,
it has been eradicated by changing the nature of
the soil from a swamp to tillage ground — the hun-
dred of Dengy, in Essex, for example ; for, hereby
was the climate altered from constant humidity and

152

CLIMATE. SALT. BILE. [Part III,

summer exhalations to a tolerably dry, comfortable,
and healthy district.

Again, in some of the eastern countries many peo-
ple, particularly those of a corpulent habit of body,
not circumcised, are very subject to ulcers under the
foreskin of the penis, which, in time, for want of
due care and cleanliness, become virulent and
infectious. Hence we may learn, that some dis-
eases derive their origin from climate alone, and
that the institution of circumcision in such countries
for any society of people, whom it was desirable
should be kept clean and healthy, was a very wise
one, whether ordained by divine or human autho-
rity, though most likely to be strictly observed when
propagated as a religious laiv^ as it was by Moses
and Mahomet,

Now, to conclude my earnest recommendation
of the free use of salt in all those diseases that
arise from ohstruction in the secretions [as spoken
of before, pages 64, 121, &c. as giving had hu-
mour sio the blood], let us say a few words as to the
secretion of too much of the bilious juice, in parti-
cular; as is the case in hot climates — producing
affections of the liver. Under these circumstances,
it is probable, the use of salts would prove detri-
mental. And I have been told, by a very judicious
surgeon, who practised some years in the East
Indies, and who was also fond of giving nitre in
fevers, from the success he had occasionally ob-
served attending it here, that this medicine, given
in fevers peculiar to that country, was, according

Chap, F.]

THE SKIN.

153

to his observation, very destructive ; and that, by
its promoting still greater secretions of the bile,
immoderate fluxes were produced, which generally
ended in death.

Perhaps, also, the different complexions of man-
kind, inhabiting the various parts of the globe,
depend alone on the secretion of this bilious juice.
The colour of a hlacJc arising from nothing else than
a kind of mucus^ which is secreted and retained
between the skin and the cuticle ; the fibres of the
skin being white in all people.

[This is what we now know by the term scarf-
skin, the next being composed of cross- barred
fibres resembling »ejf-i{;or^ ; whence, and from its
function of secreting the lubricating mucus, it has
acquired the term rete mucosas.'] How absurdly,
.then, do such people argue who maintain, that
there are two sorts of men created by the Al-
mighty, the one kind destined to slavery, the other
to wealth and power ! Whereas this latter is the
effect alone of arts and arms.

CHAP. V.

Treats more particularly of the Remedies before
prescribed; suggests Variations, and recapitu-
lates the new Doctrines laid dovm in the pre-
ceding Chapters,

Salt. — [Whatever person shall, upon reading

h3

154

SALT, ITS VIRTUES. [Part III.

the foregoing pages, imagine that salts are re-
commended as a brisk purge, that is to disorder
the horse and reduce his strength for several days —
according to their system, is very much mistaken.
In whatever form the salts we term neutral are
administered, the effects produced is never imme-
diate or striking ; nor subject to failure by being
turned aside from the purpose intended, as happens
with the more active medicines; but it operates
slowly, with certainty, and always beneficially.
Of this whole class, sea salt, or common household
salt, is the most useful for veterinary purposes,
nitre alone excepted ; both may be used as well
internally as externally, but sal ammoniac ( muriate
of ammonia ) is chiefly employed in embrocations
for strains and bruises, along with vinegar. Salt
of tartar, or of wormwood^ is no other than the
prepared kali of the shops ; whilst soluble tartar,
or tartarized kali, is formed by the same being
combined with vinegar, or acetous acid. If the
prepared kali, otherwise purified potash, be treated
with vitriolic acid, then sal polychrest, so often
recommended in veterinary practice, is the
product.

Already I had remarked that salt externally
employed is a great discutient, and, inwardly
taken, it is a great deobstruent also (page 60).
From this deobstruent quality of salt, it stands
recommended to the world as the best general
medicine that can be given to horse, dog, or man,
for preventing disorder as well as removing cb-

Cliap, ¥.p DR- James's powders, 155

structions.* But if aoy man is acquainted with
one that is more so, he would be highly culpable
not to use it. Nor am I so partial an advocate for
this medicine, as to think.it incapable of improve-
ment, by being joined to some other ; for anti-
mony, added to nitres will render it more powerfully
deobstruent, and a more efficacious medicine in
all diseases befalling the horse. If, then, we take
of nitre two parts, and one of crocus metallorum,
C sulphuretted oxyde of antimony,) alias liver, first
rubbed together, and deflagrate them over a fire,
in a crucible, by putting in a little at a time, we
shall have a medicine nearly analagous to Dr.
James's celebrated fever powders; one or two
drachms of which may be given twice or three times
a'day, as occasion may require, and the patient can
bear the repetition.

[Language has been exhausted in the praises of
antimonial preparations, and of Dr. James's fever
powders, which is the identical crocus metallorum
recommended by Osmer to be deflagrated with
double its weight of nitre. His dose would appear

* No man who takes dry salt in abundance, but enjoys
robust health — all other circumstances fitting — say with his
dinner, two to four drachms daily throughout the year. Salt
administered dry destroys worms, and detaches the bott. A
case of a dog. being cured of worms by a spoonful of salt is
reported in " The Farrier," No. 31, page 303. In such cases,
administer it wrapped up in tissue-paper. At Melton-Constable,
in Norfolk, the hounds of Sir Jacob Henry Astley are retained
in health by a table spoonful of salt given daily.— Edit.

1&6 A POTENT REMEDY. [Part III,

too large ; so an alteration has been here made
more consonant to our modern practice.
1 This will be found a very potent remedy in the
farcy ; in cutaneous diseases ; in local swellings,
where the juices are viscid, and the circulation is
become languid ; for loss of appetite ; in plethoric
and in bilious complaints, where the blood is de-
praved by any antecedent fever ; in the inflamma-
tory cholic, and all inflammatory disorders ; in
obstructions of the urinary passages, and all others;
in epidemical diseases, or what is called the dis-
temper amongst cows and horses ; in coughs, colds,
sore throats, in fevers of every kind, and many
chronical disorders : for this excellent medicine
attenuates the fluids, and promotes secretion and
excretion to come off^ more copiously ; hence the ob-
structions productive of disease are removed, and
the animal restored to his pristine health. To this
deflagrated nit^^e and antimony, other cooling
neutral salts, mentioned before, may be added
with great propriety on all occasions where the
first shall be thought proper.

If any man should wonder at, or object to the
virtue of salts and antimony, considered in such a
universal light, I desire he will consider and re-
member too, that in the diseases which befal
horses, tJie fluids only are in general concerned,
which is owing to the sameness and simplicity of
their food. Hence, too, the viscidity of their fluids is
more easily removed ; hence their diseases are less

Chap, v.]

SALT WATER.

157

complicated, less various, and less intricate, than
in the human species, whose luxurious and un-
confined repasts have produced such a number and
variety of complaints as perplex and puzzle the
most nice inquiry.

But, lest I should be thought too fond of the
virtues of salty with respect to its general efficacy,
1 should be glad to know wherein consists the
virtue of all the boasted medicinal waters of the
world but in the salt which they contain? the water
itself, independent of its impregnations, having
no more effect than any other common watery
vehicle. Hot ones, indeed, (whilst they remain in
a state of heat,) may, perhaps, be impregnated
with other materials also. Hence we perceive the
right reason assigned by the physician of man, who
having long, in vain, drenched the sickly mortal
with every drug the world affords, sends him, at
last, to drink some kind of water that happens to
be most in fashion. Now the salts of different
waters differ in their nature and effect, whereby
different constitutions are diversely affected. Hence
the patient of the son of jBEsculapius is often
left, like those of the farriers, to be cured by
chance.

Quid rides ? mutato nomine, de te fabula narratitr

[Yet, may we not, without evident injustice to
the cause of truth, turn our backs upon the result
of some experiments recently made on the action

158 SELF-EXAMINATION PROPER. [Part III.]

of salt upon the blood, detailed in a subsequent
page (171). Passing over every other point there
adduced, the bare fact salt so applied preventing
putrefaction in the crassament of blood, is fully
conclusive of the manner in which it acts upon the
living animals ; and may be looked upon as a very
triumphant confirmation of friend Osmer*s astute-
ness regarding the application thereof in curing all
diseases of the constitution, and satisfactorily ac-
counts for the apparent stubbornness with which he
returns to this topic again and again.]

But though men, as well as horses, often " die
of the doctor," yet are there many worthy prac-
titioners in this kingdom, whose integrity, judge-
ment, and close observation of diseases do honour
to themselves and benefit to mankind.

In conclusion, the author having gone through
this portion of his task as concisely as he well
could, and being inclined to edify, rather than to
puzzle the reader by multiplying useless words and
medicines, or by enumerating diseases that exist
no where but in the imagination of authors,
who thought themselves obliged to treat of every
disorder they had ever heard of incident to man, as
if they believed the horse was afflicted with the like,
he must here observe, that this conciseness will save
both writer and reader some trouble, which is a
matter of no small consideration ; and the author
is of opinion, that he has done more good in bringing
the practice of physic, with respect to horses, into
this narrow compass, than if his book had been fur-

Cliap, F.] SYMPTOMS OFT MISTAKEN. 159

nished (like some which have gone before it) with
a greater number of receipts and medicines.

Although he has endeavoured to treat this subject
as clearly as he could, yet must it be confessed,
that no method of treating, either diseases or wounds,
can be set down so clearly or precisely, but that much
will depend on the judgement of the practitioner.
In the one case, from appearance and locality ; in
the other, from the occurrence of various symptoms
often annexed to the same disease; in both, from
variances in the habit of body ; though it must be
allowed, that the preparations of antimony before
recommended (page 155), are less affected in the
mode of operating by changes in the state of the
stomach, than any other medicine whatever. Should
it so happen, that the practitioner finds his purpose
not answered in giving any of the medicines here
recommended, I must beg the favour of him to re-
flect, that it may possibly be owing to his own want
of skill in the proper use and management of them ;
and to consider that the reading of any one or more
books on physic (though ever so perfect) will not
alone make a man an able horse doctor ; the skill of
such a one consisting as much in close observation
of the efforts of nature, a thorough knowledge of the
animal economy, and a proper application of the
remedy, as well as to know the virtues which belong
to it. Add to this, the symptoms may sometimes
be mistaken for the disease, and the disease for the
symptoms. Again, some two or more diseases,
from having the same appearance, may be mistaken

, 160 CLOTHING IN FEVER. [Pat t III.

for each other, as has been shewn in the case of
the botts. Moreover, medicines given to a horse,
that may from his particular constitution disagree
with him ; such, for instance, as nitt^e (the least
quantity of which some men, and some horses, are
utterly unable to take without sudden bad effects),
may bring on new symptoms utterly unconnected
with the disease, and for which there is no possi-
bility of laying down any certain proper treatment ;
and yet this is not owing to, nor ought to be im-
puted to any fault in the medicine, but to the
particular habit of body in those who take it, which
no human wisdom can foresee. To avoid this kind
of disaster, in some measure, nitre should be always
compounded with gum cjuaiacumy if no other muci-
lage is prescribed.

Clothing sick horses is a matter of great import-
ance, and the abuse of it much more so. In
gentlemen's stables, it is a general custom, wiien
horses have colds or fevers, to load them with a
vast quantity of superfluous clothes, lest they catch
cold ; whereas, this but increases the impetus of
the blood, and accelerates its motion. Hence
ensues an increased contraction of the blood-vessels,
and an impeded secretion and excretion of the
fluids ; so that incisions made in the skin of a horse
ill with a fever, will not afford so great a discharge
as they would otherwise do, neither will he be so
much relieved by hleedingj when this practice of
loading him with clothes is permitted. For these
same reasons, all medicines that are of a heating

Chap, F] horses' diseases, few.

161

quality given to the horse in a fever are improper,
and must do harm.

Finally, whatever be the complaint, there is less
skill required in treating properly the diseases of
horses, than of men ; for, although horses cannot tell
their complaints as men can, yet their diseases are
more easily known, and better understood by a
nice observer, because they are less cpmplicated,
and less various, and that for the reason before
given, namely, the nature and sameness of their food.
And now, gentle reader, if you have ever read much
on this subject, you have also read of many other
diseases incident to the horse, besides what are
contained in this little book ; but for my own part,
who am ever ready to confess my faiHngs, I acknow-
ledge, that I have not been able to discover any
other (few excepted) than what have been here
treated of but I can readily believe, that a horse
may have tumours internally, encysted and other-
wise ; that he may have diseases of the omentum,
and of the blood vessels, attended with ruptures of
the same, (see page 120.) But I hold it vain, to
trouble the reader with an account of diseases that
will admit of a very uncertain, or no remedy, though
managed perhaps with the greatest skill.

* The glandei's is in this predicament ; but there being no
medicine that will cure this malady, the author, with this desire
for conciseness so strongly impressed upon him, might well
hesitate to speak about it. — Edit.

162 LAMENESS : LETTING DOWN. {Part III,

OBSERVATIONS on some of the main Points
which have been successfully handled in the fore-
going Pages : recapitulation,

I. — That the generality of lameness in the fore-
part o( the horse derives its cause from improper
methods of shoeing, and treating the foot, as well
as from the ill state of the lungs.

II. — That such lameness, though the cause be
not visible to a common observer, nor understood
by such as are unacquainted with the nature, con-
formation, and use of the parts, and therefore
commonly mistaken, and so deemed incurable, mag
be most frequently cured,

III. — That the custom among farriers, of apply-
ing remedies to the different parts of a lame horse
at the same time, is a certain proof of their igno-
rance, and a manifest confession of not understand-
ing the true seat of the complaint ; and that with-
out this previous knowledge, no disorder whatever
can be cured, whether internal or external,

IV. — That, from the great dislike all farriers have
to flat or short shoes, every lameness in the horse
is by them ever imputed to such shoes, be the real
cause what it may ; few such men believing there
is any advantage in what they do not already know,
or have not been accustomed to.

V. — That short shoes often prevent cutting, either
behind or before.

VI. — When the sinew of a horse is relaxed, or

Chap, F.] BLEEDING AND ROWELLING. 163

elongated, or what we call let down, two incisions
must be made through the skin, below the diseased
part, and be kept running, taking care not to
wound the sheath or fibres of the tendon. — Apply
to the relaxed part alumy curds and whey, or the
salt cataplasm, with a smooth bandage. Thus,
many a horse has been effectually cured, after hav-
ing been blistered and fired to no purpose : thus,
too, have I known many a heavy stag-hound, that
was quite let down behind, and went upon his hocks,
to be cured, and afterwards run in the pack, merely
by making an incision in the skin, and filling it
with salt,

VII. — Where bleeding and rowelling are directed
to be used at the same time, it is not intended, that
bleeding should be used after the rowels have begun
to discharge well, nor will there be any occasion
for it. But before the rowels have begun to dis-
charge, and the symptoms appear dangerous, then
repeated bleeding may be allowed of, and will be
often necessary ; for the horse may otherwise die,
before the rowels can possibly take eff'ect.

VIII. — That, in vertigo, or convulsive disorders,
opiates ought to be given (as the philonium roma-
num,J if any such symptoms remain, after the
fever is gone off, and proper evacuations have been
previously employed.

IX. — That, in cutaneous diseases about the neck
or body of the horse, not submitting to gentle
purges, and alterative medicine, blistering the part
will sometimes be of use.

164

WATERY SWELLINGS. [Part III.

X. — ^That, in cold watery sivellings, or the
grease, castile soap and yellow resin, may properly
enough be given, mixed with the deflagrated nitre
and antimony (Dr. James's powders), and other
neutral salts, first emptying the intestines by a
gentle purge ; but where there is any degree of
inflammation attending a swelling, note, the resin
will be an improper medicine.

XI. — That there is a certain degree of skill re-
quired in the use of such diuretic medicines, (as
well as of all others) ; for, if the urinary secretion
is too much increased in such complaints, where
the horse's blood is already poor and thin, the disease
will thereby be increased, rather than lessened.

XII. — Sand-cracks, corns, and false-quarter ^
are cured with the greatest certainty, as well as
many other disorders, that have been always deemed
incurable, because not properly understood, by at-
tending to what is said before.

XIII. — Incurable lameness is shewn to be such,
whereby the horse will escape unnecessary punish-
ment, and the owner avoid useless expense.

OF BREEDING SPEEDY HORSES.

165

PART IV.

TREATS ON THE ORIGINAL BREEDS OF HORSES,
WHENCE PACE AND LENGTH ARE TO BE DE-
RIVED, AND WHAT LITTLE RELIANCE IS TO
BE PLACED ON MERE BLOOD, — TRUE SHAPE
AND MAKE BEING WANTING.

CHAP. I.

Introduction, hy Mr. Hinds y as to what Con-
stitutes the Blood Horse, Thorough-Bred, or
Racer. Of Arabs ; Qualities of Blood ; Barbs,
Turks, English Horse and Flemish.

By blood ought to be understood, not exactly
the fluid that flows in the arteries and is taken up
by the veins, but the actual possession of the same
kind of blood that animates the particular descrip-
tion of horse to which affinity is claimed. To
the want of due discrimination on those points is to
be attributed the controversies of which we see no
termination. Relationship, kindred, or derivation
from a particular stock, is the blood of that stock :
and the horse having been originally indigenous of
Arabia, where speed, lastingness, and courage
are combined in its highest degree, we call those
horses " blood/' which we can deduce as coming
from that stock or blood — seeing that no horses can
run and last, which are not so derived from that
original stock. Our English race-horses are all

166 DEFINITION OF THOROUH BRED. [PartlV.

derived from that source ; none can race and live
to tlie end of a long course, which have not been
so derived, nor is any horse to be esteemed as <Ao-
rough bred whose title cannot be so deduced and
capable of carrying back their pedigree to such
original parent stock of runners — the Arabian horse.
This will lead us shortly to inquire what is Arab,
and its deviations into Barb, Turk, &c. ; meantime,
as to blood, the fluid that fills the veins, and how
this is concerned in promoting fine form, speed,
and the necessary qualities for winning in the race.

Thorough-bred is the phrase by which we all de-
signate horses derived from the original parent stock
of Arab hot^se, grafted on our own best horses
at a time more or less remote; whose cultivation
has employed the care, and whose family pedigree
is little contaminated with horses not derived from
similar sources, that is to say, not winners. Same
source breeding, or of same family, being ulti-
mately destructive of size, is not here meant to be
inculcated ; for courage, and swiftness, and size,
are likewise affected by thus breeding in-and-in.

On this topic, we may say, as of many others,
** of controversy there is no end and whilst one
party insisted strongly that this blood, or kindred
to the Arab get was every thing, and shape, make,
form, were nothing, so that the horse were well
connected by blood, relationship, or kindred, to any
one or more of the best stock ; the other party
maintained that the blood weighed nothing what-
ever in the scale of merit, and conduced nothing to

Chap. I.] MODERN DISCOVERIES. 167

the racing qualities of the individual horse whose
prospective qualities they might be discussing at
the time. Eut both received some signal rebukes
in practice ; for both were wrong in the extremes
to which they carried their argument ; many horses
whose sires and dams enjoyed good repute, having
failed in performance, whilst a few unexpectedly
came out and proved themselves worthy subjects
of admiration and applauses that their immediate
precursors were strangers to, and deserved not.
Among these conflicting opinions, it is difficult to
ascertain which Osmer embraced most fervently, as
he is strenuous for an Arabian origin (or, as he
calls it— foreign, or Eastern) to constitute the racer,
yet does he deny the efficacy of blood — the fluid,
hlood, in producing the qualities which constitute
a good racer. This latter part of his proposition
we shall endeavour to set at rights, previously to
giving his doctrine full audience ; and we enter-
tain little doubt of reconcihng the apparent dis-
sonance under which he seems to labour, in com-
mon with many others who have thought with him :
subsequent discoveries, and the recent application
of conjoint sciences to the subject, enable us to
speak rather positively hereon.

What he maintains stoutly is, that one part of a
family, race, or kindred, of horses, will run and
win, whilst another cannot ; that own brothers and
sisters do not turn out good runners alike, nor
parents and breed, however much cared for, pre-
vious to matching the parents, or during the gesta-

168

OF BREEDING RACERS. [Part IV.

tion ; leaving his readers to guess that something
variable ought to take place in the manner of
training running-horses, according to their respec-
tive make, temper, appetite, health, and strength.
By the way, much strength in little compass (pro-
vided this be not too little for an adequate stretch )
is the acme of perfection in speedy cattle, if the
other qualities are also befitting; because the smaller
horse has less to carry than the large one, the
muscle being finer and the tendons larger in pro-
portion to the bone in small than in large horses.

