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1 
 
 AN IMPROVED SYSTEM 
 
 Educating the J^orse, 
 
 AS TAUGHT 15 Y 
 
 R. M. GILBERT, M. D., 
 
 EMBRACING TREATISES o.\ 
 
 The Diseases of Man, the Horse, Cattle, 
 Their Treatment, &c. 
 
 with 
 
 tm.s» ~€~«» JTs»»« jl»m «>>■*». 
 
 | W. HAYNES, - Gen. Traveling Agent. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. W. BOWEN, ! 
 
 i McARTHUR, OHIO: i 
 
 } I To "Whom All Orders Should Be Addressed. If 
 
 1875. 
 
AN IMPROVED SYSTEM 
 
 Educating The Horse, 
 
 AS TAUGHT BY 
 
 y 
 
 R. M. GILBERT, M. D„ 
 
 EMBRACING TREATISES ON 
 
 THE DISE4SES OF MAN, THE HORSE, 
 CATTLE, THEIR TREATMENT, &c. 
 
 WITH 
 
 DIRECTIONS TO FARRIERS. 
 
 Wesley Haynes, General Traveling' Ageut. 
 
 ~— 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. W. BOWEN, 
 MC ARTHUR, OHIO: 
 
 To Whom All Orders Should Be Addressed. 
 1875. 
 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress ia the year 1875, 
 
 By J. W . BO WEN, 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 
J£» .»«. JE JF -i«L GS? «* JfcC^W. 
 
 The author or this work feas endeavored to give the reader correct 
 idea3 of the nature and treatment of diseases occurring in that 
 faithful servant and noble animal— the horse. It is intended to sup- 
 ply the wants of that class of agriculturists and horsemen— and 
 their name is legiou— who are in favor of a more sanative and 
 rational system of medication than that recommended in many works 
 on farriery Such individuals, in consequence of the scarcity of 
 competent veterinary surgeons, are compelled to treat their own 
 horses; and this work is intended to be to them, in the hour of need, 
 one that will enable them to restore the sick and cure the lame. 
 
 The author has aimed to be brief, yet practical, and has selected 
 eclectively, from the Materia Medica, those agents which his own 
 experience, during a professional career of twelve years in the 
 vicinity of Philadelphia, and three years a veterinary surgeon in 
 the U. S. army, have proved to be the most efficacious in curing dis- 
 eases and lameness, so far as medicine is capable of accomplishing 
 these objects; for it is a well known fact that medicine unaided by 
 nature in the silent operation of the life forces, is, in most cases, 
 positively useless. Some knowledge o£the law of physiology, as it 
 applies to brute bodies, is indispensible for the successful treatment 
 of diseases, and all who practice the veterinary art should study that 
 law, not only in view of practicing understanding^, but for the 
 more important purpose of preventing many thousands of unneces- 
 sary cases of disease and premature deaths that are annually occur- 
 ring among all classes of live stock; for many diseases and prema- 
 ture deaths follow encroachments on the sanative laws of life. The 
 more a man knows of physiology, the less faith he has in medicine. 
 He resorts to our great catholicon, nature. Animals, if left to them- 
 selves, invariably do the*sgme thing. They seek rest and_some sim- 
 ple agent, which their own instinct points out as the Balm of Gilead, 
 and they almost invariably recover, except when about running 
 their last race. The province of the physician is to know when to 
 withhold medicine; for many diseases are self-limited, and would, if 
 the patient were placed in favorable circumstances, run through 
 their various grade? up tu a healthy termination without the use of 
 some of the trash strled medicine. 
 
Those who wish to practice according to the principles laid down 
 in this work must learn to exercise patience and practice rational 
 expectancy. Nature performs all her operations in a series of slow- 
 ami gradual changes, an d any attempts to hurry her can only he 
 accomplished at the expense of vital principle. The reader will 
 perceive that the therapeutics are selected with an eye single 
 to their innoxious qualities — not "calculated, like some horse medi- 
 cines, to make a well horse sick, but for the very reverse of it. 
 
 Health, however, must not be supposed to exist in drugs and 
 physic halls The sick animal must be transferred within the ram- 
 parts of the science of life, the means for accomplishing which are 
 comprehended in a strict system of hygiene, and without which 
 medicines may as well he thrown to the dogs, as given to a horse. 
 The author considers it due to himself to state that he still adheres 
 to those opinions promulgated in former works, regarding the vile 
 practice of blood-letting and the use of agents that are known to 
 depress the vital principles; and his aim is and ever will lie, so long- 
 as he has the power to substitute sanative medication for tliat which 
 experience has proved destructive; and to advocate the cause of 
 those denied the power of speech— unable to plead their own cause 
 If there is credit following the labor of the author in the cause of 
 reform he declines to receive it, for it is the property of the profes- 
 sion at large. He is indebted to physicians of all ages and sects for 
 many suggestions and facts that have illuminated his professional 
 path, and he has no desire to see laurels placed on the wrong brow. 
 