No difficulty exists in allowing that kindred hlood
signifies nothing to the individual claiming it, if he
fail in the just proportions that constitutes a racer ;
but, the exact blood being in him, as we know
filled the blood vessels of his own hr other (let us
say,) makes us pause and reflect how little reliance
is to be placed in get, alone. This obstacle, how-
ever, is easily reconciled, if we look at the diffe-
rent circumstances under which the leap was ob-
tained: whether in hand, or at grass; whether under
circumstances of irritation on either part ; of cool-
ness in the female, if not dishke ; of exhaustion in
the horse ; of repletion or of stimulant food and cor-
dials— so common and yet so injudiciously admi-
nistered by the stallion grooms. The time of taking
the leap should also enter into our consideration ;
the season or climate, time of day, of the moon,
and other fancies, having distracted the minds of
the ancients, we are thence induced to allow them
to possess some little influence. Above all, let

Chap, 1.2 THE LEAP, INFLUENCED. 169

them ask, had the mare a foal at foot when she re-
ceived the horse in one instance, and was she
barren the year preceding the getting of the other ?
Had she lost a foal at suck ? Had she missed to
some other horse? Had she any bodily sickness
previous to either? Some years we know to be
more favourable to the production of fast horses
than others ; when an epidemic prevails being most
adverse to get, and to rearing the foals. Three or
four years of scarcity in runners Ci. e. from four to
seven years ago) proves that climate, and its
changes of course, is greatly influential of the breed
of racers in particular ; and we shall see presently
that to climate alone, with its peculiar productions,
are we to attribute the change of shape, size, and
faculties of the horse, as exhibited in the five ex-
amples given in plate 1. As to season, the back-
wardness of spring, or a wet summer, we may even
feel in what way these circumstances may affect
the young of any kind of animal. For example,
four mares in one spring, produced first foals, which
were all excellent runners, and indeed, the best
produce of their year (1767), viz. Pantaloon out
of Curiosity, Marc Anthony out of Rachel, Con-
ductor out of a Snap-mare, and Pyrrhus out of a
Snip-mare. The latter horse was not trained until
four years old, and then won all he run for.

The foregoing are causes enough to account for
the difference that is known to exist in the visible
powers of own brothers, to say nothing of blood
that is more remotely allied, nor of the powers of

I

170

QUALITIES, COLOUR, AND [Part IV,

racing that come out only on trial. Besides all this,
we know full well, that certain qualities which have
been fully recognized in a remote and renowned
ancestor, has been known to come out in his or her
offspring after several generations have passed
away — as well as shape, diseases, built, powers, and
also colour of the hair. One of the latest instances
of this latter fact, is that of Sir John Shelley's
chesnut horse Cedric, which also extended so far
as to his mode of going — head down, and haunches
extended, similarly to that of his ancestor Eclipse.
Whilst a little more remote we had the case of
Gohanna, whose get went blind at three or four
years old, as their father had done ; and a less noto-
rious, but long-discussed case of a country stallion
— a roarer, which evil quality it entailed upon its
get.^ How instructively did this trueness to colour
(also chesnut) descend to Rubens, by Buzzard,
grandsire Woodpecker out of Miss Ramsden, a
chesnut mare, got by Cade, her dam allied to no
less than six Eastern horses. In fine, the failure
of an individual, in form or performance, ought to
be no final reproach to his whole race, whatever it
might be to breeding from such an objectionable
sire; though we are not sure, that such an one
might not produce foals possessing some of the

* This happened, notwithstanding the opinion of Mr. Cline,
an eminent surgeon, had been obtained to the contrary ; and
the farmers sent their mares to the roarer, until the multitude of
unsound colts taught them to desist. See further in Vet. Surg,
p. 241. Jerrij Sneak was another instance of a blind progeny.

Chap. J.] BLOOD, HERITABLE.

171

finest qualities of his ancestors; as we have known
the fact to have been verified in the species, though
of a lower description of stallion, than that which
now occupies our principal attention. And, truly,
how could the result be otherwise, seeing how
much the blood — the fluid blood, in its several
states, has to do with the production of more or less
bone, greater muscle, larger viscera, well marked
tendon — in one description of horse, compared with
the same parts in another 1 For this it is which
constitutes the diff*erence between the race-horse
and the waggon-horse ; the great bones of the
latter having none of that hard enamel which cha-
racterises the former ; nor has he that elasticity of
muscle or bulk of tendon, nor the vigour, nor the
courage of the higher bred cattle.

Is the blood, which produces those different parts
of the animal, with so great variance in form and
quality, the same in every breed of horses, let us
inquire ? For this it is which forms the germ of
the dispute between the breeders of cattle of all
countries, who trouble themselves about perfection
in their breeding ; and we unhesitatingly reply —
most assuredly the blood of one description of horse
is very differently composed from that fluid in
another ; inasmuch as the fluid (blood) that gives
life and vigour to any individual horse, differs in
. effect as it may flow in bone, muscle, skin, &c. ;
this being an unerring rule of nature, that arteries
entering bone, deposit particles that constitute
bone ; those which nourish tendons, leave the parti-

I 2

172

BREEDS OF HORSES,

[Part IV,

tides that produce tendon ; those which lubricate
the skin, deposit skin ; and the arteries that spread
over the brain, and give it consistency, whilst it
also fills the nerves which originate there with a
medullary fluid, which superinduces the kindness
and docility, courage and wisdom, we notice in the
better-bred horses, and is wholly lost or impaired
in ordinary ones — if these be not also imbued with
great vices, doltishness, and such energies as are
soon subdued, in consequence of the inferior quality
of their blood. And seeing that the most obvious
difference between ordinary cattle and blood horses
is the largeness of tendon in the latter, (wherein con-
sists strength and pace J compared to the former,
whilst the bone, though smaller, is harder, and, by
its flatness, better adapted for speed, shall we any
longer doubt that the blood of the speedy horse
differs from the blood of those which we call slow,
cart, or waggon horses? and shall we not carefully
keep it pure, unimpaired, and thorough bred?

If, as we have shewn, the blood of every indivi-
dual horse is thus capable of being directed to dif-
ferent parts and producing difi^erent results ; is
it not more demonstrably true, that two such in-
dividuals should differ in the quality of blood that
is to determine towards this or that particular part
of the individual animal? Whence comes the thick
skin of the lower- bred cattle, the ivide bowed
limbs, heavy jowl, muscular filHng up of the ver-
tebrae of the neck in particular, the swampy heel
and flat foot of the same description, when com-

Chap. J.]

HOW DIFFERING.

173

pared to the direct contrary qualities of the higher-
bred horses 1

Blood, however, notwithstanding all our care in
thorough breeding to preserve it uncontaminated
with inferior breeds, does not always answer our
expectations, and presents the breeder with a form
and figure none would think of matching to run, —
most certainly not to propagate from ; whilst others
fail in their performances without any assignable
cause in shape or form of going — owing to want of
sufficient heart, probably, to contracted lungs, or
other want of conformity in size and functions of
some such material viscera. The heart of Eclipse,
for example, was uncommonly large, and the ca-
vity of his chest very capacious ; as happens, also,
with horses of high courage of every description,
but to the racer, the wind is quite indispensable.
Still is it an indisputable fact that the Eastern
horses brought to this country, though without
the requisite proportions of racers themselves, and
certainly defective in performance, were, neverthe-
less, getters of the prim est fast horses the country
ever saw, or, perhaps, ever will; the difference we
of the present day observe in those Arabs' gets, that
have been lately brought over with questionable,
though pompous, genealogies — arises from the cir-
cumstance that these have not the same brood
mares to operate upon they had when the Duke of
Newcastle and Sir \¥'illiam Hope wrote the results
of their experience. See the Supplement of the
latter writer, on Horsemanship,'' page 10, for
further information, if more is required.

174 BLOOD — THE FLUID, HOW [Part IV.

This is not exactly the place for a learned disser-
tation on the nature and properties of blood, but
we may be allowed to say just so much as will in-
form the less recondite reader how it may differ in
different animals, and change, according to circum-
stances, in the same individual.

Blood, upon being drawn and exposed to the
atmosphere, divides itself into two portions — the
serum, or watery particles, and the crassum, or
thick red particles. Some horses have a super-
abundance of one of these parts or portions, another
has too much of the other, which prevalence, when
carried to an extreme either way, marks the pre-
sence of disease: medicines are then administered
to restore the due balance, and health returns.
When blood is healthful, it has a salt taste ; when
not so, the saline smack is lowered or entirely lost:
this fact imperiously demands accordance with the
repeated injunctions of William Osmer to admi-
nister the neutral salts under every form, as condu-
cive to health, restorative thereof^ and the preven-
tive of diseases. For, if we take of the red portion
of blood and wash it in the serum, repeating the
same, we find that these red particles appear,
through a microscope, of a flat shape, somewhat
annular, or more like infinitely small glass beads,
but having the perforation in the middle filled with
a substance approaching to solidness, always gravi-
tating towards the lower part as the particles under
examination roll along the plane of the microscope.
If the second washing of this red part of the blood
be performed with the serum of human blood, the

Ghap, J.] REPINED BY GIVING SALTS. 175

red particles divide readily ; if, on the contrary,
pure water be used, they become globular, with the
apparent perforation covered or closed up, whilst
the portion so treated soon shews signs of putre-
scence ; but divide this into two or more smaller
portions, and put any neutral salt into one vessel,
this will have the effect not only of preventing pu-
trefaction, but, also, restores the annular or bead-
like shape of the red particles. No sensible diffe-
rence was found in making the experiments, whether
the salt were the common marine salt, salt-petre
(nitre), or Epsom salts. Hence the mode of opera-
ting of neutral salty so often recommended, is accoun-
ted for satisfactorily, as restoring the right healthy
shape and functions of this portion of the blood.

Again, if blood be drawn and a solution of salt
mixed in, coagulation does not take place ; potass
has the same effect in a greater degree — rendering
the whole more fluid than it was naturally — thus
accounting for the manner of operating of soap,
which we use largely as the vehicle of aloes, some-
times turning aside this powerful purgative and car-
rying it off by the urine. In fine, the result of these
investigations has been to develope the whole theory
and practice of medicine that depends on the exhi-
bition of the salts in any of their numerous prepara-
tions, internal and external ; and this very alteration
in tJie shape of the red particles of the vital fluid,
heretofore constantly termed globules, according to
the presence or absence of the saline principle, is
good proof how much the blood of every individual

176 EXPERIMENTS ON THE BLOOD [Part IV,

animal must differ from every other, which will be
in proportion to the quantity and quality of the
saline particles in which those so-called globules of
life do float about and perform their all-important
function of giving health, preserving life, and im-
parting superior vigour, courage, and animation to
the animal in which that quality is happily blended.
In some horses this shall be found nearer to perfec-
tion than in others ; and these are the racers, the
fleet, the lasting, the high-couraged, well-shaped
blood horses derived from an Arab origin; this
being the parent stock of the horse, however it may
have degenerated in one respect, or has been im-
proved in size, in other countries. Cultivation does
this, and, in England, perfection has been obtained
at several periods, and as often has been lost a while
or depreciated, by reason of the principles of
crossing not being sufficiently studied by breeders,
who do not reflect, that too much Arab blood,
without the due admixture of English, detracts
from size and, of course, the stretch, and gives
more courage than capability.

Further, respecting the difference in the blood
of various animals, it had been remarked (1823)
in the Essays which subsequently formed book the
first of Veterinary Surgery, that the odour arising
from the slaughter of their own hind threw the sur-
vivors into paroxysms that evinced consciousness of
coming danger. Since then, a good number of
experiments go to prove, that this odour partakes
of the nature of the perspiration mostly, that of the

Chap. J.] OP SEVERAL BREEDS. 177

females being of a lower degree than their re-
spective males ; but that, in the circulation^ this
odour being retained, it is necessary to mix the
blood with a third or more of sulphuric acid, and
submitting the same to a boiling heat, whereby the
perspirable scent is evolved, and we ascertain
whetiier it be that of man, horse, hog, sheep, &c.
Facts these which may be rendered available in
medical jurisprudence ; but which is more to the
present purpose to observe, that the odour thrown
off by the blood of a high bred horse, treated with
the acid, was of a wild sweetness (like certain
game) when compared to that of a heavy gelding,
which was found more pungent and earthy.

Come we now to say, in few words, what is that
blood we are in search of, and which is indispen-
sably requisite to our breeding purposes, when
em^Xo^edi in due proportion. Much recent infor-
mation on this topic having reached us, through the
published travellers, and some that is peculiar by
private channels, our statement of the countries
whence come the speedy horse will be found some-
what different from preceding writers ; inasmuch as
they followed the track of imperfect travellers
from the time of Pococke and Murtardi, the son of
Gafife, down to the French invasion of Egypt, who
could not, until that unprincipled event, pass beyond
a certain line, nor even proceed therein with safety.

The terms Arab and Arabian blood has been
applied by us to all that race which is derived im-
mediately from the original stock, bred in the de-

i3

178 THOROUGH-BRED HORSE, iPartlV.

sert that bears this name, and is very extensive.
^/But the only true Arab to be depended upon is a
^native of that track which is bounded by the Lower
^' Nile or the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf ; in-
cluding Syria on the Mediterranean side, and
Mocha with Muscat on the South Eastern side.
Next to these lies Persia, where they cultivate a
larger horse, and still farther to the East, passing
the Indus River, is the English Empire of Hin-
dustan. Here, within a score of years, the East-
India Company's servants and miUtary have seri-
ously set about cultivating the pure breed of Arab
horse upon a large scale, as well as certain crosses
with their English stock. How they have suc-
ceeded, as well as a solution of what is requisite to
complete success, is worth inquiry ; but our busi-
ness at present is with the different breeds whence
our own incomparable English horse is derived, and
to clear up some conflicting ideas as to how and what
are pure Arabian blood, and what is otherwise.

Already we have shewn, that our stud-bred,
thorough-bred, or blood horse, is differently consti-
tuted in bone, shape, muscle, tendon, from the cart-
horse breed ; and this, primarily, because his blood
differs, and, therefore, the term *^ blood-horse," as
applied to a horse of the true blood, is rightly bestow-
ed, to maintain a distinction. It differed by reason
of the genial climate in which the horse was bred ;
fineness of form followed the due cultivation of the
breed, and care in rearing the young. As the breed
diverged into other countries, the chances of dete-

Chap /.] TRACED TO ITS SOURCE: BARB. 179

rioration increased, and in some were certain ;
crossing the breed became inevitable, as the original
stock went farther and farther from home, or the
same animals passed through hands less instructed
in the keeping, or bringing the individuals to ma-
turity, and to a profitable market. ,Hrw F;f["*oM
J The Barb was the first or most obvious of these
removes from the parent stock ; a designation that
was applied to those high-bred horses which came
into Europe from the coast of Barhary ,** many of
those having been foaled in Egypt, or very little to
the westward of it, and when coming from the moun-
tainous districts that divide the last named coun-
try from those African states, the breed ran larger
than ordinary, and acquired the term ** mountain
barbs." The harh is ordinarily a small horse —
mere galloway ; whilst those Arab gets which are
cultivated in the hilly country of Dongola (at the
extreme east of Africa) run very large. From the
geographical position of those states on the south
side of the Mediterranean, a space of 1200 miles,
from Morocco to Algiers, to Tunis and Tripoli, it
will be seen that in consequence of intercourse with
the opposite coasts of Italy and Spain, their horses
would find an easy transit across, as they did in
time of peace ; whence we had the once boasted

Neapolitan horse ; formerly much lauded, but
now no more a distinct race, nor prizeable.

* Of these our ancestors imported several, viz. Dodsworth,
Greyhound, w^ith his sire (Chillaby) and dam (Moonah), Cur-
vs^en's Bay Barb, the Thoulouse Barb, the Compton Barb.

180 SPANISH AND TURKISH HORSES. [Part IV.

The Spanish is a fine stately horse, mostly black,
a high goer, and of good size for war; but, on
those accounts, is ?io racer, and is lately neglected,
like everything else in that unhappy country. The
earhest cross of foreign speedy horse with the
English was from the Spanish, in the eleventh
century, and Shropshire, where this took place, was
long celebrated for horses of superior speed.

The Turkish horse, of which race several stallions
found their way into England and propagated, for-
merly, is the Arabian proper, transmitted from the
sheiks, or governors of provinces, annually to their
master, the Grand Turk. But as this seignorai
command to the subordinates extended not only to
the Egyptian, Bedouin, or Desert tribes of Arab
breeders, but included many other enslaved nations,
the Turkish breeding studs would necessarily, and
without much exertion, improve the size of their
crosses; and they did, for three hundred years, send
into the field astonishing fine bodies of cavalry.*

* This breed has passed away, however, into the hands of the
Russian, who is little likely to keep up the cultivation that
even the Turk bestowed upon his horses. At Kirkilissa and
the neighbourhood of Adrianople, where the sultan's studs were
placed, they had a man appointed to every horse, who took his
charge out to graze daily on the most beautiful verdure the
imagination can conceive ; and there might be seen several
hundreds of those turbaned grooms sitting each with the string
in his hand which tethered the horse to one spot until he had
cleared the herbage from it, when the practice was to remove
to another spot, and serve that after the same fashion. A
portable tent afforded shelter to the groom, and the horse too,
when the heat became oppressive.

Cliaj), I.] TURKEY AND BARB CROSSES. 181

It follows that the Turks, like the English, have
horses of various sizes, shapes, and qualities, ac-
cording- to the countries whence derived, or as the
crosses may have been managed ; for 'tis a well-
established rule of nature, that the stallion imparts
his/or//i, courage, beauty, and colour (vide p. 170)
to his get, whilst the mare contributes most to
constitution and size; whence we infer, with
reason, that if the produce be required stout and
robust, the mare must be so too, and roomy withal;
she may likewise be a little lower bred than the
stallion ; for, when Barb horses cover Barb mares,
these throw galloway foals, of neither height nor
stoutness, though with the usual compactness of
fibre in muscle and ligament, heart and skin, bone
and hoof ; for this is the property which constitutes
his strength without adding to his hulk. The whole
race of Arabia, however, is destitute of the stretch
we put into the English racer by the more happy
cross alluded to, followed by appropriate training,
i.e. quite enough, not too much, but judicio'jsly
severe.*

The Turkey-bred horses carry a great proportion
of white^ though they come of all other colours,
and are of all paces as they bear relation to sire
and dam; nor are the young stinted in their growth

* Of Turkish horses, our ancestors imported the following,
with a view to improve their breed: — The Helmsley Turk,
Place's White Turk, Lister Turk, Byerly Turk, D'Arcy White
Turk, D'Arcy's Yellow Turk, Sellaby, Honywood Arabian,
Belgrade Turk.

182

GERMAN HORSES.

[Part IV.

for want of sufficient nourriture, as frequently bap-
pens to the other Eastern country horses. By the
way, ** Eastern'' horse is the best general designa-
tion we can confer on the whole race of Arabia
and their immediate descendants, the Turkey on
one side^ and the Barhary on the other ; and this
is the way in which we shall speak of those three
families, branches, or subdivided races in their
collective capacity, when we come to discuss the
subject further in the next chapter.

Turkish horses of state, that are used upon high
occasions, as might be expected from the proud
carriage of the Moslems, are tall, stately, and well
fitted for processions and displaying the rider; but
the fleet horses differ very little from the Arab
branch, other than what superior care of the mares
during the gestation, attention to the foals, and
good grooming can confer, and these are all in all :
the Arab foals travel much from their earliest days
after their dams, the fillies in particular, whereas
the Turkish young ones go no where but gambol-
ling about the mares at grass ; the consequence of
all this is that the Turk shows most spirit, has more
life in him, and appears better filled out than those
of the elder family of the Desert, or the collateral
branch, the African of the Barbary coast.

Hungary and Poland derived much improve-
ment in their breed of horses from the Turkish ; as
did the intermediate countries of Moldavia, Bess-
arabia, &c. and the Bulgarians are renowned cou-
riers. Germany, too, in her long wars for the

Chap, I.] THE HANOVERIAN VARIETY. 183

disputed territories just named, obtained occasion-
ally, by capture or otherwise, those crosses which
enabled the German cavalry to perform amazing
feats upon their opponents in that arm of warfare.
Later experience, however, in which they came in
contact with British horse, and the latest, in which
the two varieties acted together, the German horse
was found miserably in the rear of our own ; thus
proving that the continental breeders have retro-
graded, or that our islanders have advanced a few
steps towards perfection in this particular. The
Hanoverian horse is evidently derived from the
White Turkish, devolved into cream colour by
cultivation the Electors having been commanders
of Imperial horse, through several generations,
against the Turks; therefore did they take for
armorial bearing a White horse passant, as the
pretension of the first family of Guelph, and crest
of all the branches. But these last have the irides
of a pale reddish grey, the lashes whitish, and,
indeed, all the hair, knees, tail, and mane the
same as the coat ; and if it be true that all animals,
which are far removed, by crossing, from the parent
stock, lose the dark pigment of the eye in the
ratio that they are so removed, then are these last
the caste we should least prefer for any quality
which we admire in the Eastern horse, (i. e. Arab,
Barb, Turk.) Next in this unestimable respect

* Two horses of this variety were foaled at Hampton-court
in 1825-6, of very great stature, having reached to 17 and 18
hands the last grass.

184

ENGLISH HORSE. {Part XV.

stand those other continental families of horses
previously mentioned, as well as the French cavalry
horse, manege, and road horse : the racers of the
last-mentioned country are exceptions, but are
neither numerous or well understood there.

The English horse. When foreigners speak na-
tionally of the English horse of the present day,
their ideas are directed towards the army, and the
description of horse which forms the remounts of
our heavy regiments in particular. We^ however,
look to the higher description, whence those enviable
animals are immediately derived ; and, ever in search
of speedy achievements, pique ourselves mostly
upon the thorough-bred race-horse, which we re-
gard as the highest perfection of this country's
breed ; and we are only borne out in this prefe-
rence of show to utility, of display to actual service
of the most vital nature, by the fact that, without the
thorough-bred speedy parent, the half-bred progeny
would fail in some material requisite for war or
other, of bone, of strength, or courage— in truth,
no racer no hunter,^

* Some attempts of a serious nature appear to have been
undertaken by the foreign breeders, even whilst this page is
under the pen ; in as much as we hear of no less than three
hundred brood mares being purchased, in the north, to go
abroad in a body, as we may say. But no fear of complete
rivalry need haunt the truly British soul, for the generality of
continental breeders (so far as we have heard and seen) seem
entirely unaware that the best crosses, although managed aright,
require much after-care to bring forward the foal in right form
to breed from ultimately; whence will be seen the necessity

Chap, I.] THOROUGH-BRED CROSS. 185

But, previously to the general introduction
of blood-horses into this country, in the time of
Charles II., we had a breed of horses, though not
so fleet, yet serving every purpose of war, and
quite capable of repressing any enemy we might
have to cope with in that arm of warfare ; which
breed, of course, would acquire the character of
being the old English horse, improved in a very
finite degree by the limited introduction, spoken
of higher up, of second-rate foreign blood. See
page 180. This original slug, then, was reformed
by the foreign blood we call Eastern, which circu-
lates now through all the cattle of the kingdom,
except the wild horses of Exmoor, of the New
Forest, and of Scotland; and, going off by colla-
teral branches, is perceptible, in whatever small
degree, in almost every individual of any preten-
sions we meet with; but in none so perfectly, not
in any so serviceably, as in the one we denominate
the Hunter, and its varieties of the road and har-
ness. How the cross is to take place, that is to
throw such a horse, has been spoken of before ; its
figure, as a cock-tail gelding, lasting at a long
burst over a heavy country, and good at a five-feet
fence, is delineated in the portrait, fig. 4, plate 1.
That modern hunters may be highflyers, long on
the legs, and fast ones, is no proof that those who
ride twelve stone upwards, after a slow chase, upon

they will lie under of having constant recourse to similar sup-
plies— a favour they cannot reckon upon v^^hen it will be most
desirable — namely, in war.

186

FLANDERS HORSE,

[Part IV.

a scent, should not stand in need of " the Enghsh
horse," par excellence, that is so delineated in our
frontispiece.

Flemish horses, as we term all those which come
to us from the Netherlands, or low countries of the
French, Dutch, and Low German provinces, are
mostly adapted to carriages and heavy draught, and
are adduced here principally to show what altera-
tions may be brought about by choosing certain
situations for breeding in. In our own island,
the same humid climate prevails all along its
eastern coast, as they sustain in the opposite
countries of the continent, which have borne the
uncheering epithet of " low," (or pays has;) and
the same breed of horses are produced in both,
owing to the mares becoming roomy and heavy,
with enormous viscera and soft flat hoofs, in one or
two generations, whatever their breed may have
been originally. Derived from the Spanish horse,
we find the lighter breed, or coach- horses, come
from the interior, where the up-lands are in a high
state of culture, as they are towards Cologne and
Westphalia. It is worthy of remark, that all
swampy-bred females (including our own biped
race) have the sort of large umbilical cavity as that
of the mares which produce those large foals in the
low countries ; and it was to this species of out of
form the licentious Henry VIII. referred, when
the daughter of a monarch of those parts was im-
ported here as his betrothed wife — " What have
** you brought me ? " demanded the enraged volup-

Chap.F^] AND LOW GERMAN.

187

tuary, " a Flanders mare, I swear ! " and she was
re-shipped, we are told by historians, re infesta.
From those circumstances, breeders will learn to
avoid low, damp, or confined situations for their
brood-mares, unless they seek for big bone and
muscle at the expense of speed and compactness.
A washy, sloppy mode of keeping their horses, and
brood-mares among the rest, with a thriftless denial
of oats, is the besetting sin of the Netherlands'
breeders and horse-keepers of every grade.

Of shape f or conformation. Something has
been said on the shape and conformation, or agree-
ment of the several parts with each other, in the
first chapter of my Treatise on the Diseases of
the Horse ; which I undertook with a view princi-
pally to show how the health might be affbcted
when this agreement or proportion did not exist,
as the animal might be put to work, beyond his
powers, as usually happens in training, in farm-
work, &c. Regard was had, in that proposition,
to his capabilities, and what a horse of this or that
make, shape, built, or conformation could under-
take and perform well ; and also what he could not
perform without excessive fatigue and disorder,
when wanting those just proportions in his form
which I ventured to term true conformation. Many
of the remarks made in that chapter would have
been more reservedly advanced, had I seen the
work of William Osmer previously to their being
written, which was about the year 1820 ; but, as

188 BLOOD-HORSES, WHAT? [Part IV,

he confines himself to the breeding of race-hoises
from the original stocky generally termed Arabian,
whereby pace and action are infused into our bred
horses, and, in process of time, descends to every
other description, I shall find no occasion to meddle
with the sense of his Treatise, though I purpose to
reduce greatly the redundance of his words, with-
out reference to what T had previously advanced,
or holding myself responsible for his apparent de-
viations from his point.

What Osmer means to inculcate is, the Uttle re-
liance that is to be placed in the simple circum-
stance of affinity by blood to eastern horses we
indifferently term Arab, Turk, Barb, when uncon-
nected with the true shape, make, or built, other*
wise termed the due conformation and agreement
of the parts with each other, so as to constitute a
fast horse. My Treatise went, also, to inquire
what would constitute a lasting horse; and, in

The Grooms' Oracle," we undertook to teach
how pace, stretch, and length of performance might
be *^ put into a horse," by management, or training
him into condition gradually. Osmer allows, at
setting out, what, indeed, no one can deny, that
our best bred horses derive those quahties from the
Arab horses introduced here from time to time
from the Mediterranean, for it is but lately that
any were brought from that side of Arabia which
borders on the East Indies ; and he labours hard
to show forth what we since learn from scores of

Chap. J.] BREEDING IN INDIA.

189

intelligent travellers in Egypt, the cultivated parts
of Africa, and thence across the immense tracts of
land called Arabia — that the inhabitants do not
part with their best bred cattle, nor their mares of
either kind. They do not absolutely refuse to sell^
but treat such a request as downright idiotcy; a
rule of conduct quite at variance with our country-
men, of the north particularly, who imagine
every horse is for sale, and coolly ask * how much
will you take' of the first-rate gentleman in the
kingdom? '* This fool wants to buy my Kirklani
from under me!" exclaimed an Arab in the streets
of Cairo, in reply to an importunate would-be pur-
chaser of a thorough-bred mare, which are so
described by the breeders of Egypt. Why,
she saved ray life, in a chase of fourscore miles,*
without stopping ! " he explained, upon being fur-
ther pressed to name a sum. ** Content yourself
vfiih 2i Knidischi J or an At tiki," he added ; which
inferior kinds may be purchased there for about four
hundred pounds the first, and the last-mentioned
for half that sum ; and of these two descriptions of
horses are those which usually come to this country,
to defeat our hopes and almost stagger our belief
in the prowess and feats of former Arab gets.]
End of the Introduction.

* This appears to be a favourite day's journey with them, or
it may be a phrase for a round number, like our long fox-chase,
or other unmeasured runs ; for we find the same length of per-'
formance mentioned by several travellers.

190 ALL BLOOD HORSES RUN. iPart IV.

CHAP. II.

No innate Qualities in the Horses which Sports
men call Blood.

Of breeding speedy horses. My opinion
on the subject of the qualities of blood has long-
been that the origin of all men, as well as that of
all animals of the sa?ne species, was the same
in the beginning of time, and that it is climate
chiefly, which produces the difference we perceive
in them. (See page 153.) [But cultivation^ or
crossing the breeds judiciously, does as much more,
and training into condition is the finish.

Amongst the horses produced in different coun-
tries, we may perceive a great difference in their
perfonnance, (i. e. in form of going and. pace,) and,
I think, in their figure also. This difference of
performance has generally been imputed to a term
called blood," which the sportsmen say is a cer-
tain innate or preternatural virtue, pecuHarly be-
longing to some breeds of horses, and not to
others; and it being a proverb amongst them,
that blood horses of all shapes run, they would
be understood to mean, and do, on some occa-
sions, assert, with the firmest belief, that this vir-
tue or excellence is quite independent matter,
and of the formation of parts, and then, of course,
it must be altogether uudistinguishable to the eye;
therefore, whenever I shall have occasion to men-

Chap. 11.'] SPEED AND PERSEVERANCE. 191

tion the word blood, I would have it understood *
as something independent of form and matter, just
in this same light as they always use it.

But my opinion on this subject differing from the
generality of mankind, I shall take leave to be a
little diffuse in maintaining it through a somewhat
long, though not unentertaining dissertation. I
would not, however, be understood to attempt to
persuade any one into a belief that all horses of fine
shape will make good racers, let their breed, or
sort, be whatever it may. Let them not so deceive
themselves, I beg, since my meaning is very diffe-
rent, as may be ascertained by turning, at once, to
the first pages of Chapter the Third ; where, and
throughout, my design is to show, that the swiftness
and the ability of perseverance, we find belonging to
some of those Arabian horses and their descendants,
depend, alone, on their particular formation and
elegance of parts, which being, as I observed, visi-
ble to the eye, I did conclude the excellence of all
horses to be merely mechanical, or dependent on
the construction of the several parts. [But later
investigation having convinced us that the structure
of parts not only differ to the eye, in the several

* He sets out with asserting as understood what is a very great
blunder, as no one ever did think hlood horses were distinguish-
able but by their form, built, or quality of their substance matter;
notwithstanding, a blood horse, of the Arab get, though he
may not be well-proportioned himself, always begets, out of
English mares, large, well-formed, fine foals, whose perform-
ances beat their sires. — Edit.

192

OF BLOOD HORSES. [Part IV.

breeds, but that the texture or fibre, which consti-
tutes the animals, differs also, great allowance must
be made for this circumstance as the reader follows
the writer through the remainder of his dissertation.
See above — page 166, &c. ; and, indeed, the whole
of the Introduction,

Blood horses only can run, — As nothing is more
certain, than that no horses but those of blood can
race in our days, I have been long time endea-
vouring to find the true reason of this singular fact,
and cannot any other way account for it, but by
supposing that this quality of superior strength and
elegance of form which those east-country horses
possess, might superinduce the quality of swiftness.
This consideration naturally produced another, which
is, that the blood of all horses may be merely ideal ;
and, if so, I conclude it to be a word of no mean-
ing. But, before I advance this hypothesis further,
and that I may not be found guilty of treason
against the received laws of jockeyship, I here lay
it down as an acknowledged truth, that no horses
but such as come from Eastern countries can race ;
and, in this opinion, every man of experience and
observation, I apprehend, will join me. There-
fore, whilst discussing this point, I beg leave, when
speaking of these horses, to change the word HIGH-
BRED, and in its room substitute the word Eastern^
or of Eastern extraction. For, it may appear, that
the excellence we find in these horses depends to-
tally on the due formation of their parts, and not in
their blood ; and that all the particular distinctions

Chap. II.'] COMPARISON OF BREEDS. 193^

and fashions thereof depend also on the whim and
caprice of mankind.

For example f if we take a horse bred for the cart,
and such a one as we call a hunter^ and a horse of
Eastern extraction, and set them together, the
meanest judge can easily point out the best runner,
from the texture, elegance, and symmetry of its
parts, without making any appeal to blood. Allow
but a difference in the texture, elegance, and sym-
metry of parts in different horses, whose extraction
is from the East country, this principle will be
clearly proved, and the word high-bred of no
use, but to puzzle and lead us astray. Thus, every
man's daily observation should teach him, if he be
not lost in this imaginary error of particular Mood,
that, generally speaking, such horses as have the
finest texture, greatest elegance of shape, and truest
proportion, are the best racers, let their blood be of
what kind it will — always supposing it to be Eastern,
If I were asked what is heauty, I should say due
jjroportion ; if I were asked what is strength, 1
should again reply proportion, also : but I would
not be understood to mean that this strength and
beauty alone will constitute a racer ; as we shall
find a proper length, also, will be wanted for the
sake of stretch; and that, moreover, the very con-
stituent parts of Eastern horses differ as much from
all others, as do their performances. But this,
however, will be found a truth, that in all horses of
every kind, whether designed to draw or ride, this
principle of proportion will determine the principle

K

194

GODOLPHIN ARABIAN. [Parf IF.

of goodness in action ; at least to that part of it which
we call bottom. On the other hand, our daily ob-
servation will show us, that no weak, loose, dispro-
portioned horse, let his blood be what it may, ever
yet was a prime racer. If it be objected, that
many a plain ugly horse has turned out a good
racer ; I answer, that all goodness is comparative ;
and that such horses as have been winners of plates
about the country, may be improperly called good
racers, when compared to some others. I can eVen
allow a very plain horse may be a prime racer, with-
out giving up the least point of this system : for
instance, if we suppose a horse with a large head
and long ears, (like the Godolphin Arabian,^) a low
mean forehand, flat-sided, and goose-rumped, this,
I guess, will be allowed a plain ugly horse ; but yet
if such a horse be strong, and justly made in those
parts which are immediately conducive to action ;
if his shoulders incline well backwai^ds, his legs
and joints be in proportion, his carcase strong and
deep, his thighs well let down, we shall find he
may be a very good racer, even when tried by such
principles of mechanics, without appealing to his
blood for any part of his goodness. We are taught

* Died in 1753, at twenty-nine years of agfe. Notwithstanding
what is said of him, and with the addition that he never per-
formed any thing, yet there has not been a turf horse in England,
of any pretensions to racing, for the last forty years, which does
not carry back his pedigree, by sire or dam, to this undoubted
Arabian: he covered but little unti\ full aged, nor then many
mares until thirteen years old ; he.ice the goodness of his get,
in some measure. — Edit.

Chap, J/.] DISSECTION OF RACERS. 195

by this doctrine of mechanics, that the power ap-
plied to any body must be adequate to the weight
of that body, otherwise, such power will be defi-
cient for the action we require ; and there is no man
but knows a cable or cord of three inches diameter
is not equal in strength to a cord of four inches
diameter. [Unless made of different qualities of
hemp, as are the sinews of horses of very different
fabric, as we may say.] So that, if it should be
asked why a handsome coach-horse, with as much
beauty, length, and proportion as an East-country
horse, will not act with the same velocity and per-
severance, nothing can be more easily answered,
without appealing to blood ; because we shall find
the powers of action in an Eastern horse much more '
forcible, and more adequate to carrying the weight
of his body, than the powers of action in a coach-
horse ; for, whoever has been curious enough to
examine the mechanism of different horses by dis-
section, will find the tendon of the leg in an Eastern
horse is much larger than in any other description
of horse, whose leg is otherwise of the same dimen-
sions ; and, as the external texture of an Eastern
horse is much finer than that of any other, so the
Eastern horse must necessarily have the greatest
strength and perseverance in acting, because the
muscular power of two horses (whose dimensions
are the same) will be the greatest in that horse
whose texture is the finest, and wrapped up in the
least compass.

k2

196 LEVERS AND POWERS. [Part IV.

Anatomy of the different breeds casts some light
on those points ; so let us inquire, what information
we can gather from this science, concerning the
laws of motion. First. — It teaches us, that the
force and power of muscle consists in the number
of fibres of which it is composed ; and that the
velocity and motion of a muscle consists in the
length and extent of its fibres. Let us next com-
pare this doctrine with the language of the jockey,
who tells us, if a horse has not length, he will be
slow and, if made too slender, he will not be
able to bring his weight through." Does not the
observation of the jockey exactly correspond with
this anatomical doctrine ?

Secondly. — If we inquire into the motion of
horses, we shall find the bones are the levers of the
body, and the tendons and muscles (which are
nearly one and the same thing) are the powers of
acting applied to these levers. Now, when we
consider a half-bred horse running one mile or
more, with the same speed as a horse of Eastern
extraction^ we do not impute that equality of velo-
city to any innate quality in the half-bred horse,
because we can account for it by external causes :
that is, by an equality of the length and extent of
his levers and tendons. And when we take into
consideration, that a half-bred horse shall run one
mile, or more, with the same velocity as the other,
and then give it up like a cur, what shall we do I shall
we say the foreigner beats him by his superior

Chap. II.'] SPEED AND STYLE OF GOING. 197

blood, or by the force and power of his tendons i
or by his bottom, and the consciousness of speedy
powers which heartens him up to further exertion ?

Speed is sometimes lost to individuals, at others
to entire families, awhile ; for how many instances
have we on record, of different horses beating each
other alternately over different sorts of ground, and
even over the same course How often do we see
short, close, compact horses beating others of a
more lengthened shape, over high and hilly courses,
as well as deep and slippery ground ; in the latter
of which, the blood-horse, however low on his legs,
is esteemed much better at getting through his
work, and whose performances in general are
achieved in better style. In the next place, let me
ask, how comes it to pass that horses of a more
lengthened shape have a superiority over horses
of a shorter make upon level and flat courses ? Is
this effected by the difference of their mechanical
powers, or is it effected by the blood I If by the
latter, then this hlood is not general, but partial

* Sam Chifney's five pounds' pamphlet exculpation of his
winning and losing with Escape, in 1791, and his adduction of
many other examples of the like occurrences, is accurately illus-
trative of horses training off, through mismanagement, or other-
wise. His vanity, though great, was in him excusable, as it is
unsublime ; but he is borne out in the reprobation he bestows
upon the underling servants of an illustrious and kind master,
by some recent occurrences regarding the abuse of two of His
Majesty's horses, viz. Fleur-de-lis and Colonel, which were
rendered unfit for their work : — The first, by cupidity ; and the
second, by licentiousness. — Edit.

198 BLOOD-HORSES VARIABLE. [Part IV.

only, which no reasoning man will he absurd enough
to insist upon. But I much fear our distinctions
of good and bad blood are determined with great
partiality ; for every jockey has his particular fa-
vourite blood, of which he judges from events,
success, or prejudice. Else, how comes it to pass,
that we see the different opinions and fashions
regarding blood varying daily? nay, we see the
very same blood undergoing the same fate ; this
year rejected, the next in the highest esteem ; or
this year in high repute, the next held as nothing.
How many changes, for example, has the blood of
Childers undergone ! once the best, then the worst,
now good again ! Where are the descendants of
Bay Bolton, that once were the terror of their
antagonists? Did these prevail by the superiority
of their blood, or because ihoiv fabric, and conse-
quently their powers, were superior to the other
horses of their time ? If any one ask why Danhy
Cade was not as good a racer as any in the king-
dom, the jockey could not impute this defect to his
blood ; but if it should be imputed to his want of
proportion, surely it might be held for a true and
satisfactory reason. How many revolutions of fame
and credit, have all sportsmen observed in these
three high-bred families,* in whose vessels flowed
the blood of Darley's Arabian, Leedes's Arabian,

* Bay Bolton died in 1736 — was a good runner; Childers, also
bay, with black l«gs, in 1741 — hefiew quicker than wind. Danby
, Cade, the son of Cade, though a grandson of the Godolphin
Arab, turned out an ill-gotten imp, out of Soreheels, in 1747.

Chap. JJ.] HIGH-BRED FAMILIES FAIL. 199

the Barb mares, Royal mares, Bay Barb, "Wastell's
Turk, Yellow Turk, and the Godolphin?