 Some change has, however, taten place in the author's views re- 
 garding the several medical sects. He was formerly somewhat of a 
 specialist— wedded to one particular system of practice. He now 
 practices without regard to sect— eolectively— selecting from the 
 various systems those means and agents best calculated to aid, foster 
 and perpetuate the physiological state without regard to their ori- 
 gin or kind, or whether they be mineral or vegetable, reserving to 
 himself the right to reject every process and agent which militates 
 against the saiiatary forces of the body. 
 
 It is generally customary among authors, when sending forth a 
 book, to write some sort of an introduction. I propose for once to 
 deviate from the general custom, and therefore launch this book 
 into the great ocean of literature without any sort of introduction, 
 preferring to let it carve its own way to pubiie patronage on its 
 merits alone. R. M GILBERT, M. D. 
 
The Symptoms and Cures of Different Diseases 
 of the Horse, 
 
 Weak or Inflamed Eyes. 
 
 Bleed in the junction of the eye vein; then run a 
 seton in two inches below the eye, and anoint the 
 tapis twice a day with equal parts of turpentine and 
 tincture of cantharides, for fifteen or twenty days, 
 and use the following eye wash: 
 
 Eye "Wash. 
 
 Sugar of lead, sulphate of zinc, blue vitriol, alum, 
 and salt, of each one drachm, two ounces epsom salts, 
 put all in one quart of soft water, and wash the eyes 
 twice a day until cured. This is very good for man 
 or beast. 
 
 Eye Salve. 
 
 Take one nutmeg and grate it very fine; mix with 
 one large table-spoonful of hog's lard, and grease in 
 the hollow above the eyes twice a day; this will 
 clear them up in ten or twelve days. 
 
 To Cure Founder. 
 
 When you find your horse is foundered, take gun- 
 powder, soft soap, and soot from a chimney, of each 
 one table-spoonful; make in a pill with flour and 
 give at one dose; this will cure in three hours, if 
 given immediately. In fifteen minutes after give one 
 quart of hog's lard; ride till warm. 
 
 Scours in Horses and Cattle- 
 Feed tormentil or septfoil one ounce three times a 
 day, or burn beef bones so that you can powder them, 
 and feed one table-spoonful three times a day in dry 
 feed. This never fails, if given in time. 
 
Lung Fever. 
 
 Symptoms -The horse is taken with a chili; then 
 breaks out in a cold, clammy sweat, holds down his 
 head, never offers to lay down, stands wide in front, 
 and groans when he is made to move: his legs and 
 ears are deadly cold, caused by letting him stand in 
 some cold place, or giving him too much cold water 
 when warm. To cure — First ascertain the stage of 
 the pulse, which beats from thirty-six to forty-two 
 per minute in a sound horse; bleed till his pulse be- 
 comes natural; then blister around the breast and 
 chest with the liquid blister; then take tincture aco- 
 nite, spirits nitre, and laudanum, of each one ounce; 
 add to it one gallon of spring water; let him drink 
 one pint of it every two hours; rub and foment his 
 legs with alcohol, camphor and red pepper till they 
 get warm; give him water to drink that slippery elm 
 bark has been boiled in, or hay tea with plenty of 
 gum Arabic in it; open his bowels moderately with 
 salts and linseed oil; never give aloes in case of lung 
 fever. Keep on with the above and your horse will 
 be cured if taken in time. 
 
 Ringbone, Spavin, Curb Spiint, and Windgalls. 
 
 To cure — Take oil origanum, tincture iodine, oil 
 stone, tincture camphor, spirits turpentine, tincture 
 cantharides, corrosive sublimate, oil cedar, croton oil, 
 gum euphoribum, of each one ounce; mix with ten 
 ounces hog's lard; then cut off the hair the size of 
 the lump; then use the ointment lightly once a day 
 for three days; then leave off for three days, and 
 grease with castor oil to preserve the roots of the 
 hair; then wash clean with soap and water; then use 
 as before, and so on for twenty-four days, and your 
 horse will be cured of his lameness in all cases, and 
 will remove the lumps if not united to the general 
 bone. It is also good for stocked ankles or milch leg. 
 
 Tetanus or Lock Jaw. 
 