Numberless are the examples of this kind which
might be quoted ; bat to account for this, one says,
the blood is worn out for want of a fresh cross ;
another asserts, that after having been long in this
climate, the blood degenerates ; but these reasons
cannot be true, because we see the offspring of all
crosses, and of the most ancient families, occasion-
ally triumphant over, the sons of the very latest
comers. The error, then, will not be found in the
blood, or in improper crossing of families ; but the
defect is produced by the erroneous judgement of
mankind, in putting together the male and female
with inconsistent shapes ; and whilst we are lost in
the mazes of an imaginary good, the laws of nature
stand revealed ; and we, by paying proper attention
thereto, and employing our judgement therein,
might wipe this ignis faiuus from the mind, and
fix the truth on a sure foundation. Our observa-
tion shews us, that, on the one hand, we may breed
horses of Eastern extraction too delicate, and too
slight for this or any other strong work ; and on the
other hand, so coarse and clumsy, as to be fitter
for the cart than the race-course. Shall we then
wonder, that neither of these extremes can race ?
or shall we doubt that degrees of imperfect con-
formation will produce degrees of imperfection in
racing? and when we find such points deficient,
shall we ridiculously impute it to a degeneracy of
that blood, which once was in the highest esteem^

200 LENGTH AND CARCASE. [Part IV.

or to the want of judgement i„ hi.n who did not
P2-;.jdaptthe shapes of their progenitors to

Of symmetry, or shape.-ShM we confess
'.so , the fault in nature? For, although most
philosophers agree, that innate principles do not
ex,s ,n the m.nd, yet we know for certain, that in
the brute creation, whose food is plain and simple
(unlike that of luxurious man.) the laws of natur^
are generally speaking, invariable and determined.
If It should be asked, why the get of the Godol-
plnnArahian were superior to most horses of their
time, I answer, because he had great power and
symmetry of parts (head excepted), and a propriety
of length greatly superior to all other horses of the
same diameter of carcase, that have been lately
seen in this kingdom. This I assert, not on my
own judgement alone, but on the united opinions
of those who, I believe, understand horses much
better than I pretend to do : and it is very probable
this horse, if he had not been confined to particular
persons mares, might have begot better racers than
any he did. On the contrary, I have heard it
urged m regard to his blood, that he was a very
mean horse in figure, and that he was kept as a
teazer to Hobgoblin, some years before he covered
when he got Lath out of Roxana, in 1731 What
does all this prove? I think nothing more, than
that his first owner did not understand rightly this
kind of east-country horse, and that different men
differed in their opinions of the horse's conformation

Chap.IL'] NO RELIANCE ON NAMES. 201
If any man who doubts this excellence to reside
in the blood, should ask how it came to pass that
we often see two full brothers, one of which is a
good racer, the other indifferent, or perhaps bad,
I know of but two answers that can be given; we
must either allow this excellence of the blood to be
partial, or else we must say, that by putting toge-
ther a horse and a mare, different in their shapes,
a foetus may be produced of a happy form at one
time, and at another time the foetus partaking more
or less of the shape of either, may not be so happily
formed. Which shall we do ? shall we impute this
difference of goodness in the two brothers, to the
difference of their mechanism r or shall we say this
perfection of the blood is partial? If the latter,
then we must own that blood is not to be relied on,
but that the system of it, and whatever is built on
that foundation, is precarious and uncertain, and
therefore falls to the ground of its own accord.
While this continues to be the rule of breeding, I
mean of putting male and female together, with no
consideration but that of blood and a proper cross,
it is no wonder so few good racers are produced,
no wonder mankind are disappointed in their plea-
sures and expectations ; for this prejudice does not
only extend to blood, but even to the very names
of the breeders, and the county where the horses
are bred, though it is beyond all doubt, that the
north claims the preference of all other places in
this kingdom ; but that preference is allowed only
from the multiplicity of mares and stallions in those

K 3

202 FITNESS OF MARE AND HORSE. [Part IV,

parts, and, consequently, from the number of racers
necessarily bred there.

I would not be thought in this to prefer my own
opinion of shape and make to the known goodness
of any given stallion, but would prefer the latter
before the opinion of all mankind. What then ? it
is not every horse which has been a good racer that
will get good colts : some have suffered too much
in their constitution by hard and continued labour,
whilst others have some natural infirmity that may,
probably, be entailed on their generation ; [others,
again, are too much stimulated, and a few are put
to too many mares. — Mind all this.

Of the hrood mare. — The most material thing in
breeding all animals, but to which we pay the least
regard, either in the race of men or of horses, is
the choice of the female, who not only joins in the
production of the foetus, but in the formation of it
also. And that the female has even the greatest
share in the production of the/ce/ws, will be proved
by this experiment : if you take a dunghill cock and
put him to a game hen, and also put a brother of
that game hen to a sister of the dunghill cock,
those chickens bred from the game hen will be
found much superior to those chickens bred from
the dunghill hen.

We pay too little regard to the conformation or
shape of the female, or of the horse to which we
put her, but generally choose some particular horse
for the sake of the cross, or because he is called

an Arabian;" whereas, in fact, every stallion

Chap,!!.'} AFFINITY OF BLOOD.

203

will not be suited to every mare, and will refuse
her ; but the man who has a fine female, and judge-
ment enough to adapt her shapes with propriety to
a fine male, will always breed the best racer, let the
sort of blood be what it may, always supposing; it
to be of genuine Eastern extraction. The truth of
this will be confirmed by observation, which shows
us, that horses do race, and do not race, of all
families and all crosses. We find, also, that affi-
nity of blood in the brute creation, if not conti-
nued too long in the same channel, is no impediment
to the perfection of the animal ; for, experience
teaches us, it will hold good many years, particu-
larly in the breed of game cocks, which show so
much prowess and bottom under the most appalling
difficulties as are equalled only by the horse. For
example, we know that Childers, which was, per-
haps, the best racer ever bred in this kingdom,
had in his veins a consanguinity of blood; his pedi-
gree informing us, that his great grandam was got
by Spanker, the dam of which mare was also the
dam of the said Spanker.*

If we inquire a little farther into the different
species of the creation, we shall find this principle
concerning perfection of shape still more verified.
Amongst game cocks, again, we find, that whereso-
ever power and propriety of shape prevails most,
that side (condition alike) generally prevails in bat-

* Flying Childers (1715), by Barley's Arabian— Betty Leede?,
by Careless — Sister to Leedes, by Leedes's Arabian — Spanker,
Barb mare, which was also dam of Spanker.— Edit.

204 MECHANISM OF PACE. [Part IV.

tie. We shall find, also, that one cock perfectly
made^.ll beat two or three of his own brothers if
imperfectly made, or not handsome. If any man
should boast of the blood of Ms cocks, and say that
he uncommon virtue of this animal, which we call
Imgame, is innate, I answer Not so; for that all
pr.nc.ples, and all ideas, arise from sensation and
reflect.on, and are, therefore, acquired.

Arabians—The jockeys have an expression
wh.ch, If their system be true, is the most senseless
imagmable: I have heard it often said, such a
horse " has speed enough in him, if his heart do
but he m the right place." !„ answer to this, let
us consider a horse as a piece of animated machi-
nery (for It IS, in reality, no other) ; let us set this
piece of machinery a-going, and strain the works of
It by velocity; if the works are not analagous to
each other, will not the weakest part give wav'
and, when that happens, will not the whole be out
of tune nay, ruined? But, if we suppose a piece
of machinery, whose works bear due proportion
and analogy to each other, these will undergo a
greater stress, will act with greater force, more re-
gularity, and continuance of time. If it be objected
that those Eastern horses seldom race well them-
selves, and, therefore, it must be in the blood I
think nothing more easily answered; for, we seldom
see any of those horses sent us from Arabia, but
what are more or less disproportioned, crooked, and
out of shape in some part or other ; and, when we see
this deformity of shape, can we any longer wonder at

Chap, IIJ] BREEDING IN ARABIA. S05

their inability for racing ? Add to this, many of
them are, perhaps, full-aged before they arrive in
this kingdom ; whereas, it is generally understood,
that a proper training from his youth upwards is
necessary to form a good racer. [Thus, this objec-
tion answers itself.

But, be this as it may, let us consider how it
happens, that these awkward, cross-shaped, dispro-
portioned horses, seemingly contrary to the laws of
nature, beget race-horses of much finer shapes than
themselves, as we daily see produced in this king-
dom. And here I acknowledge myself to have
been long at a loss how to account for this seeming
difficulty; though this was recently obviated by the
arrival of a gentleman of undoubted veracity from
the East, whose taste and judgement in horses is
inferior tp no man's.

He says, that having spent a considerable part
of his life at Scanderoon and Aleppo, he frequently
made excursions amongst the Arabs, who are sub-
jects of the Grand Seignor's, being excited by
curiosity, as well as to gratify his pleasures. These
Arabs (which are called the Bedouin) encamp on
the deserts together in large numbers, and with
them moves all their household. He says, that
these people keep numbers of greyhounds, for the
sake of coursing the game and procuring them sub-
sistence : and, that he has often been with parties
for the purpose of coursing amongst those people,
and continued with them occasionally for a consi-
derable space of time : that by them you are

206 POOR LIVING ; COLTS STUNTED. [Part IV.

furnished with dogs and horses, for the use of
which you give them a reward. He says, they live
all together; men, horses, dogs, colts, women,
and children : that these colts, having no green
herbage to feed upon when taken from the mare,
are brought up by hand, and live as the children
do ; and that the older horses have no other food
than straw and chopped barley, which these Arabs
procure from the villages most adjacent to their
encampments. The colts, my informant says, run
about with their dams on all expeditions, till
weaned ; for that it is the custom of the Arabs to
ride their mares, as thinking them the fleetest, and
not their horses whence we may infer the
fact, that the mare foals are best fed and taken
care of. That, if you ask one of these banditti to
sell his mare, his answer is, that on her speed de-
pends his own head. He says, also, the male foals
are so little regarded, that when grown up it is
difficult to find a horse of any tolerable size and
shape amongst them.

Seeing that such is the case, shall we be any
longer at a loss to account for the deformity of an
animal, which, from its infancy, is neglected,
starved, and dried up, for want of juices ? or, shall
we wonder that his offspring, produced in a land of
plenty (as England is) of whom the greatest care

* Principally because they do not neigh as the horse does,
and betray their riders to the enemy ; a misfortune that is pre-
vented among other Scythian marauders by fastening the horses'
tongues. — Edit.

Cliap, JJ.] FORE-LEGS OF ARABS.; ^uO'i 207

is taken, who is defended from the extremes of
heat and cold, whose food is never limited, and
whose vessels are filled with the juices of the
sweetest herbage, shall we wonder, I say, that his
offspring, so brought up, should acquire a more
perfect shape and size than his progenitor ? or, if
the sire is not able to race, shall we wonder that
the son, whose shape is more perfect and larger,
should excel his sire in all performances?

But there is still another reason why many of the
very finest of these Eastern Jiorses cannot race.
Our observation of them will shew us, that though
their shoulders in general incline backward exceed-
ingly, denoting the racer, yet their fore-legs stand
very much under them ; but in different horses this
position is more or less observable. This (when I
considered the laws of nature) appeared to me the
greatest imperfection a stallion could possibly have :
but when the same gentleman informed me, that it
was the custom of the Arabs always to keep each
fore-leg of the horse chained to the hinder one, of
each side, when not in action, I no longer consi-
dered it as a natural, but an acquired imperfection.
Shall we longer wonder, that a horse so treated,
though ever so well made in other respects, cannot
race in spite of all his blood? I well remember
this to be the case of the Godolphin Arabian when
I saw him, who stood bent at the knees, and with
his fore-legs trembling under him.^ In our country

* Those Eastern horses always tremble when brought into
this country, even in the stable, in winter, though the tempe-

208 TURKISH HORSE, HOW DERIVED. [Part IV.

we frequently find horses pawing their litter under
them with their fore-feet ; our custom to prevent it
is to put hobbles on their legs, and this will produce
the same position in a greatejr or less degree,
though not so conspicuous as in some of those Arab
horses, which have been habituated from their youth
to this confined method of standing. His royal
highness the Duke of Cumberland had^ in 1752, a
very remarkable instance of this, in a horse called
Muly IsJimael, which is otherwise the most elegant
horse I ever yet beheld : now, whether this position
is natural or acquired, will be best determined by
his produce. Suppose this horse (Muly Ishmael)
should be tried and found no racer, shall he be
condemned as a stallion, and the fault imputed to
his blood ; or on the other hand, if his colts are
straight upon their legs, and found to be good
racers, shall the perfection of such colts be imputed
to the blood of the father, when we can account
for speed in the one, and the want of it in the other,
from the different attitude of each horse? We are
further brought acquainted with the fact, that the
horses we call Turks, are in reality Arabs ; that
the true Turkish horse, bred in Turkey, is a large,
heavy, majestic animal, of no speed, designed to
ride on for state and grandeur ; that it is the custom
of the bashaws in Arabia occasionally to choose,
from their provinces, such colts as they like, and
send them to the grand seignior's stables, which

rature be kept up to 60 degrees : it is a species of tremor just
perceptible. — Edit.

Chap. JI.] LENGTH GIVES STRETCH. 209

they do, at their own pricey and which the Arabs,
who breed them, of course look upon as a very
great hardship.

Of length and stretch. — Seeing" all this, as we
now do, how shall we account for the various per-
fection and imperfection in the breed of these
Eastern horses ; for we perceive it not determined
to those of Turkey, Barbary, or Arabia, but from
each of these countries, some good, some bad,
stallions are sent us ? What shall we do ? Shall
we continue to impute it to the blood, or to the
finer texture, finer attitude, and more power, pos-
sessed by one individual beyond another? But
there is also a certain length determined to some
particular parts of the racer, absolutely necessary
to velocity, of the particularity and propriety of
which length, all jockeys appear, from the latitude
of their expression, to be entirely ignorant, which
is, that a racer must have length somewhere, or
he cannot take his stretchJ"

If I might now be allowed to give my opinion of
this propriety of length, T should say it consisted
in the depth and declivity of the shoulders, and in
the length of the quarters and thighs, and the in-
sertion of the muscles thereof. The effect of the
different position of the shoulders in all horses, is
very demonstrable : if we consider the motion of a
shoulder, we shall find it limited to a certain degree
by the ligamentous and tendinous parts, which con-
fine it to its proper sphere of acting ; so that, if
the shoulder stand upright, the horse will not be

210 DECLIVITY OF SHOULDER. [Part IV.

able to put his toes far before him, but will attain
only a certain circumscribed space at each step or
movement ; but if the shoulders have a declivity in
them, he can not only put his toes farther before
him, but a greater purchase of ground will be ob-
tained at every stroke.

The sJioulder. — The certainty of this effect on
the stretch, by great declivity of the shoulders, will
be made manifest to every man's observation; and
it is also easily demonstrated on the principles of
mechanics, by which we learn, that if a weight is
applied to a pulley, in order to shut a door, and
that weight be allowed to fall immediately and per-
pendicularly from the door, it will not pull it close
with the same velocity as it will do if an angle be
acquired, and the weight pass over awheel removed
to a distance from the door, however little this
distance may be. [Now, mark the next paragraph.

Nevertheless, there is no general rule without an
exception, for we now and then find a horse to be
a good racer, which has not this declivity in his
shoulders, but from greater length in his thighs and
quarters has a sufficient share of speed.* Add to
this, there is another advantage obtained to the
horse, besides velocity, by this declivity of the
shoulders; for his weight is removed farther back,

* This was the redeeming quality of the conformation of
Eclipse, which very speedy horse is reported as having had a
low shoulder (i. e. not sloping enough), which defect, however,
was compensated for by width of his haunches, which gave him
a vaulting manner — greyhound fashion. — Edit.

Chap. II.] PROPORTIONS OF HAUNCHES. 211

and placed more in the centre of his body, by
which an equilibrium is acquired, and every muscle
bears a more equal share of weight and action ; so
that, the nearer the articulation of the quarters
approaches to the superior part of the shoulders, so
much the shorter will the back be; and, as much
mere expanded as the chest is, so much stronger
will the animal be, and he will, also, have a larger
space for the organs of respiration to exert them-
selves in great action. But I would not be under-
stood to mean that this shortness of the back, or ca-
paciousness of the chest, will, together, constitute a
racer ; far from it : but what I mean to insist upon
is, that in any given and proportioned length, from
the bosom of the horse to the setting on of the dock,
the nearer the upper points of the shoulder-blades
slope towards the quarters, so much better able
will the carcass be to sustain and bring him through
with his weight ; and, as much as the shoulders
themselves prevail in depth, and the quarters and
thighs in length, so much greater will be the velo-
city of the horse, because a greater purchase of
ground is hereby obtained at every stroke. It is in
this very propriety of length, strength of carcass,
and the power of the muscles, that those Eastern
horses excel all others ; and it is by the same advan-
tages they excel each other also, and not by any
innate virtue, or principle of the mind, which must
be understood by the word hlood.

Sedbury (by Partner) was an instance of this
great power, in whom we find all the muscles

212 DEFECTS ENTAILED. [Part IV.

rising luxuriantly, and with remarkable prominence.
The famous Childers was a like instance of this
shape. These two horses were remarkably good ;
but we have been absurd enough to condemn the
blood of both at various times : in one, because he
had bad feet, and entailed that defect on the gene-
rality of his offspring ; in the other, because most
people who bred from that lineage were running
mad after a. proper cross, when they should have
been employed in thinking only of propriety of
shape between mare and stallion.

I am very far from desiring to be thought a supe-
rior judge of this animal, but I will be bold enough
to say that, according to these principles of length
and power, there never was a horse (at least that I
have seen) so well entitled to get racers as the
Godolphin Arabian ; for, whoever has seen this
horse must remember that his shoulders were deeper,
and lay farther into his back, than those of any
other horse ever yet seen. Behind the shoulders,
there was but a very small space ere the muscles
of his loins rose exceedingly high, broad, and ex-
panded; which were inserted into his quarters with
greater strength and power than in any horse, I
believe, ever yet seen of his dimensions, viz. fifteen
hands high. If we now consider the plainness of
his head and ears, the position of his fore-legs, and
his stunted growth, occasioned by want of food in
the country where he was bred, it is not to be
wondered at that the excellence of this horse's
shape, which we see only in miniature, and, there-

Chap. IJ.] FINE POINTS OF FORMATION. 213

fore, imperfectly, was not so manifest and apparent
to the perception of some men as to that of others.

It has been said, that the get of the Godolphin
Arahian had better wind than other horses, and
that this perfection of the wind was in the blood.
But, when we consider any horse thus mechani-
cally made, whose levers acquire more purchase, and
whose powers are stronger, than those of his adversa-
ries, such a horse will be enabled, by this superi-
ority of mechanism, to act with greater facility ;
and, therefore, it is no wonder that the organs of
respiration (if not confined or straitened more than
his adversaries') should be less fatigued. Suppose,
now, we take ten mares of the same, or of different
hloodf all held equally good when the mares are
covered, and have been esteemed so long before,
and put to this Godolphin Arahian ; let us suppose
some of the colts to be good racers, and others
very inferior to them, shall we condemn the blood
whence those mares are derived, which produced
the inferior horses ? If so, we shall never know
what good blood is, nor where it is to be found, nor
ever act with any degree of certainty in the propa-
gation of the species : hence, I infer, that it is this
ridiculous opinion alone of blood, that deceives
mankind so much in the breed of racers. If we
ask the jockey the cause of this difference in the
performance of these brothers, he (willing to account
for it somehow or other) readily answers, that the
blood did not nick ; but will a wise and reasoning
man, who seriously endeavours to account for this

214

OF NICKING THE CROSS ; [Part IV.

difference in a rational manner, be content with
such a vague, unmeaning answer, when, by ap-
plying his attention to matters of fact, and his
observation to the different mechanism of these
brothers, the difference of their performance is
not only rationally, but demonstratively accounted
for '^ [See chap. i. of this fourth part.

But, if this excellence of the racer should really
be in the blood, or what is called the proper nick-
ing of it," I must say it is a matter of great Wonder
to me, that the blood of the Godolphin Arabian,
which was a confined stallion, and had but few
mares, should nick so well as to produce so many
excellent racers ; and that the blood of his son
Cade^ who has had such a number of mares, and
those, perhaps, the very best in the kingdom,
should not nick any better than it appears to have
done : for I do not consider the performances of
the get of Cade to have been equal in any respect
to the get of the Godolphin' Arabian.

[Recent observation, however, solves this diffi-
culty— inasmuch as it is the best practice to limit
the number of mares sent to the better stallions,
the very excellence of the Godolphin Arabian's get,
being wholly attributable to the paucity of mares
he had to cover, per season.

The question, then, is, whether this excellence
of horses is in the blood, or in the mechanism and
proportion of the horse? Whoever is a stickler for
bloody let him take two brothers of any sort or kind,
and breed one up in plenty, the other upon a

Chap. Ill AND BREEDING THE FOAL. 215

barren heath ; I fancy he will find, that a different
form and mechanism of the body will be acquired
to the two brothers by the difference of their living,
and that the blood of him brought up on the barren
heath will not be able to contend in racing with the
mechanism of the other which has been brought up
in a land of plenty. Now, if this difference of
shape will make a difference in the performance of
the animal, it will be just the same thing in its con-
sequences, whether this imperfection of shape be
produced by scarcity of food, or entailed by the
laws of nature ; if so, does it signify whether the
colt be got by Arab, Turk, or Barb, or what kind
of blood his dam be of? Indeed, where shall we
find one certain proof of the efficacy of blood, in
any horse produced in any age or any country,
independent of the laws of mechanics ?

If it should be urged, that these Eastern horses
get better colts than their descendants, and, there-
fore, the foreign blood is best, I answer, NOT so :
and, for this reason, it is allowed on all hands, that,
according to the number of those foreign stallions
we have had in this kingdom, from time to time,
there have been more reputed and really bad ones
than good : which would not happen in the case of
horses who come from the same country, and are
of the same extraction, if this goodness was in the
blood only. But the true reason why Eastern horses
get better colts than their descendants, whenever
they do get better, is, that (mechanism alike) their
descendants, from which we breed, are generally

216

ADVICE TO BREEDERS. [Pari IV.

such horses as have been thoroughly tried, conse-
quently much strained, and gone through strong
labour and fatigue, most commonly at too early an
age, viz. three years' old, or younger : whereas, the
imported horse has, perhaps, seldom or never
known what labour was; for we find the Maho-
metan a sober, grave personage, always riding a
foot pace, except on emergencies ; and the Arab
of the desert preferring his mare to his horse for
use and service. As one proof of this truth, let
us take two sister hound bitches, and ward them
both with the same dog ; let us suppose one bitch
to have run in the pack, and the other, by some
accident^ not to have worked at all, — it will be
found that the offspring of her who has never
worked will be much superior to the offspring of
her who has run in the pack.*

All I have now to ask of my brother-jockeys is,
that for the future, when speaking of these horses,
they will, instead of the phrase high-bred, merely
say well-bred; and that they will not even then be
understood to mean any thing more by it, than

* And yet there are persons who send their most valuable
mares to be covered by stallions which have no other recom-
mendation than having won the Derby, or the St. Leger, or the
York two-year olds, or the Duke Michael, or half a dozen
King's hundreds ; or has been hacked about and abused, over
country courses, after every ffty that is to be picked up here and
there; whereas, such an animal, with such recommendations,
ought to be thrown and emasculated with his pedigree on his
front, and his performances at his tail, as the only m.eans of
preventing the disgrace of his kindred. — Edit.

Chap. IL] MECHANICAL POWER, ETC. 217

that they are descended from a race of horses,
whose actions have estabHshed their goodness : and
that I may have leave to prefer my opinion of the
mechanical powers of a horse, to all their simple
opinions concerning blood, which is, in reality, no
more than a vain chimera, when taken alone for
argument. If these things are so, have not we and
our forefathers been hoodwinked all our lives by the
prevalence of a ridiculous custom, and mistaken
system, whereas, by consulting our own reason
and understanding, this mist of error would have
fled before it ! If this mechanical power was con-
sidered as it ought to be, it would excite a proper
emulation among all breeders ; and, when the excel-
lence in the breed of horses was found to be the effect
of judgement, and not of chance, there would be
more merit as well as more pleasure, in having bred
a superior horse or horses. Add to this, mankind, by
applying their attention to this mechanism of ani-
mals, would improve their judgement in the laws of
nature; and it would not only produce a much
better breed of racers than any we have yet seen,
but the good of it would extend to all sorts of
horses throughout the kingdom, of what kind
soever, in a few generations. It may be a cruel
thing to say, but yet a very true one, that amongst
the present breed of horses in this nation, a man
of any tolerable judgement can hardly find one in
fifty fit for his purpose, whether designed to draw
or ride; whereas, if the purchasers would endea-
vour to make themselves masters of this doctrine of

218

OP BREED AND SHAPE. [Part IV.

mechanism, or conformation of the several parts,
breeders of every kind of horses must consult it
also, or keep their useless ones in their own hands,
which, I conceive, would be a proper punishment
for their ignorance. [Time, however, has effected
great improvements in those respects.

Finally, the author appeals, not to the illiterate
and unlearned (whose obstinacy is too great to re-
ceive instruction, and whose prejudices are too
strong to be obliterated by reason), but to the
candid and impartial inquiry of reasoning and un-
prejudiced men into these principles ; and he hopes
this may be a means of exciting some more able
pen to vindicate a truth which has been so many
ages buried in darkness.

CHAP. III.

Further Reasons and Proofs hotu indispensable is
true Form to Running, and what that Form is.

The foregoing e/mer^a^2o/i having been published
separately, and occasioned much discussion, some
persons objected that it tended only to prove that
all horses of a good shape will make good racers,
let their breed, blood, or sort, be what they might.
To this the writer replied, that it was by no means
his intention to push so far the doctrine of mecha-
nical shape, or what is since called conformation of

Chap. III.] TRUE BUILT OF A HORSE. 219

the pariSy and co-adaptatiou of those parts with
each other ; principally, because, down to his time,
mankind had not agreed upon what this fine shape
of race-horses should be : and, therefore, he pro-
ceeds to add, to what he before advanced on this
head, his further ideas of what points such a horse
should possess, to entitle him to the character of a
fine-shaped race-horse.

The formation, then, which I conceive neces-
sary to constitute a capital and perfect race-horse,
does not relate solely to the proportion and symmetry
of the whole animal^ taken at a glance, although it
be necessary ingredient to perseverance or bottom
in the individual so formed ; but this formation, to
be complete, extends also to the limbs and joints, by
which his motions are performed, and his speed is
accelerated or retarded : which depends greatly,
too, on the particular manner of the limbs being set
on — as was said, partly, in Chapter II.* Yet have
most, or all, of those things hitherto passed unob-
served, or remained unattended to by the generality
of sportsmen.

The race horse should be broad, deep, and havfe
great declivity in his shoulders ; his quarters should
be long and strait; his thighs should be let down very

* Much further detail having been entered into upon ♦this
part of our author's inquiry, in the first chapter of Veterinary
Surgery, the inquisitive reader is referred to that work, if he
v^^ould go mor ' deeply into the discussion. Some remarks on
the same, by the writer who signs himself Nimrod, were in-
serted in the Sporting Magazine for August, 1828, and subse-
quently.

L 2

220 GOING, HOW AFFECTED. [Part IV.

low; his bock should be distinct, far behind, and
from him; thence, downwards to the next joint, he
should be very short, which part of the leg should
not be strait, but stand under him, like an ostrich's
leg, with a long lax bending pastern ; and these, I
think, are, in part, the springs of action : such as
we perceive in the ostrich, a very speedy bird afoot.
But these are not the only requisites necessary to
the formation of a perfect race-horse, there being as
much difference, and as great a nicety required, in the
manner of setting on a horse's arm, — which should
be at the extreme point of the shoulder hone, as in
any part belonging to him, and which contributes
as much to the act of extension, or stretch, as does
the declivity in the shoulders — before spoken of, in
regard to the Godolphin Arabian (p. 212). Neither
is one horse in fifty properly formed at the knee,
for racing; nor does one in a hundred of any sort
bear a true proportion from the knee to the fetlock-
joint, although it be so very material with respect
to every action he is to perform.

By the true position of these joints and limbs, the
horse is enabled to cover more ground than one
that is otherwise formed, even though the length
of body be the same in both ; and, by describing
so much a greater circle, in going, he is enabled,
when he extends himself to the full stretch, to
acquire a greater purchase of ground than the
horse which stands in a more upright position, even
though the latter be the longest of the two.

The proper formation of some of the outward

Chap. III.] FORM AND PERFORMANCE 221

acting parts having been described, let us now
consider — what else is required to make a perfect
race-horse? — and I answer, a general proportion,
length, muscular substance, and a certain elegance
of texture, and of the constituent parts of the
whole ; the nature of which elegance, or what I
mean by it, is briefly this. — Supposing the condition
of two horses to be alike, in all respects, they will
always excel each other, according to the particular
elegance and formation of those acting parts, de-
grees of proportion, of length, and of muscular
substance : the want or the possession of either
whereof will not only produce their effect in all
horses, but a difference also in the very same horses,
when tried together on different kinds of grounds.
And this result of such trials could not be other-
wise, I think ; for, if a different formation of the
parts, &c. and the degrees thereof, be not the
cause of difference in the performances, why then,
one of these horses of the right and true blood
would act alike on all ground whatever, and be
just as good, though made like a hog, or with-
out joints : unless some other cause of action
in horses can be shewn, beside this virtue of the
blood, or the formation of the parts, &c. This
argument, alone, would, I think, be sufficient to
evince the truth of my doctrine, though there were
no other to be found in support of it.

The difference in the requisites just-named will
also account why some very plain horses, that are
not well made to please the eye, and so are called

I

222 ILU-PROPORTIONED HORSES. [Part IV.

ill-shaped ones," shall, by reason of a greater
length and depth, and a peculiar manner of settint^
on the acting parts, [i, e, the shoulders, as was
subsequently the case with Eclipsey'] excel others,
which, with the same elegance, possess a greater
share of muscular substance and proportion, a more
noble and lofty forehand, and a finer figure through-
out the whole* Thus, the handsomest and most
elegant horse in the world, and of true proportion,
too, which wants the proper declivity, length, and
gift of circular extension, in those acting parts,
may turn out no racer at all.

Again, horses with the same elegance, and a
tolerable formation of those acting parts, shall be
able, by superiority of muscular substance^i and a
more general proportion, to excel those which have
a little more length and depth in the acting parts ;
for, by means of this substance and proportion, they
will bear to be pressed longer than those who are
deficient therein ; and so far the old proverb,
namely, that all shapes run if of the true blood,
may be allowed to be true enough.

When I talk of length and extent in the acting
parts, I desire not to be misunderstood, for no
horses' legs can be too short.

Greyhound shape. Now, where is he, who will
take upon him to say, that some men are not able
to distinguish by the eye this difference of formation
betwixt some horses, as well as others can distin-

* If the forehand be more lofty than the croup, he cannot run
worth a curse : but, if a strong one, may make a good stager.

Chap, III.'] GREYHOUND SHAPE, SPEED. 223

guish this same difference betwixt some dogs;
though perhaps not quite so readily, because the
human eye cannot take in, at one view, the parts and
proportion of a being, where one is so much larger
than the other. For, whose eye does not inform
him, that a greyhound will beat a cur-dog, or that a
hred'horse (as it is called)* will beat a cart-horse ?
then, why not allow that there is a difference be-
twixt two bred-horses ; for he who does not per-
ceive, that many such do differ greatly from each
other, I am inclined to think cannot see at all. Is
it not evidence that, although many sorts of dogs
are as long as the greyhound, every eye may see
that one will excel the other in speed, and that
mainly from the curves and segments of circles,
which one describes in his shape, and which the
other has only in a less degree ?

Fine greyhounds have, like fine horses, a general
proportion, a certain elegance of parts, of length,
and are furnished with long-fibred muscles; their
hocks are let down almost to the ground behind,
and stand from them ; and then, to remedy the want
of a long pastern, their feet or toes are made
longer than any other dogs' that can be named. It
is this very conformation, so obvious in the grey-
hound, and in some horses, which have wide
haunches, that in part produces the effect of speed;

• That is to say, one whose breeding or parentage, manner
of get, gestation, and training, has been cultivated, or taken
care of, as have that of his progenitors (being good ones) through
several generations. — EpiT.

224

HOCKS LET DOWN. [Part IV,

and the reason why it is not so manifest to all men
in both species, is, because the degrees of this
formation do not come so near together in dogs
as in horses, — that of the greyhound far excelling
all others of his kind.

Now, the fine greyhound being remarkably broad,
and expanded in the muscles of his thighs, I call
this a perfection in him ; and so I think it is in
horses, though it be but seldom seen. This the
generality of sportsmen esteem a fault, and what
almost moves my laughter, they call it a coach
quarter. — So little likelihood is there of any agree-
ment amongst mankind about the proper formation
of a race-horse, that they have not so much as
agreed upon the names, whereby to distinguish the
different parts thereof, even, although the muscu-
lar expansions ought to be very different in these
parts, when we require a faultless horse of any sort.

Hares are made in the same manner, and they
can describe a greater circle, and acquire more
ground at one stroke than any animal known in
the whole world, of their size and length ; and that
because their quarters are so long, their thighs are
so much let down, and the lower part of their hin-
der legs are placed (as it were) under them, and,
to answer the purpose of a long pastern, their toes
are made very long. From these causes, I am in-
clined to think, her springs of action are in part
derived,— add to this, the blade-bone of no animal
runs away into her back with so much declivity as
a hare's, and this, I think, enables her to point

€hap. III] GREYHOUND AND HARE. 225

forward. Again, mark the length from the elbow
to the knee of a hare, and the short space there is
betwixt that and the next joint; by this length of
the arm, and the muscles thereof, she can farther
extend her foreparts. So it is in a greyhound,
though not, I think, to such a degree ; and this
formation in degree so far appertains to the run-
ning-horse, that he cannot be called perfect with-
out it, let him be ever so well constituted in every
other respect. But the degree of shortness in this
part of the horse is better considered by the pro-
portion it bears to his other parts, than by any
general rule that can be laid down.

Now, it is well known among coursers, that the
hare can strike as far at a stroke as the greyhound
dog, which is so much longer ; — tell me then, are
her motions performed by the peculiar formation
of the acting parts, and the strength and elegance
of her muscles, or by any innate quality, and un-
known virtue ; or whether, from a similarity in
these points found in all animals that are particu-
larly endowed with speed, there may not be some
reason to suppose, that the cause of it is the same
in each? and whether it be not highly probable,
that the power who created all animals, has or-
dained, that the different degrees of speed in dif-
ferent horses, should depend on the very same law
as the different degrees of speed in different dogs,
1 mean the law of their constituent parts, even
though you and I should happen not to perceive
any difference in such parts ?

L 3

2^

BONE AND SINEW.

[Part IV.

> \ Of bony horses, I have often been surprized,
and diverted too, with the commendations I have
heard sportsmen bestow on horses, for having large
bones ; becausel think that on the contrary depends,
in great measure, the excellence we find in what
are called stud-hred horses. If, by this expression,
substance only was to be understood, it would be
quite agreeable to my notion, as I have said be-
fore ; but what constitutes the great difference
(formation of the acting parts excepted) between
the Arabian horses, and all others, is, that some
of them have, and all should have, to be perfect,
larger tendons, or sinews,* and smaller bones, than
any other horses not made for speed ; for these ten-
dons, muscles, or sinews happen to be the sole powers
of acting in all animals, the bones being the weight
to be lifted, and serve only to extend the parts.

Which, let me ask, will act with most velocity,
and most perseverance for a time, (all other parts
agreeing,) the horse that has a large sinew, and a
small solid bone, like ivory, i. e. like a stag's bone,
or he that has a large bone of a soft spongy kind,
with a smaller sinew? for the dimensions of the leg
shall, if you please, be the same in both — I should
think the former. This solid bone with a firm sinew,
and a fine skin super-indiiced, where you may see
every vein, and can lay your finger nearly between

* That is to say, large in proportion to the bones the animal
has to propel along — as proved in hare and greyhound, case
adduced at page 224 ; but not large muscle that obscures the
sinevr and conceals the bones.

Chap, III,] A LAX PASTERN, SPEEDY. ^

the bone and the sinew, shews that the horse
has no thick fleshy muscle intervening, which
serves only to retard his speed, and is (like the
bone) a dead weight to be carried along with it,
and which no way conduces to the strength of the
aniraah ;

Limbs proportioned. Now, this is what I call
elegance of parts, which is not confined to the out-
ward texture only, but extends also to the internal
constituent parts of the legs ; namely, to the bones,
sinews, and membranes, which is in part explained
already — and to all the ligaments of the joints —
and this elegance of the constituent parts shews
itself particularly in many horses, where, though
the leg shall have a very sufficient substance, and
bear a true proportion to the other parts of the
body, yet the pastern shall be very lax, as well as
very small, both which are very necessary for a
perfect race-horse, length and laxness serving as
springs for the acquisition of ground, smallness
contributing to agility, and to perseverance or
bottom.

That the smallness of the pastern shall contri-
bute to the stoutness or bottom of the horse, you
will say is very strange, and new doctrine, it being
generally looked upon as a sign of weakness. This
perverseness I cannot help : but, if there were no
other argument to support this doctrine, examples
enough of horses so made, that were excellent
racers, might be brought in defence of it, and T
think no body will dispute matters of fact ; though

228 SINEW AND MUSCLE COMPARED. [Part IV,

I am not quite sure of that. For instance, Car-
touch was a remarkable horse, in these respects,
which, although but a galloway in size, beat some
good and sized horses very easily, all carrying
eleven stone!

Back sinews. To explain this doctrine about the
smallness of the pastern, as it relates to bottom,
we must examine a little the constituent parts of
the limbs. To this end, the reader must under-
stand, that in every animal all the difference there
is betwixt muscle and sineiv is, that the fibres of
the first are broad and fleshy, those of the latter
dense, more firm, and drawn into closer contact ;
whereby the strength of a small sinew becomes
greater than the strength of a large piece of flesh
[as we vulgarly term muscle, until by hand rubbing,
by exercise, hardening the system and .keeping
down flesh generally, we convert a great portion of
this muscle into sinew.] For instance reader, let us
consider, your leg and mine : the hinder part of it,
upwards, at the calf, is o. fleshy substance, which
anatomists have agreed to call muscle; lower down,
towards the extremities ; this is more compact, and
becomes tendinous or sinewy, though it still be a
continuance of the same body ; and we find it in
action capable of bearing its share of work without
complaining ; whereas, the calves of the legs often
do tire and become painful after much walking, or
any violent exercise.

Further, I pray you tell me, whether you ever
thought a man, who was well formed in all other

Chap. III.] BLOOD AND NO BLOOD. 229

respects, to have less agility, or less strength, be-
cause the small of his leg was very delicate and
slender ? or, if your leg and mine had been covered
with a thick coarse membrane, and composed of
loose fleshy fibres, continued down to the extremi-
ties, instead of being fine and tendinous^ whether
you do not think, that such a weight would have
been against us^ have made us less active, and liable
to tire sooner? Just so it is with the horse. But
it too frequently happens when the wise designs of
nature are not fathomed by our shallow capacities,
we arraign the skill of the omniscient power, and
foolishly presume to censure his works, when they
are most perfect ! In these things alone, I mean
the nature and elegance of their constituent parts,
and the due formation thereof, consist the differ-
ence between horses of the same, and different
countries, or betwixt blood, and no blood.

Speed not heritable, Now ask the sportsman
how it happens, that some of these long pasterned
horses perform so notably ; he has his answer ready,
*^ why 'tis in the blood, to be sure^ or else these weak
cat-legged devils could not run so." These same
sportsmen have another saying, " such a horse shews
a great deal of blood." [That is to say, shews that
he has blood affinity to the right breed of horses
for running:] surely they think it something wiec/m-
nical, and visible to the eye, else they could not
use this expression ; or, do they pretend to disco-
ver, by innate knowledge, the innate virtues of the
animal ? But they mean, if they mean any thing.

230 DIFFERENCE IN FORM; [Part IV.

what I do, when I say such a horse has a peculiar
elegance in the texture of the external parts, [which
he derives from his Arabian ancestry.]

But Arabian horses, of the very same family,
differ as much from each other, both with respect
to length, substance, proportion, elegance, and
formation of parts, as horses of the same family
can do in other countries; and how should it be
otherwise I for we plainly perceive here at home,
that there often is a great difference betwixt two
full brothers, of all kinds or species of animals :
pray now tell me, why this should not happen in
Arabia i as well as in England? For instance. Con-
queror and Othello were two full brothers, but one
was a king and the other a beggar, with respect
both to form and action.^ If then the difference in
the performance of these brothers did not depend
on their different formation of parts, ^c. pray tell
me, on what did it depend ? for the cause of it could
not be in the blood, unless you will say this innate
quality may appertain to one brother, and not to
another ; and then I apprehend the by-standers will
say, you have proved it to be plainly nothing,

A hundred examples of the same kind, and that
almost in every family amongst our racing-horses,
might be brought to show, that two equal brothers
are hardly ever produced ; and when a difference
does happen, it will be just the same thing in its

* Got by Crah out of Miss Slamerkin ; but nine years elapsed
between the getting of the two colts. Conqueror being the
youngest of the twain ; and the same colour as his sire, tIz. grey.

Chap, III.'] ARISING IN GESTATION. 231

consequences (if the formation of parts, &c. be at
all concerned in action) whether it happen to an
Arabian horse, or any other. Why this difference
should be betwixt two full brothers is not at all ma-
terial for us to know; it is sufficient for my purpose
that it does happen : it may arise perhaps from a
dissimilitude of parts in the horse and mare, or
from a similitude of some parts tending to some
extreme in both ; it may arise also from some vio-
lence or impression on the womb, whilst the foetus
is in a soft state, or from some defect of constitu-
tion in the mare, or the seed of the horse.

If I could have a horse formed in the manner,
and with all the advantages I have here named, I
should be proud to use him as a stallion, were I a
breeder, without making any inquiry after his fa-
mily or country. But, shall the brother of this
horse, because he is brought from the mountains of
Arabia, and of the very best reputed high blood
(as it is called), who is deficient in all or most of
these respects, (no matter from what cause,) induce
me to breed from him, for the sake of his family
and his country only ? and that a great difference
does occasionally happen in the same, and in every
family of horses, I suppose no man will deny. But
it is said with great truth, that the virtue of the blood
in him that was no racer, may produce a racing-
son ; to this I agree, it may when the son has happened
to acquire a formation of parts, &c. different from the
father's, by the help of his mother's constitution.
In that case, indeed, an ill-formed horse, that could

2S2 ILL-FORMED PARENTS; AND [Part IV.

not run himself, may, and often does, beget a better
racer than himself, by the assistance of better parts
derived from, and similar to those of the dam.

On this point, Fir^iT observed, eighteen centu-
ries ago, that your good judges of breeding require
a stallion, that is a good runner himself, as well as
of true courage, or else the country he is brought
from is of little consequence, nor even his lineage,
although he may derive it from the immortal gods.