 This is spasms of the muscles of the jaws and 
 spinal column. To cure — Bleed moderately and rub 
 
the jaws and spinal column thoroughly with chloro- 
 form. This will cure in first stages. If this should 
 fail, split the end of the tail and cut out the first cau- 
 dal vertebra?, or tail bone, and this will cure any case 
 in three hours. 
 
 To Cure Corns on Persons' Feet. 
 
 Pare off the hard part of the corns; then use car- 
 bolic acid on them twice a day for five days; then 
 let them go, and in ten days they will come out and 
 be cured without any pain. 
 
 For Big Head. 
 
 Feed one table-spoonful of Curtis' Horse Powders 
 once a day, and one table-spoonful of strommonium 
 seed once a day, the one in the morning, the other in 
 the evening; and use the general liniment twice a day 
 on each side of the head. This has never failed to 
 cure if given in time. 
 
 To Make Green Ointment. 
 
 Take rosin the size of a hen's egg, melt in a vessel 
 over a slow fire; then put in the same quantity of 
 beeswax; when this is dissolved, add one-half pound 
 of hog's lard; when this is melted, put in two ounces 
 of honey; when this is melted, add one-half pound 
 spirits turpentine, but fine white pitch is far better, 
 if it can be obtained. Keep it gently boiling, stirring 
 with a stick all the time till melted; then takeoff 
 the fire and add two ounces verdigris; stir it right 
 well; then put back on the fire and give a few bub- 
 bles; then take ofl" and strain through a fine seive. 
 It is then fit for use. This will cure cancers, scrofu- 
 lous sores, chronic ulcers, ou man or beast. 
 
 To Make a Horse Appear as if Poisoned. 
 
 Take a tallow candle and rub his gums and teeth 
 right well with it, and he will refuse the best of feed 
 or drink until he would starve, unless removed. To 
 cure— Take fine charcoal, water, soap, and. a brush, 
 and give bis teeth and gums a good brushing, and he 
 will be cured, 
 
Rheumatic Pain. Cramp and String Halt. 
 
 Take equal parts of dog's grease and turpentine, 
 rub the leg affected twice a day, from the hoof to his 
 body, and heat it in with a hot iron. This will cure 
 cramp or rheumatic pains in fifteen days. For string 
 halt, you take dog's grease alone, nil) the leg twice a 
 day, and heat it with a hot iron. Let the horse 
 stand quiet. This will cure any case in fifteen days. 
 
 To Make a Horse Lame. 
 
 Take a hair out of the mane or tail; thread in a 
 darning needle; pick up his fore leg and run the 
 needle through the center of the large tendon, half 
 way between the knee and fetlock joint; cut off the 
 hair the same length as the hair on his leg on 
 each side, and in ten minutes he will lose the use of 
 his leg entirely. To cure — Take a pair of pincers 
 and pull out the hair, rub with liniment, and in ten 
 minutes he wiil be well. 
 
 Water Farey. 
 
 This is a swelling along under the chest, and for- 
 ward to the breast. Bleed, rowel in the breast, and 
 all along the swelling, six inches apart, apply the 
 geueral liniment, move the rowels every day, let them 
 stay in until the swelling goes down. Give soft food, 
 mashes, with the cleansing powder in it. This is 
 dropsj'. Many causes for it. See Youatt' work on it. 
 
 Hoof Liquid. 
 
 For tender feet, hoof-bound, etc., linseed or neats 
 foot oil, one-half pint of either, four ounces turpen- 
 tiue, six ounces oil of tar, three ounces origanum; 
 shake this well and apply it as the directions for the 
 ointment tells. This is the best if the horse has been 
 lame long — it penetrates the hoof sooner than the 
 ointment, Both of them should be applied at night, 
 so the horse can go to work in the morning. He 
 need not lose one day's work. Hoof Evil or Thrush 
 Grease. 
 
 Stiff Shoulders or Sweeny. 
 
 Produce a counter irritation by making an incision 
 
[9.] 
 
 about live inches from the wethers down on the shoul- 
 der blade; then take hold of the skin on either side 
 of the incision with the forefinger and thumb of each 
 hand and draw outward, and by so doing the air is 
 forced in: then rub and force the air all round the 
 shoulder blade from top to bottom, and this will cure 
 any case of sweeny, let it be of what stage it may. 
 
 Hoof Bound or Tender Feet. 
 