It is owing to this opinion of the virtue of the
hloodj and what the sportsmen call a proper cross,
coupled with an entire inattention to, and want of
knowledge amongst the breeders, as to the laws of
nature, and proper conformity of the several parts,
necessary to make a race-horse, that so very few
good ones are occasionally to be found in this king-
dom. For, is it not a truth to loe seen every day,
that the very best reputed bred horses and mares in
the kingdom cannot run at all ? yet they still serve
to breed from for the sake of the blood, or the
cross. As to the mares in general, we seldom
know any thing of them but their pedigree ; yet we
talk of the goodness and badness of staUions, as if
the mare had no concern in the quaUty of the pro-
duce ; and what is worse than this, most men who
keep a stud, generally entertain a good opinion of
their own mares; so, when these do not produce good
colts, they as generally impute the fault to the horse
who got them : from such prejudices, some of our
best horses often fall into unmerited disesteem as
stallions.

Chap. III.] BROTHERHOOD, UNCERTAIN. 233

But, for sake of argument, it shall be allowed,
that the excellence of horses consists in being of
the true blood; what then? is it of any use to the
breeder, when experience shews it will not hold
good in two full brothers?* But he cannot, with
common sense, believe, nor have any reason to
suppose, that the virtue of that high blood or spirit,
call it what you please, which was of no effect in
the father, and which would not entitle him to be a
racer, should produce a better effect in the son,
when this virtue is considered in the light the
sportsmen use it (that is) independent I j/ of form
and matter.

These observations, which I have made on the
different families of race-horses, and betwixt those
of the same family, have made me conclude that
neither the virtue of the blood, or spirit, breed,
pedigree, nor proper crossing, will enable one of
them to race, unless he has the proper formation
along with it.

Thus I have shewn, satisfactorily I hope, that
the origin or breed of all horses, as well as of all
other things, of the same species, was the same in
the beginning of time_, and that all the difference
betwixt the Arabian horses, and all others, con-
sists in nothing else, but a peculiar elegance and
formation of parts, and in having a greater share

* Much will depend on the fitness of the mare to receive the
horse at the time of covering of the horse to enact his part, or
other circumstances, as was said at the commencement of
Chapter I. page 168.— Edit.

234' FORMATION OP ORGANS. [Part IV.

of muscular power; that is, the fibres of these
muscles being drawn into closer contact, animals
are thereby enabled to move quicker, and with
more force, by reason of their membranes and
teguments being composed of a firmer and less
bulky substance, and their bones being smaller,
of more solidity, and occupying less space, they are
and can be more easily acted upon by such tendinous
or muscular force ; and that for a greater duration
of time, with less fatigue to these acting powers.
Then, consciousness hereof gives them courage.

Of Wind. In the next place, it may be asked,
what gives wind to horses, and whether the causes
of that too are discoverable by the eye ? To this
I answer, that clear wind, or long-windedness,
depends on the very same principles in all horses,
and in all other animals, as agility of action, and
ability of perseverance ; namely, the nature of
their constituent or component parts, particular dis-
eases in these animals not coming into the ques-
tion ; for elegance of parts is no other than wind,
and strength, and agility, at least it is productive
of them. And, as the elegance of the external
texture in the horse is a certain standard or test
of a similar elegance throughout the whole internal
contexture, so far the cause of thorough-winded-
ness, as it is called, may be said to be distinguish-
able to the eye.

For instance, the stud-bred horse will gallop
twelve miles within the hour, without the least fa-
tigue, or being at all blown, but the cart-horse

Chap, III.] POWERS OF RESPIRATION. 236

with such a jaunt is fatigued, and tired, and choaked;
the reason whereof, I think, is obvious to every
man, namely, because his eye enables hira to per-
ceive, that one, from the nature and difference of
the component parts, acts with ease and facility to
himself, and the other does not.

Now, may not the man be thought mad, who
says, the difference in the facility of respiration
betwixt these horses, depends in one upon form
and matter, and in the other not so I and is not he
equally absurd, who says, that the difference of
wind, in two bred horses of different families,
does not depend on form and matter also in both,
because the degrees of elegance in the component
parts of these two are not so obvious to his eye,
as they are betwixt the bred-horse and the cart-
horse. For, if we could suppose two horses to be
alike in health and condition, and formed and con-
stituted alike in other respects, he that has the
most capacious thorax or cavity of chest, will un-
doubtedly have the best wind ; and this is con-
firmed by actual occurrences, and notorious matter
of fact, and would be known to all men, if they
were not blindly partial in their observation of
things and events.

[If a horse has superior stretch, he does not
tax his lungs so highly — does not put them to so
much labour, as another with finer lungs (larger),
but whose fatigue at going a quick pace occasions
greater working of the frame, and its contents, the
lungs particularly.

236 ARABS, EVER PREFERABLE. [Part IV.

If to this it is objected, that many running
horses, with the chest less ample, have occasionally
excelled others, with a more capacious one, I al-
low it is very true, but insist, at the same time,
that it is easily accounted for, without appealing to
hidden causes. For example, one horse of a less
ample chest, with great length and extent in his
acting parts, is to contend with another much
shorter in these respects, of a more ample chest ;
but the organs of respiration may be more fa-
tigued in the last than in the first, because the
long horse, who goes within his rate, may act with
ease and facility to himself, whilst the short one,
which is forced to go at the top of his speed, and
yet not able to keep company with the other, is of
course distressed and fatigued in every part.

For the reasons here given, the Arabian horses,
and their descendants, when properly chosen, are
preferable to all others, whether you are to be car-
ried a mile or a thousand, either for pleasure,
expedition, or safety, let the weight be what it will,
nor have any other horses such true courage, or
calmness of temper, nor can they bear fatigue
with equal fortitude, as our severe discipline of
training will in some measure help to shew. Not
only are they best for riding, but for drawing also,
if you breed them to size, and inure them to it
early, as it is the custom to do with our English
horses that are designed for drawing; for our
country horses, whose acting powers, or sinews,
are oppressed with coarse fleshy membrane, thick

Chaplin.] HOUNDS OF BLOOD, ETC. 237

teguments, and large spongy bones, will on this ac-
count be much sooner fatigued and tired with their
own weight, than the Arabians, even though their
acting powers were equal in strength to the Ara-
bian horses, which they by no means are, and that
from a difference in the contexture of the muscular
and tendinous fibres before noticed.

Just so it is betwixt the southern hounds , and
those we make use of to hunt the fox ; and yet
I have heard the huntsmen talk just as ridiculously
of the blood of fox hounds, as if it was something
independent of the formation and elegance of their
parts, as the sportsmen do about the blood of
horses. But in this the skilful huntsman differs
from the sportsman, in one respect, for the first
very often gives away, or knocks his hound on the
head, without trying him at all, if he does not ap-
prove his figure ; whereas, the sportsman always
trains, if he likes the blood, let the horse be ever
so defective in the formation of its parts, &c. But
if he would consider his racer merely as a horse,
and in the same mechanical light, as he distin-
guishes his hunter from his cart-horse, and would
waive this preternatural quality, which he under-
stands by the word blood, it would save him much
expense, and many disappointments. For, al-
though the eye of man may perhaps not always
determine, with such precision, as for us to say,
* this horse shall make a capital racer,' yet I will
be bold to say, that the eye of the same man can
most frequently determine with so much certainty.

832 INNATE POWERS, ILL-JUDGED. [Part IV,

(I mean amongst stud-bred horses,) as for him to
say, * this cannot run at all.' But this last asser-
tion will be credited by very few sportsmen ; for
this plain reason, namely, because the high opinion
they entertain of their own judgement will not suffer
them to assent to a truth, which they themselves
cannot perceive ; for all men fancy they understand
horses better than all others.

And now, since I am dealing in maxims, give
me leave to add one more, which you may depend
on for truth, and lay down as a certain criterion
of the sportsman's skill in horses, namely, that the
more strenuous an advocate he is for this innate
virtue, called blood, so much less knowledge he
has of the animal, and which opinion of blood un-
doubtedly is in him, not a tacit, but an open and
avowed acknowledgment of his ignorance of pro-
per shape or conformity of parts ; else he would
not have recourse to occult and hidden causes,
to account for facts, that are discoverable by the
eye. But the word blood, received in its general
acceptation, is found to be extremely convenient
to such persons ; because it is agreeable to the good
old law of custom, from which source the generality
of men's ideas are derived ; and so, of course, it
prevents the youthful sportsman the trouble of
making any inquiry into the form or nature of
horses. Again, they talk just as ridiculously of bad
as they do of good blood; for it is a common say-
ing amongst those sportsmen, that they would prefer
to breed from a horse, whose blood they liked,

Chap, III. ] THOROUGH-BRED, DEFINED. 239

though he could not run, rather than from him,
that could run well, whose blood they do not like,
yet both shall be thorough bred I

Let us suppose a case : — here are two mares,
both originally bred from Arabian horses, and
mares, or the descendants of such, which I suppose
is all that is to be understood by the term
*' thorough-bred horses." One of these mares is
called Duchess, and is got by Whitenose, out of
Miss Slamerkin [See page 230, Note] ; and, be-
cause the produce of this horse has been generally
found deficient in racing, they are branded with
the infamy of had blood to breed from ; yet Duchess
herself was an extraordinary racer. The other of
these mares was got by the Godolphin Arabian,
the best reputed blood in the world, and called
Sylvia, Now, she was a very bad racer : then,
pray, sir, take your choice, which of these will you
have for a brood mare 1 — why, according to your
own doctrine, you must take Sylvia : can the folly
and. nonsense of this opinion be equal to any thing
but the practice of doing it ? So, if ray horse or
mare, which is thorough-bred, and a descendant of
Whitenose, Slampcrab, or any such, shall, either
in the first, second, third, or tenth, descent, prove
a good racer, (no matter from what cause,) truly, I
must be afraid to breed from them, because you,
from the prejudices you have conceived, and from
not understanding any thing about horses, have
been pleased to fix a mark of disgrace upon some
one or more of their ancestors !

240 RUNNING, NOT HERITABLE. [Part IV.

Now, by way of simile, let us suppose that your
grandfather and mine were knock-kneed, crook-
legged, and splay-footed — these, I think, would
have been but indifferent racers ; but will it follow,
that such defects must, of necessity, be for ever
entailed on all their posterity ? Or don't you think,
when any of their issue happen to be better formed,
that they would turn out better runners than their
splay-footed grandfathers? Mark how the size,
strength, activity, shape, and attitude, the beauty
and regularity of their limbs and features, the spirit
and temper distinguishable in all the families of
men are lost, or, perhaps, improved, in one decent !
How, in all these respects, this son differs from his
father, and that from his grandfather ! Pray, now,
will it or will it not, be so with the horse and his
posterity, whether you and I have discernment
enough to perceive the difference there is betwixt
them, or not ? But some difference of form must,
and will, for ever arise in the breed and posterity
of men and horses, and of all other animals, from
the different form and constitution of the females,
to which they and their descendants are occasionlly
joined in copulation, or else the laws of nature are
of no account.

Thus, you see, the distinctions set up of good
and bad blood, when confined to the desendants of
Arabian horses and mares, are equally absurd and
foolish; yet, that the best and worst racers are
most likely to beget such, cannot at all be doubted,
for this is a law of nature not to be slighted.

€hap. III.] BREEDING FROM ARABIANS. 241

But this law of nature extends both to horse and
mare alike ; so that the breeding a good racer
requires a thorough knowledge of the animal, and
is a matter of judgement, and not of chance, which,
by relying solely on the blood, breed, or proper
crossing, you make it to be.

Now, it has been allowed, all along, that the
Arabians are the best kind of horses we know of,
from which it can be expected to breed a ?'acer, or
in other words, the most perfect horse for going;
and, that the offspring or descendants of such are
most likely to inherit the virtues of their proge-
nitors ; as, also, when they are deficient in the proper
formation of these acting parts, or lose the ele-
gance .or muscular substance of their progenitors,
by crossing, or otherwise, they will, according to
the degrees of deficiency, in any or all of these
points of conformity, fail, also, in the degrees of
their performance — which truth we might see
verified every day, if we were not blinded by our
own prejudices, or took the trouble to understand
any thing of the animal.

Furthermore, I am of opinion, that Arabian
horses of the same family do, occasionally, differ
from each other as much as any horses can do, in
any other country of the same family ; so that the
possession of an Arabian horse, which is wanting
in the respects that have been here set down, will
be of little service to the owner, let the genealogy,
blood, breed, or lineage of such horse be what
they may. For these reasons it is I have asserted,

M

2A2 KMOWLEDGE OF THE PARTS [Part IV.

and do maintain, that the excellence of all horses
depends on their mechanism only.

So, then, there is nothing in blood — indeed,
nothing at all — independent of form and matter, as
the sportsmen say there is. But the Arabian horses,
being better constituted for action, in their several
parts, than other horses do, by means thereof,
excel all others, and each other also according to the
degrees of difference that exists in their form and
constituent parts, the nature and application where-
of I have here endeavoured to explain, I hope^
satisfactorily.

CHAP. IV.

Of Breeding from Eastern Horses: effects of
Climate; symmetry, size, performances; half-
hreds and tliorough-breds, compared; estimate
of pace, component parts, courage.

Although it may appear out of the way for
sportsmen, merely as such, to become acquainted
with the nature and uses of bones, sinews, membranes,
ligaments, teguments, and so forth, which together
constitute the limbs of horses ; }et, in the present
improved state of learning, and the manifest ad-
vantage this kind of knowledge must confer on
breeders, dealers, and owners in general, no reason
can be assigned why they should not straightway
apply their minds to the acquisition thereof. For

Chap. IV.'] NECESSARY: HOW ACQUIRED. 243

they could not, without this pre-knowledge, account
for the different effects, with respect to the laws
of motion, produced by a difference in these mat-
ters, which would stand evident before better-
informed minds ; therefore is it no wonder that the
superior excellence found in some of those Arabian
horses has been imputed by them to some peculiar
hidden virtue or other : for which mistake of theirs
there might, indeed, be some plea, if there were
no difference visible to their understandings, con-
cerning the several parts of the stud-bred and the
half-bred horse. But I shall be excused, I hope,
for disagreeing with this ancient opinion, as to
innate properties in the blood ; nor ought my doc-
trine, on this head, to be disregarded because of
its novelty — nor, though all mankind were arrayed
against it.

Even when men have arrived at this desirable por-
tion of knowledge, they do not often, in these later
times, find living subjects, on which to exercise their
judgement. For, if any one inquire how it comes
to pass, that the Turks 3.nd Barbs here spoken of, as
horses proper to get racers, often fail, I reply, as I
did before, that the people of those countries, now,
know as much as we do, and only sell us the refuse
of their stock, because they know we think it a suf-
ficient recommendation of the horse that he simply
comes from their country. Precisely the same is
the case with people in many parts of the continent
of Europe, who are so fond of the English hunter,
that if the horse comes from hence, that circum-

m2

244

HORSES EXPORTED. [Fart IV.

stance alone carries with him a sufficient recom-
mendation. But, I will venture to say^ there is
not one in a hundred sent out of this kingdom that
is worth a guinea, when compared to some other
of our common English Hunters of the very same
stamp. In both countries the ornates of the land
keep their very best of either description ; and, in
easting their studs, periodically, take care not to
part with 'the germ of their victories, their pride,
and their profit. What care and expense we
bestow upon our horses in England, every one is
aware of, whom it behoves to know ; that we excel
our continental neighbours, and have ever done so, m
our stud and stable management, is as palpable as
it is nationally consolatory to know ; but the treat-
ment of their brood mares and foals in Asia, not
being so generally known, let us take a glance at
the economy of an Arabian stud.

The Arab at home. Horses brought up in the
desert are known by their temper and docility, as
well as their size and figure ; for, being ever kept,
from their youth, in the tents of the Arabs, and in
the same apartments with themselves and children,
they, by this familiar and domestic way of living,
become as tame and passive as their dogs ; and
so, by an indolent posture, bad habit of standing,
with the legs tied under the belly, and lolloping
about in the tents, they acquire an awkward gait,
and crooked growth in some parts, which, we say,
is very ugly ; and, so, we are induced too easily
to conclude, that the goodness of such horses.

€Itap, IV.] ARAB STABLE-ECONOMY. 245

when they get good racers, consists in some innate
quality, void of form and matter, which is ever
understood by the word blood. For instance,
Lord Godolpliins Arabian. — This liorse, except
his being narrow in the bosom, and a little lengthy
on his for€-legs, was, in all other respects, a very
Just horse, and more likely to get good racers, than
any horse I ever saw ; and yet he was looked upon
by most people in a different light, because most
people judge of a horse by his fore-hand only,
which in fact has nothing to do with racing nor
with action. One said he was an ordinary, ill-
grown, ugly horse ; others said he was a lump of
flesh, not knowing that the strength of all animals
is, in great part, derived from this flesh, or mus-
cular substance, and the nature thereof: and so,
by seeing these horses in miniature, by careless exa-
mination of the laws of nature, and clumsy inquiry
into facts, people drew false conclusions about these,
as they do, in general, about most other things.
Be it known, moreover, those colts bred by the
Arabs of ike desert are more coveted by the Turk^
and all the governors of his mighty empire (some
of whom keep immense numbers of these fine
horses), than any other horses bred within the
confines of Asia, or of Africa^

It is said, that the Arabs keep a more exact ac-
count of the genealogy of their horses, than of their
own families ; and so they do, of such as have per-
formed some extraordinary feats in their expedi-
tions. In like manner, whenever they have a colt

246 ARABIAN BREEDING-STUD: [Part IV.

dropped of a favourite get, they assemble together,
some other Arabs to be witnesses, and sign vouch-
ers thereto; and his colour, marks, and lineage,
are faithfully set down in writing, the particulars of
all which are attested with much solemnity when
suchcoltis sold, and this certificate is also produced.
Hence it follows, that such colts are rated at a
higher value than common ; and hence the notion
is derived, that the Arabs have different kinds of
horses, some of which are (according to our phrase)
of the right and true blood, and others not.

But all that is understood by the breed or genea-
logy of the Arab's horse by himself (however we
may understand it) is, that he is descended from
such as have undergone the hardships of labour,
fatigue and fasting, with the utmost fortitude and
resolution, and have brought the master off in safety,
by superior speed and perseverance, in times of im-
minent danger, in his expeditions of plundering or
defending travellers in their journey through the
desert, for which some of them are paid by the
Grand Turk, On those accounts, such a genealo-
gical account of the horses as this is a very rational
one ; for it is a most certain way of estimating their
value and excellence, and a likely method too of
preserving a good breed. The fatigue their mares
are said occasionally to undergo, which sex the
ilra6« generally ride on those expeditions, is almost
beyond credibility ; it being affirmed, that they
sometimes keep them out on their predatory excur-
tions for two days and a night together, without the

Chap. IV.] REARING. TURKISH VARIETY. 247

least sustenance, or any possibility of obtaining for
them a drink of water.^

As hath been said before, those fleet horses that
are brought up \n the more fertile parts of Asia ,
(as Turkey), have, in general, more elegance than
the Arabs of the desert, though they seldom arrive
to their height; and all this difference of size,
temper, figure, and elegance of parts, so often
insisted upon in these pages, is the effect alone of
food and climate, and the manner of bringing up,
which we, of the present day, term " stable-ma-
nagement." For, we know by every year's expe-
rience, which is to some dearly and fearfully bought,
that variance in food and manner of rearing, in
the science of training and bringing to the post,
will produce a difference in performance in the
very same family of horses, foaled in the same dis-
trict,— nay, between two own brothers. Nay, so
far as descending goes, I am convinced that any
man who understands the nature of horses, might

* That our author is here correct in his breeding views, as
to the co-adaptation of sire and dam, without absolute reliance
upon Arabian blood, has been recently proved in a very striking
instance in India. At the Barrackpore races, Jan. 1829, Pyra-
mus, a thorough Arab horse of the best race on that side of Asia,
and esteemed the best runner ever produced there, was beat
easily by Recruit, an English race-horse recently imported ; got
by Whalebone — Waxy out of Penelope — by Trumpator; her
dam Prunella, by Highflyer. The Russian also made an effort
or two to cope with the English horse. In August, 1825, the
two best of the Scythian-Tartar breed ran against two of our
breed, a race of forty -one miles, and were beat by Sharper,
bred by Lord Egremont, djann by Gohanna.

248 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE AND SOIL. [Part IV,

here, in England, undertake to breed from those
fine Eastern horses, in less than ten descents,
a race full as coarse and inelegant as the black
Lincolnshire waggon-horse. [No. 5, of plate 2.]
And this he might accomplish solely by observing
the defects of nature, always keeping his cattle on
low wet ground, with rich herbage, and by ex-
posing them to all the inclemencies of weather.
Nature then clothes their legs and heels, mane and
tail, in long shaggy vestments, and the looseness
of fibre, which has been super-induced by humidity
of the atmosphere, is abundantly filled up with the
gross green feeding concomitant of such a climate.

As a contrast to the swampy country we have
just contemplated, let us turn to our own more
favoured breeding districts. Craven, in Yorkshire,
the Salopian Hills, the downs of Cambridge and
Suffolk (Newmarket), and a few score more such
high and dry soils, ever favourable to the breeding
and rearing, and bringing forward for use the best
of this country's boast. Of the original stock of
Arab horse, it is aflSrmed by many people of vera-
city, that the air of the desert is so free from
vapours, that there is not moisture or damp suf-
ficient to affect the brightest gun with the least
shade of rust, after laying it abroad for a whole
night.

The different effects, then, of humid or dry air
are worth observing : if you hang up a cord or
string of any kind, it becomes contracted or re-
laxed, according to the degrees of humidity or of

Vhap,IV.] COMPARISON OF BREEDS. ^9

dryness of the air. What else, let me ask, are the
sinews of a horse, but a cord or string, composed
of many threads or fibres? Henoe it comes to pass,
from such temperature of the air, that the sinew
of the mountain Barb is as compact as a bar of
iron ; and hence the degrees of difference betwixt
him and some other Asiatic horses, and all other
horses of the world — the nature of food being also
taken into consideration. But so little to the pur-
pose is still understood about the matter in ques-
tion, that those very horses are called weak,
cat-legged things whilst our great coarse brutes,
with hairy legs, thick skins, and lax fibres, are
esteemed much the strongest, by ninety-nine horse-
men in every hundred throughout this kingdom.

Speaking of Barbs, I would be understood to
mean those only which I have seen, all having a
particular cast or turn in their hinder parts, where-
by they may in general be easily distinguished by
an observant eye, from the other descriptions of
Eastern horses depicted in Plate 2, No. 1, 2, 3.

Of Half'breds. The attachment of some men
to a half-bred, or what is commonly called " a good
English horse,'' is, I think, full as absurd, as the
opinion of the sportsmen about blood; they object,
that those " cat-legged things," as they are pleased
to call bred horses, whose legs in general are, by
the bye, a great deal larger than they appear to an
injudicious eye, are fit for nothing but the race ;
they say, also, that ** half-bred horses will lose them
on some roads with a heavy weight." Secondly —

M 3

250 MODERN BREEDING; FINE FOALS. [Part IV.

that ' they go near the ground,' and, therefore, are
* apt to blunder.' Thirdly — that they are ' long pas-
terned,' and so have * an awkward way of going.'
To the first I answer, that if any man be willing to
match a horse, which he will certify to be half-bred,
against another certified to be thorough bred, I will
undertake to find him a play-fellow, and will enter-
tain him for what sum he pleases, and the owner of
the half-bred horse shall choose his ground, length ,
and weight. But the man who never saw Bay Bol-
ton, Atlas, Tartar, and many others that might
be named, may perhaps think, there are no bred
horses of strength and size, and substance, suffici-
ent to struggle with deep roads, and heavy weights.
[A misapprehension that the practice of breeders
in the reign of George IV. will teach him to
amend; his Majesty's opinion on this point, which
is no mean one, leans to the side of a proper quan-
tity of bone and height, which gives the racer an
advantage at every stroke or stretch; besides, if
the services of high-bred produce is designed for the
draft, it cannot be too large, if not surpassing big, as
Filho da Puta, Elephant, Grenadier. A strong
roomy and healthy country mare, covered by a tho-
rough-bred horse, with vigour in him, always throws
a large foal; but she must be HEA.lt HY , be well
kept, though not pampered, and allowed compara-
tive rest, when towards the ninth or tenth month
her back bone bends with the load within, and her
blearing eyes tell us she can carry no external bur-
then without distress.]

VhapJV.] CONSTITUENT PARTS, EFFECTS. 251

To the second objection, that ' hred horses go
iiear the ground/ I answer that the generality of
such * cat-legged things ' having been trained from
their youth on a smooth surface, some of them do
go near the ground; but this is partly owing to the
nature of the ground, to education and fatigue in
their tender years, and, in some cases, to the man-
ner of setting on of the arm ; and is not the certain
consequence of being a bred horse, because there
are many bred horses, which, with this same edu-
cation and use, do not by any means go near the
ground.* As to blundering, it is very absurd to
suppose, that the bred horse as such, is less sure-foot-
ed than the half-bred ; for, besides his having more
agility, strength, and true courage than the other,
the very formation of its several parts will indicate
the contrary ; for, not to say any thing about the
netting on of the arm, or the rules of proportion
from the elbow to the knee, and thence to the fet-
lock, nor the formation of the knee itself,^ these
bred horses having in general more depth and de-
clivity in their shoulders than others, they can most
certainly better extend and elevate their fore feet,
and so forth. Add hereto, the curve or semi-
circular figure, they do generally, and should al-

* This is a great advantage as to pace; horses that go near
the ground at full gallop being always speedy. — Edit.

t Depicted, with the requisite accuracy, in figured, page 40,
of Hinds's Veterinary Surgery, where will be found much minute
detail on those proportions, and the make, shape, or built of
the horse generally, principally as to the diseases to which mal-
conformation gives rise.

252 SHOULDER DECLIVITY. [PartlV,

ways make with their hinder legs when going, they
as certainly can stand and go more securely on all
kinds of grounds; whilst the generality of our old
English horses, with little or no breeding in them,
stand upon four sticks or uprights, that seem, as if
they were designed rather for props of support than
for extension or action. The advantages of this
declivity in the shoulders of horses will be farther
elucidated, by observing with what facility, both to
themselves and riders, such go down the steepest
hills, with the utmost facility and safety ; whilst
other horses, which want this declivity in the shoul-
der, rock and roll about on such steep ground, to
their own terror, as well as that of the riders, if
they happen to feel sensible of the danger that often
awaits such enterprises.

With respect to length of the pastern^ even for
common riding, when expedition may not be re-
quired, there is just as much difference in point of
ease to the rider, betwixt a long and a short pas-
terned horse, as there is betwixt riding in a car-
riage that is hung upon springs, and one that is
not. Yet I do not think it necessary, that one of
these bred horses should be as long pasterned for
the road or hunting, as for racing; but he will
undoubtedly stand more securely on his legs, by
having lax and springy pasterns, all other parts
agreeing, than by having them stiff and upright,
both which circumstances must of necessity apper-
tain to short pasterned horses, in some degree,
at least. As to the mode or manner of going,

Chap. IV.] BRED HORSE, AND HALF BRED. 253;'

attendant upon the long sloping pastern, it scarcely
deserves further notice; though all that can be
said will make against the shape of the half-bred;'
horse's limbs.

These objectors say, * there is not one bred horse
in fifty, that does his paces well to which I an4
swer, with a scoff, there is not one half-bred horse
in five hundred that does his paces well; but every
body knows, or may know, that a half-bred horse,
which may be ever so finely put together, and does
not go tolerably well, will soon tire, and is not
worth sixpence for riding. But the mode or man-
ner of going in a bred horse, if he be well put
together, is perhaps of little consequence to his
goodness ; there having been many instances of
exceeding good racers, which were very awkward
goers, to look at;"* and, therefore, I take upon me
to say, in contradiction to the opinion of all the
so-called good judges in this kingdom, of every
denomination, (of which there are as many in

* Eclipse is an ever-memorable instance of an awkward
vaulting racer, being an indomptable winner : he is adduced in
support of similar doctrine in the work quoted at page 251,
Again, when, in 1821, Cedric won the Duke Michael stakes at
Newmarket, similar " good judges" exclaimed, at starting,
" there he goes ! there's your favourite ! Do you call that run-
ning in form?"...." Well, he may win, but he's no runner."
After the manner of friend Osmer, let us ask, What they would
have of a horse, or of a man, that employs his powers to a
certain purpose, if either attain his end, and win? VFhy should
any one cavil at the mode of performance, unless this be the
peevish expression of the loser's feelings? Cedric was no-
ticed higher up, at page 170.

254 SPEEDY ANIMALS COMPARED. [Part IV,

number nearly as there are horse-men,) that the
awkward manner of going in a bred horse, if well
grown, and used only for the road or hunting, does
not signify a pin, provided he goes above his
ground and gets along. Such a horse, if equally
master of its weight, I would prefer to the best
goer to look at, that \^s but half-bred, in the world.
Furthermore, I look upon a half bred horse as a
brute and a beast, comparatively speaking, that no
man of property who understands horses, would
ever use at all, if he could get any conveniency
for breeding properly. Perhaps it may be said, * it
is no easy matter to raise bred horses to height and
substance, proper for every purpose;' this I con-
ceive to be a mistake, and is a matter that depends
in great measure on the judgement of the breeder,
and his knowledge of the laws of nature ; witness
the late Duke of Bolton, whose horses in general
were victorious on the turf, masters of any weight
in the chase; and fitter for the coach, too, than any
other horses I ever saw, either for expedition or
length of journey, or both put together.

But if those objectors to the thorough-bred horse
should wish to decide these matters by the ex-
amples of such refuse as are turned out of training,
I do not agree to their proposal ; for I purpose not
to give any advantages of form, substance, or pro-
portion ; but my design, in this exposition, is to
shew, that the thorough-bred horse, when properly
chosen, is, for every purpose, far superior to him
that is half-bred ; and this, for the same reasons

Chap, IV.] NO HIDDEN QUALITIES. 255

that the cat-legged'* stag excels the bullock in
speed, the fox-hound excels the southern hound,
and the fine-bred se^^er excels the Spanish jminter .
And the reason why this demonstrable and prove-
able superiority in the bred horse, is not recognized
by all men alike, is, because the difference in the
nature and make of their constituent parts are liot
suflSciently studied by horsemen, as it ought. This
want of understanding on the subject, is the very
reason why sportsmen blindly impute this supe-
riority in what we call the bred-horse, to some
innate or hidden cause. But we may find the
true cause, probably, in the very converse of this
proposition, — namely, their blind prejudices in fa-
vour of occult, innate, or hidden qualities, have
obstructed all acquisitions of rational knowledge
on this subject, as of many others : let us hope the
age of darkness is passing away, for the classes out
of which the most garrulous of those "judges" have
sprung, are now taught to read in books the know-
ledge of ages.

A

VOCABULARY OF SYNONYMES ;

AND OF

Such hard Words, local Names, and scientific Terms,
used in this Volume^ as seemed to require elucida-
tion for ordinary Readers.

See, also, the Index.

Anchylosis, stiff joint.
Aqua-fortis, nitrous acid, weak.

Articulation of bones ; their junction, and correspondence in

shape of the ends with each other.
Charge, an application external, and is either poultice or

cataplasm.

Coffin (the), the outer wall of the hoof, and is that part of the
foot we see when looking at the horse in front and laterally.
"Now wall, crust, hoof.

Coffin-hone, so called from being the chief bone that occupies
tlie coffin or hoof.

Cornet, the horn of stag or buck, made laucet-wise, for bleed-
ing in the mouth, &c.

Coronary -hone, the small pastern. — See page 7, note, and page
15, note.

Coronet, or Coronary-ring, encircles the upper part of the hoof,

where its wall joins the hair : formerly pronounced Cronet.
Crust, that part of the foot which is visible to us while the

hoi'se is standing.
Deflagration, burning, though not wholly destroying.
Deobstruents, medicines that open or remove obsti-uctions of

the vessels or glands. Many simples have this efl'eqt, that

may not be ranked among medicines, operating slowly but

certainly : many of the grasses also possess this quality ; and

those which grow near the sea invariably.
Discuticnts, a surgical term applied to such substances as have

the power to discuss, separate, and drive away the morbid

matter of tumours.
Epidemic. When a disease affects numbers of cattle it acquires

this term ; when confined to a given district they term it

Endemial. — See Index.
Eschar, a scab or hard crust on the flesh.

Fetlock, a small tuft of hair behind the joint formed at the
upper end of the pastern ; this has acquired also the term
fetlock -joint.

Fleam, or Flaim, a lancet to bleed horses, being placed at the
side of the main blade, which is to be hit wuth the blood-stick.

Foetus, the young animal in the womb, until near the time
of foaling.

VOCABULARY OF SYNONYMES.' 257

Foo^ (the), that part of the animal which coraes next the
ground, and is generally confined to its hoof of horn, sole,
and heel, without reference to its contents, or internal struc-
ture, which occupies the first claim to consideration with
skilful persons, who also carry their inquiries, respecting
diseases of the foot, to the pastern-bone, and its accompany-
ing sinews, cartilages, &c.

Hock, or Hough, the main-joint behind.

Hoofy the whole external foot from the coronet to the ground,
sometimes, by careless people, applied to the wall or crust
only.

Horn, the external wall or hoof of the foot, as it partakes of the
nature of the head of horned animals. It partakes also of the
nature and state of health of the individual, and of the breed;
hot and cold in the extremes being detrimental to its true
temper or degree of hardness : in fever it becomes brittle,
the lungs affecting the fore-feet, inflammatory complaints in
the abdomen the hind ones ; a humid atmosphere, or swampy
breeding country affects the whole race, whence fiat hoof.

Humours, the secretions depraved.

Interfering, cutting ; or wherein one leg toucheth or interferes

with another.
Juices, secretions, humours.

Lancet, one of the names of the bleeding instruments we call
flaim. But the lancet of the human practice, which is used
by some persons, is one straight blade, for bleeding in the
mouth, at the plate-vein, &c.

Lint, tow — i. e. hemp or lin.

Nitrous acid, when weak it is aqua-fortis.

Nut-bone, shuttle-bone, Navicula.

Pastern (the) is that bone which rises next above the hoof, and
articulates with the coronary bone, now called small pastern^
as this one is the large pastern bone. Their junction is the
pastern joint.

Patten-shoe, heretofore panton-shoe, one made of an entire

web, closed at the heels.
Plancher, old term for stable floor ; so is planch, or planching.
Potash, potass, kali, carbonated potass.
Salt-petre, nitre, natron.

Salts are of several kinds, but when not further distinguished,
Glauber Salts, or the Epsom, are understood. These will
not operate as an active purgative, but in repeated small
doses, of from three to five ounces daily, until the dunging
is sufficiently aflfected, produce the most beneficial results.
But an equally efficacious and much cheaper alterative is
Salt, such as is employed for domestic purposes ; that is to
say, the Marine Salt of the pharmacopoeias ; than which
there is not again such another medicine, or preventive, em-
ployed in the veterinary practice, whether given inwardly as

258 VOCABULARY OF SYNONYMES.

a deobstruent, or applied outwardly as a discutient. Not
only are obstructions removed from the inside, but worms,
as also boits, &c. are brought away by persevering in small
dof-es, especially when combined with one-fourth its weight
of flowers of sulphur.

Sal Indus is then the term given to the salt so compounded ;
and it is found most effectual upon the horse when the sul-
phur is employed unwashed. The prescviiDtion for making
Sal Indus factitiously is given to us thus : —

Glauber salts 2 ounces,

Flowers of sulphur 1 ounce,

Barbadoes aloes 1 drachm,

mix, and give one ball a-day for a fortnight, unless pur-
gation and the passing off of the worms sooner take place.
These, however, with Salt-petre or Nitre, are sufficiently
proven the most valuable species of remedy exfernaliy or
internally, in various pages of the present volume : as may
be ascertained by consulting the Index, under those words.

Secretion. The power and capacity of separating from the
blood all those humours that are necessary for carrying on
the functions of animal life; — as Bile by the liver. Saliva by
the glands that open into mouth; Ur.ne by the kidney, &c.
all being performed by glands, that seem to act by pairs.
W hen these secretions are obstructed, or when any i»erform
their appointed function overmuch, disease ensues ; in cases
of the first-mentioned Salts is the best remedy for removing
the obstructions ; in the latter series of attacks, drains, (as
Osmer terms them,) or bleeding, purgatives, rowels, blis-
tering, &CC., are the appropriate means of cure.

Sorance, evil, ill, disorder.

Spanish Soap, hard soap, mottled soap.

Spirit of Salt, muriatic acid.

Stretch (the), capacity of going, or ground covered at each
stride, which marks the speed. The stretch may be consi-
dered a leap on plain ground, or over a shallow pool ; and
galloping is the leap reiterated. Called also the stroke in
galloping.

Tumour, a swelled gland, occasioned by the deposit of un-
healthy matter, commonly under the skin ; but some such
are known to arise is horses' insides, and always terminate
fatally. Eight classes are reckoned, some whereof are in-
dolent, and one is a simple swelling, wathout containing
any matter.

Turbith Mineral, vitriolated quicksilver, yellow mercurial
emetic.

Vitriol poivder, copperas, green vitriol.

Wall of the foot, the upright part thereof, externally ; inclu-
ding within it the two bones we call coflin-boue and na-
vicula

INDEX

OF

PRINCIPAL MATTERS CONTAINED IN THIS
VOLUME.

\ -

Adhesion of the tendon, 41.

Anatomy of the race horse, instructive, 196 ; and of his limbs,
242. See Blood, experiments on.

Anchylosis, the true, incurable. 66; of the spurious, cura-
ble, 40.

Apoplexy differs from staggers, 97.

Arabian-blood, what it is, 177 ; country of, 178 ; introduced

here, 188; prizeable, 189; too much sought after, 202;

economy of rearing, 205 ; families differ from each other,

230, 241, 244 ; why preferable, 236 ; true blood not always

descendable, 240.
Arab, the, muscles and sinews large, 226 ; stallions, 241-

277 ; — in India, 178 ; genealogy of the, 245 ; its uses, 246.
Arm, fine setting on of, necessary to speed, 220; and safety,

250 ; large sinews of, 226.
Artery, the divided, how taken up, 73.
Ass-footed, what, 48 ; how distinguished, 31.
Astley's, Sir J. H., hounds treated with the saline preventive,

155, note.

Attenuants, an excellent remedy, 156.
Back-raking, when proper, 119, 122.
Bandaging recommended, 65, 79.

Barb, what is a, 166 ; early importation of, 179 ; get mere
galloways, 181 ; its descent and country, 179 ; of a parti-
cular shape behind, 249.

Barbs and Turks, 254 ; what are true, 256-9, 273.

Bile, its uses, 150 ; too copious, affects the liver, 152.

Binding of the sole, 47-49.

Bitter medicines tonic, 136 ; differ from bitter secretions, as

the Bile, note.
Bladder, tumour on its neck, 120.

260

INDEX.

Bleeding, its efficacy shewn, 67, 71, 81, 88, 98, 102, 109, 120,
121, 124, 130, ICO, 162 ; at the toe, 35 ; when the operation
is improper, 81, 90, 113, 118; a dangerous practice, 107,
110 ; haemorrhage, to stop, 73.

Blindnrss, brought on by botts, 136 ; it is heritable, 170.

Blistering, when improper, 47, 56, 68 ; when the practice is
desirable, 55, 66, 67, 80, 163 ; is barbarously employed, 44.

Blood-horse, what? 165, 177; no others can run, 192 ; though
all shapes may, 190, if lengthy, 222, 228 ; blood or no blood,
at sight, 229 ; is nought without right shape, 236; judged of,
independent of proportion, 191. —See Symmetry, Innate,
Speed.

Blood relationship, what? 165; not descendable, 198, 200;
consanguinity of, 203, 204 ; necessary to speed, 184 ; all are
runners, 190 ; and no other, 192 ; good and bad, 198.

Blood, the, its viscidity, 58, 121 ; appearance of, 109 ; quali-
ties vary, 166; its influence on get, 171-173; experiments
on, 174-177 ; quality of, heritable, 171 ; varies in the diffe-
rent breeds, 172 ; experiments on, 174 ; salt, refirles it, 175 ;
odour varies, 177. See Circulation.

Blood Spavin, best mode of treating it, 68.

Bones, the levers of the body, 19G ; bone, how secreted, 171 ;
small hard bone preferable, 226; give agility, 234 ; large,
oppressive, 168, 226, 236, 242.

Bone, the enlarged, or the wasted, incurable, 56.

Botts, ravages of the, 135 ; cures for 136 ; how produced ?
See Horse-fly, Worms.

Bowels, of the indurated and inflamed, 124.

Breeds of horses, inquiry respecting the speedy, 165 ; what are
the true runners, 166 ; the blood varies, 171-173 ; those of
several countries, 177-185.

Breed, the, degenerated, 197, 199 ; affects the wind, 234 ;
brood mares, considered, 232 ; their qualities, 239-241 :
large breed of racers, 240.

Breeding countries compared, 247, 248 ; progress of breeding
in England, 165-218 ; points to be observed by breeders, 35,
101, 167-181, 190, 202, 216, 229-237, 246-249.

Bred and half-breds, comparison of, 193, 237, 249, 253.

Broken wind incurable, cause of, 123.

Built, or shape, 220, 229-233, 241, 242 ; good, always racers,
191 ; visible, 192 ; comparison of several speedy animals,
222-225, 249-252.

Calkens, the modern screw, described, 23.

Camphor employed in distemper, 78 ; Camphorated Spirits, 82.

Canker, one cause of lameness, 42; treatment, 68.

Cataplasm. — See Charge, Poultice, Salt.

Cattle (horned) in distemper, symptoms, 117; and treatment

(similar to horses), 118.
Cartilage, when ossified, incurable, 56.

INDEX.

261

Cedric, his form of going, 170, 253.

Charge (the Salt) or Cataplasm, recommended, 50, 64, 68, 70,

162 ; a warm one, 66 ; recipe, 79.
ChifFney's (Sam) cases of training off, quoted, 197.
Circle (the) described in going, 220, 224 ; necessary to pace,

222 ; and curves, 223, 251 ; definition, 224.
Circulation (the) languid, 146; viscid, 41.
Clark (Bracy) on the Botts, anticipated, 137.
Climate, its effects on health, 150-153.
Clothing, hot, improper for sick horses, 160.
Clysters, an eligible means of cure, 100, 102, 109, 120, 135;

when disserviceable, 107.
Coflin (the), what ? 7 ; ossification in, incurable, 56 ; dislo-
cation of the joint, disputed, 17, 38, 39, 51 ; strain of, what?

39, 50 ; treatment, 54.
Cold (a) and Cough, causes, 121 ; symptoms and treatment,

122; produce broken wind, 123; the epidemic cough, 75.
Colcothar of Vitriol, preparation, 64, note.
Colic is of two sorts, 123; symptoms of each, 125, 156 ; cure.

124.

College of Physicians consulted on horse medicine, 119.

College (the) at Pancras, a private job, viii. ; the practice
there injudicious, 51; uncandid, 52, 112, 125 ; pretensions
of its members, v ; borrow from Osmer, vii.-ix.

Colourof ancestors comesout, 170,183 ; of the Turks, white, 181.

Compression of the Sole, its effects, 10, 48.

Concussion of the Foot, various disorders arising from, 48-56,

Condition promoted, 114, 116, 133, 149, 152; depends upon
shape, 221.

Cordials, improperly given, 115, 129.

Corn, method of cure, 17, 19.

Coronary Bone, what? 15.

Cough accompanies distemper, 105, 106; inflammatory, 121.
—See Cold.

Countries, the breeds of different, 140-144, 190.

Cross, of nicking the, 214; what is the proper one, 232, 241.

Cross (the) not enough studied, 176 ; economy of, 181 ; affects

colour of the eye, 183.
Crust (thick) to be kept low, 12, 14, 19, 27 ; soft and broad,

the contrary, ibid.
Curb, what? 44; cure, 66.

Cutaneous diseases, a potent remedy in, 156, 164.

Cutting, what? and the remedy, 24-28, 162.

Debility accompanies epidemic, 104 ; recovery from, 108.

Dictionary of Farriery announced, viii.

Digestive Plaster, 74, 75.

Discuticnt Lotion, 82. — See Salt.

Diseases of horses really but few, 103, 161 ; mistaken for
each other, 85, 159 ; easily treated, 149 ; terms for, use-
lessly multiplied, 85 ; they are hereditary, 151 ; cases of 170.

262

INDEX.

Dissertation on Breeding, explained by the Author, 191.

Distemper, considered as a febrile disorder, 103 ; classifica-
tion of, 105; in A. D. 1828, 101, Note; treatment of the
several sorts, 107; discrimination necessary, 110; what to
be considered so, 85-88; cases of, 87, 91, 99, 135 ; preva-
lent errors concerning, 87, 90, 96; foals are stunted by it,
91, 93; suckling mares escape, 93; treatment of both, 95,
100 ; abscess, or bubo, a critical discharge, 88, 92, 97 ;
various symptoms and varied treatment, 102-118 ; nevsr law
regarding, 119. — See Epidemy.

Dogs, diseases of, 131 ; tumours on the knee, cure for, 63 ;
the shape of hounds, &c. as regards speed, 62, 223, 234,
237, 251.— See Greyhound.

Drains (of), i. e. Rowel, Blister, Seton, Incision, 95, 102, &c.

Drenching at the nose, barbarous, 136.

Dung, duty of attending to, 120, 122, 128.

Eastern horses, what? 192; good and bad, 215; all get racers
here, 173, 215 ; blood of, circulates here, 185 ; what are so,
182, 192; symmetry of, 193.— See Arab^ Barb, Turk,
Blood.

East-India, Company breed Arabs, 178 ; racing there, 247.

Eclipse, form of running, 170 ; capacious chest, 173.

English horse (hunter), source whence derived, 165, 178, 185 ;
admired abroad, 184, 243 ; and preferred at home, 249 ; not
comparable to bred horse, 193, 251. — See Hunter.

Epidemy, recurs frequently, 103 ; symptoms vary, 104 ; of
several classes discriminated, 105; treatment, 107-112;
value of distinguishing the symptoms, 113; is caused by
Botts, 143 ; and see Distemper.

Epsom salts, efficacy as a purgative, 90, 153; dose, ib. 146.

Examples adduced : as to pace. Conqueror and Othello (bro-
thers) compared, 230; Bay Bolton, Atlas, Turk, 249;
Duchess and Sylvia, 239 ; Whitenose and Bay Bolton, 239.
Of lofty horses, viz. Dongolese, 179; and Hanoverians, 183 ;
Filho, Elephant, Grenadier, 250 : As to first foal winners,
169. — See Godolphin, Eclipse, &c.

Exercise — Walks, &;c. 60 ; when harmful, 64 ; necessary to
health, 101, 140, 150, 193.

Expansion of the heels, necessity of, shewn, 9-12, 31, 50.

Eyes, colour of, affected by crossing off, 183 ; running of the,
in distemper, 92 ; they are affected by strong physic, 131.

Farcy is consequent upon full habit of body, 102, 145 ; re-
medy for, 156.

Farriers' violent remedies harmful, 103.

Fever, prevalent, 97; how appearing, 98-116, with reme-
dies, 100-116; the malignant, attacks horses, 103; Dr.
James's powders prescribed, 155, 104.

Foals stunted by the distemper, 91 ; treatment of, 93, 94.

Firing, its evil tendency, 56, 57 ; impedes speed, 58; its
proper eflfect, 66.— See Blistering:

INDEX.

263

Fits, produced by worms, 136. — See Staggers, Vertigo.
Flemish horse, or Lincolnshire, 186; how amended, 187; how

it may be bred from the blood horse, 247.
Flexor tendon, its physiology, 9, 10.
Flux, or excessive purging, 132.
Fomentations, various, 56, 58, 67, 73, 79, 91, 145.
Food and exercise, conduce to health, or to disease, how,

101, 115, 150.,

Foot (the), how affected by country, 5 ; component parts of, 7 ;

diseases incident to, 9. See, also, those several parts, %

name ; and its diseases, under their respective heads. Fever

of the foot, 50 ; founder, how incurred, 16, 42.
Forehand, the lofty, desirable, 221.
Foreigners, rivalry of attempted, 184.
Foreign breeders, radical error of, 184.
French cavalry, low quality, racers lower, 184.
Friars' balsam recommended, 74, 78.
Frog (the) described, and treatment, 9-11, 13, 20, 21.
Ganglion, or wiudgal, cause, symptoms, and treatment, 61.
Germany acquires eastern horses, 182; varieties, 183.
Get of horse and mare, how influenced, 166-177, 185, 213,

214 ; often varies, 198.
Glanders, cause of, 102, 111 ; incurable, 161, note.
Godolphin Arabian, his form, 194 ; parent of primest racers,

ib. note; symmetry of parts, 200; forelegs out, 207, 245;

fine proportions, 212, and wind, 213 ; his death, 194, note.
Going, how affected, as to pace and form, 221-223, 233, •

235-238, 249-253.
Gravelled, incurred by bad shoeing, 17.
Grease, cause of, 145, with the remedies, 146, 164; melting

of the grease, how effected, 100;, treatment, 134.
Greyhound shape, desirable for racers, 222-224, 226, 236.

See, also, Dogs.
Grooms' prescriptions often injudicious, 116, 128, 133.
Gruel, of oatmeal, its benefits, i24 ;— of rice, 132 ; of bean-flour,

134.

Guts, twisting of the, 125. — See Strangullion.

Half-breds, run short courses well, 196 ; shape of limbs, slow

goers, 243 ; compared with blood-horse, 249-254.
Hand-rubbing for disorders of the legs, 146.
Hanoverian horses have pale irides, 183 ; two lofty ones

foaled here, ib. note.
Hare, shape for runners, 229 ; speed of, equal to hounds, 225.
Heat, when injurious to health, 100-116; the chief cause of

diseases in the horse, 116 ; of vital heat, 106.
Hind legs and quarters in action, 219, 224 ; of Barbs, 249.
Hoof, how renovated, 35 ; of the hard and soft, 37 ; hard and

thick, how promoted, 4 ; iron defence of, 5. — See Expansion

of. Shoeing, &c. &c.

264

INDEX.

HooF-BOTiND, how causcd, 49 ; and cure for, ib.

Horned Cattle, distemper among, 116-119.

Horse (the), originally of Arabia, 165, 177 ; horse and mare,
fitness for each other, 202, 216, 231, 241 ; those of Poland,
Germany, 182 ; and of France, 183 ; all men fancy them-
selves judges of, 237, 253 —See, also, Racer, Speed, Wind,
and other particular heads.

Horse-fly, or Oestris caballos, produces worms, 136; large in
South America, 139. — See Botts.

Hough, enlargement of the, 67 ; well let down, 223.

Hounds (fox), and the southern compared, 237.

Hove bullocks, in the distemper, 120.

Humours (the) vitiated, occasion lameness, 41-45, 134, 156,
by falling down, 70 ; defence of the doctrine generally, 46;
proof thereof, and remedies, 93, 101, 116; they are vitiated
by over-dosing, 89, 131-134 ; symptoms of vitiation, 106.

Hunter (the), admired by all, 184, 283 ; comparison of with
thorough-bred, 193 ; how got, 184-1S6.

Hydrophobia, sea-bathing not to be relied upon, 148.

Jerry Sneak, a blind stallion with a blind get, 170.

Inflammatory fever, treated of, 113.

Innate qualities, none in the blood itself, 190 ; supposititious,

230 ; opinion leads us astray, 232 ; advocates for it poor

judges, 238.
Joints, of enlarged, 56, 67-69.
Iron defence of the foot, 5, 13, 19 ; a happy term, ix.
Judges of horses, more numerous than good, 253.
Knees, mostly ill-formed for racing, 220 ; better than those of

the half-breds, 251.
Lameness, variety of names for, 9 ; causes of, 27, 30, 70, 117 ;

of occasional lameness, 41-45; treatment for, 57-61, 162.

—See, also, under the respective names for.
Leap (the), economy of, 168; how influenced, 169; of four

producing winners, same grass, 155.
Length necessary to stretch, 196, 209 ; demonstrable, 210-212.
Letting down of the sinew, 64.

Limbs, proportioned to carcase, 227-8; — of mankind, as to
speed, 240 ; of the horse dissected, 242 ; arm and knee, 219,
251 ; short, preferable, 222 ; how set on, 221, 251 ; those of
bred horses large, 249.

Lincolnshire horse, bred from Arabian, 247.

Loose stable recommended, 42.

Malenders, &c. cause of, and cure, 145.

Mare (the), chiefly concerned in giving strength to foal, 181,
202, 231 ; adaptation to horse, 203 ; neglected, 232 ; mares
in foal, treatment, 36, 232 ; the leap, 168.

Mechanics, the principles of, applied to the horse, 154, 230,
237, 252 ; mechanical powers of going, 217.

Medicine, the uncertainty of, 147.

INDEX.

265

Muscle and tendon compared, 228 ; action of, 233 ; study of

its construction, necessary, 242.
Molten grease, how caused, ioi.

Navicular disease, explained, 28-30 ; effects produced by, 52 ;

how ascertained, 54; and treatment for, 55 ; but not known

accurately during life, 38, 51.
Neapolitan horse, is degenerated, 180.

Nitre, its virtues ascertained, 98 ; preparation of, and virtues,
153-155 ; of an overdose, 151 ; rule for prescribing, 99, 132.
— See, also. Saltpetre, Salts.

North country breeders, adepts, 201.

Numbness of the foot, how incurred, 38.

Odour of the blood, from different breeds, varies, 175.

Oedematous swelling, 86, 163. — See Tumour.

Oils improper, 65, 73, 146; when advisable, 122 ; for the hoof,
37.

Operations, various, 48, 49, 68, 69, 72, 77-79, 83, 84, 162.

Ostrich shape and speed, desirable, 220.

Paces of high-bred and half-breds compared, 252.

Pastern, of the low, 223 ; the long, 225 ; the lax and short,

227 ; is springy, ib. ; conduces to pace, ib. ; comparison of

pasterns, 252 ; the small and large, 15.
Pedigrees, skill in, not requisite, 232.

Physicking, mode of, 128; effects of an over-dose, 135 ; and

remedies, 131-134 ; prescription, 131 ; casted balls, 132.
Plain horses sometimes perform well, 222.
Pointing the toe straight, how effected, 26, 27.
Poll evil and fistula, treatment of, 77 ; operation for, 78.
Prescriptions, often senseless, 115.

Proportion (tine) of the parts, is beauty and strength, 193;
what it consists of, 194 ; the proportions not exactly agreed
upon, 224 ; but is everything, 168, 192, 199 ; those of racers
how tested, 193; of the Arab, 194, 200; defined, 221 ; the
fine, 187. — See Godolphin, Speed, Symmetry, &c.

Proud flesh, to reduce, 75, 77.

Pulse, knowledge of its indications, 124.

Puncturing instrument described, 69, note.

Rabies, salt water prescribed for, 147.

Race-horse (the) should ^osses^ symmetry, 219, 224 to 240 ;

when first brought to England, 180; breed kept up, 181 ;

Arabians not good runners, 207; but breed good, 241 ; large

ones, 250; formation of, 219,222.
Regimen necessary to be attended to, 115, 118, 121.
Ring-bone, cause and treatment, 42, 65, 68.
Rest desirable, 59, 65, 115 ; at grass, 58.

Rowelling, Qconovcvy oi, 89; in fever, 91, 95, 102, 110, 163;

when improper, 107, 114.
Rubens, true to colour of ancestry, 170.
Runner (a) or not one ? 227-229.

266 INDEX,

Russian (the) carries oflF the Turkish Stud, 180 ; attempts to

beat the English horse, 247.
Saddle-galls, treatment of, 83. .

Salts (the neutral), a desirable remedy in all its forms, 146,
154; refines the blood, how, 175; when detrimental, 152;
varieties discriminated, 154-157 ; recommended in febrile
disorders, 89 ; in distemper, 91-102 ; for horned cattle, 118 ;
for inflammmation of the intestines, 124 ; dose of, 90, 156.

Salty cataplasm to strained tendons, 60 ; is discutient, 60, 67,

162, 254 ; recipe for making, 58 ; virtues of salt water, 146-
150, 157 ; inwardly, is deobstruent, 60, 154; salt for hounds,
155 ; and for man, ib.

Saltpetre advised, 68, 71 ; efficacious in distemper, 92, 157 ;
for hove bullocks, 119 ; when it is improper, 124, 129. — See
Nitre.

Sand-crack produced by much rasping, 20 ; how amended, 21.
Scouring, mistakes concerning, 134 ; treatment, ib.
Secretions, their uses, and how affected, 150, 152, 156, 160,

163. — See Humours.

Shape (the) of goers, not agreed upon, 219 ; certain points

indispensable, 187, 232 ; subject not enough studiefl, 248 ;

the form is every thing, 242; right form for racing, 187, 194,

195. — See the several points, by name.
Shoe, its shape, 13, 19, 60, 61, 162 ; not universally wrong, 4 ;

the plate, 29 ; the pattern, 76.
Shoeing, how practised in Asia, 5 ; origin and intent of, ib.;

the cause of lameness, generally, 6, 162 ; of weak hoof to

render stout, 20; smiths, obstinacy of, 2, 3. See Hoof,

Foot, Sole, &c.

Shoulder (the), shape proper for a speedy horse, declivity, 209,
219, 251 ; no racer without it, 194, 222 ; runs into the back,
224; safe at downhill work, 251. — See Godolphin.

Shoulder-strain, treatment of, 34; shoulder-shook, not a
true description of Istmeness, 31 ; proofs of it, 33 ; and con-
sequences, 34.

Skin, fine, is induced by fine sinew, 226 ; its texture, 153 ;

agrees with the internal parts, 227.
Soap, its mode of operating, 175.

Sole, should not bear on the shoe, 16, 48-50 ; the sensible,
what is it? 8 ; of paring the, 9, 10, 19-29, 49 ; objections to
drawing it, 48.

Spanish horse, the Jirst blood seen in England, 180; degene-
rated, 180.

Spavin, kinds, 44; bone, how reduced, 64; treatment, 65,
67 ; blood spavin, treatment, 68.

Speed not heritable, 197, 229, 239-242 ; is owing to length,
196; and just, conformity of parts, 221, 224; mechanical
powers of, 197, 214. See Greyhound, Hare, Ostrich, Pro-
portion, Symmetry, Shape, Racer.

INDEX.

267

Spirits of wine, when a proper application, 60, 82, 91.
Splents cause lameness, 42; treatment, 63.
Sportsmen (field) not good judges of horses, 241, 252.
Sprain, of tendon, 65 ; what it is, 10. — See Tendon.
Staked horse, treatment of a, 78.
Staggers, real cause of, is fever, 97.
Standing position, the proper one, 220.

Stallion (the) imparts shape and powers to his get, 170, 181 ;
not always in trim to nick, 203 ; when pampered, contracts
autumnal fever, 101 ; what are good ones, Part IV. passim ;
feet of, treatment, 36.

Stiff joint, how incurred, 40 ; when incurable, 56.

Stifle, strain of the, cure, 92.

Stimulants for indolent tumours, an error. 111.

Stopping the feet and greasing, 37.

Strains, before and behind, 43, 66; invariable symptoms at-
tending, 45 ; shoulder-strain, 64 ; strains of tendons, what,
10 ; and treatment, 31, 43, 50, 62, 64, 76, 162 ; of the foot, 55.

Strangles, a critical swelling, 95 ; treatment, ib.; cause, 98.

Strangullion, i.e. strangulation of the intestines, indication

: of, 121 ; cause and progress of, 125 ; cases of, (or introsus-

■■' ception,) 126-128.

Strangury, cause and treatment of, 120.

Stretch, great, consonant with fine chest, 235 ; necessity of,

196 ; how described, 220.
Symmetry of runners, explained, 194, 205-210 ; better than

blood, 235, 238, 244, 256; aflfects the respiration, 240, 274.
Symmetry, or shape, conducive to speed, 200, 222 ; too little

regarded, 202. See Speed.
Symptoms and diseases, how confounded, 159.
Tendon, large, conducive to the racer, 195.
Tendons, strained, 10, 30 ; exercise wrong, 60 ; ossified, 50,

56; treatment of, 50, 64, 75, 77; elongated, 65, 162;

wounded, 75 ; three in one, 62.
Thorough-breds, what so termed, 166, 239 ; welMimbed, 249 ;

objections to, answered, 250.
Thorough-pin, 44 ; treatment, 67.
Thrush, 42 ; cure for, 67.
Toe, kept short, its advantages, 5, 20, 35-37, 47.
Tongue, canker of the, 84.

Training horses to their paces, 146 ; its effects, 247 ; is the
finish of all, 147 ; severe, tries the thorough-breds, 236 ;
strains the tendons, 59.

Tread, the natural, how altered, 16, 25.

Tubercles, internal, 102, 161.

Tumour — suppuration promoted, 111 ; cause of strangury, 120;
treatment of, 61-63; the encysted internal, 120; the soft,
83, 88,91,94-96, 102; the critical, 42, 106, 111, 113; on
the knees of dogs, cure for, 62.

268

INDEX.

Turks and barbs, proper getters of racers ? 243-254; varieties
6f, 248.

Turkish horse, how derived, 180; various breeds of, 181;
early importation, ib.; stately, 182; studs carried off by
Russia, 180 ; the real Turk, 208 ; the small and fleet, 247.

Typhus, is a species of plague, 113. — See Fever, malignant.

Vertigo, megrims, &c. cause of, 163 ; remedies, ib.

Vinegar, its virtues, 34, 65, 67 ; always cold, 59, 60.

Unctuous applications to be avoided, 65, 73, 146.

Urinary secretions, thin the blood, 164.

Urine proper for weak hoof, 37 ; stoppage of the, 120.

Wall of the foot, when first named so, 7.

Whirlbone, lameness, how? 65; mistaken treatment, 66; the
right, ib.

Wind, principles of the, 234, 236; of deep-chested horses,
235 ; of broken-wind after fever, 102 ; good, necessary to
racing, 213 ; powers derived from it, 234.

Windgalls, how occasioned, 10, 42, 44 ; cure for, 61.

Worms, cause of, 135 ; occasion delirium, 98 ; and other
diseases, 99 ; recipe for killing, 145 ; mistakes concerning,
160 ; bitters, the operation of, 136 ; natural history of their
re-generation, 137-144 ; obstruct the healthy motion of
the bowels, 140.

Wounds, general treatment of, 70-80 ; of incised, 78 ; divided
artery, 73 ; of tendon, 75 ; punctured, 77 ; lacerations, 79;
treatment, 80.

Yellows, the, of two sorts, 113; treatment of the real, 114.
THE END.

Shortly will be published, Price Half-a- Crown,
RULES FOR BAD HORSEMEN;

And Hints to the Inexpert ; with Something worth knowing
by all Equestrians.
By CHARLES THOMPSON, Esq.
Fourth Edition, with golden Additions, by the Editor of
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MARCHANT, PRINTER, INGRAM-COURT.