 Cause of this is fever in the feet, founder or 
 travel The symptoms are hot feet and a drawing 
 in one inch from the top of the feet, at the heel; al- 
 ways have the feet spread at the heel, but not rasped 
 above the nail holes, for it will do the foot an injury. 
 Follow the directions given here. Use either tne 
 hoof ointment or the hoof liquid; apply it according 
 to the printed directions. For hoof bound or tender 
 feet, apply it all around the top of the hoof down one 
 inch every third day. If for split hoof, apply it every 
 day. First have a stiff shoe on the foot, and cleanse 
 the cut or crack. Never cut or burn for it. 
 
 Cracked Heels. 
 
 Cause of this is over feed and want of exercise, or 
 standing in a filthy stable. Symptoms well known 
 _a discharge of offensive matter from the frog of the 
 foot or round the top of the foot; often the frog ot 
 the foot will come out; then you must put a stitl 
 shoe on the foot to keep it from contracting. 1 o cure 
 —Bleed and physic, and poultice the foot with boiled 
 turnips and some fine ground charcoal; this must be 
 done every night for two or three nights; then wash 
 the foot clean with castile soap and soft water, and 
 apply the blue ointment every day; keep the horse on 
 a clean floor and he will be well in twelve days. 
 
 Worms. 
 
 Symptoms -The horse eats, but will not thrive; 
 his belly gets big; his hair stays. To cure—Give 
 one quart of strong tea made of wormwood, at night, 
 the next day give seven grains of calomel, make it 
 
into * ball and give it, give no cold water for forty 
 eight hours, make it milk warm; give him two or 
 three bran mashes, and some of the cleansing powder, 
 if he shows any more symptoms repeat the dose in 
 three weeks. This will never fail, 
 
 MagriiiN or Dumbness. 
 
 The diseaae makes its appearance in different 
 forms; frequently it is noticed by the dullness of the 
 horse in driving, and the inclination to leave the 
 road or bear upon one rein, and incline to sleep while 
 standing; and again he appears to have lost all feel- 
 ing, pays no attention to the whip, and will go to 
 sleep with the mouth full of feed. In other instances 
 the horse is taken with jerking of the head up and 
 down, and will run back and fall down, lay a few 
 minutes, and then get up and go on. This is called 
 fits by some, but it is the same disease, and by 
 another form, caused frequently by high feeding and 
 want, of exercise; this is by too large quantities of 
 blood pasfing to the brain. It is supposed by some 
 to be dropsy of the brain, but this is not the fact. 
 Cure — Doubtful in all cases. Treatment for the dumb 
 horse: Bleed and physic, give regular exercise, keep 
 in a cool stable, reduce his flesh by taking strong 
 feed from him, and give him fodder and blades of 
 corn; for the dumb horse, give him one half ounce of 
 tincture of assafcetida every day for one week, and 
 then tie the gum, open the bits and wear it on them 
 all the time; the same is proper in all forms of this 
 disease. Horses in Southern States are subject to 
 this disease; they call it sunstroke. It is wrong to 
 keep horses in hot cellar stables without their being 
 well ventilated. The stable should be kept clean and 
 lime applied upon the floor every twelve days. The 
 ammonia rising from the filthy stable is bad for this 
 and all other diseases. 
 
 To Cure any Stage of Founder. 
 
 Bleed in the plate vein between the wart and knee 
 on the insi de of the fore leg, after which produce a 
 
[11.] 
 
 counter irritation as recommended for sweeny, and 
 then make an incision at the lower part of the shoul- 
 der blaile and force a catheter or goose quill in 
 blow it full of air and force it down to the hoof, after 
 which have the toe of the foot cut down until it 
 bleeds, but have none cut off the heel. Shoe the 
 horse with a spring heel shoe. 
 
 Hoof Ointment 
 
 Take rosin four ounces, beeswax six ounces, lard 
 one pound, melt together, pour it into a pot with three 
 ounces turpentine, two ounces verdigris, and one 
 pound tallow; stir it until it gets cool. This is one 
 of the best medicines for the hoof ever used. Follow 
 directions. 
 
 Distemper. 
 
 Symptoms — Swelling under the laws and inability 
 to swallow. To cure — Bleed two gallons and physic: 
 then, if a tumor is found under the jaws, open it; if 
 not, apply the general liniment to the swelling, or 
 white ointment; make it break on the outside if pos- 
 sible, then give of the cleansing powder for ten or 
 twelve days in mashes. Turn him out if you can get 
 pasture. 
 
 Sore Mouth or Tongue. 
 
 Symptoms — The mouth runs water, the horse 
 scoods or throws his hay out of his mouth. The 
 cause of this is often from frosty bits being put into 
 his mouth, or by eating poisonous weeds. To cure — 
 Take three drachms borax, two drachms sugar of 
 lead, one-half ounce alum, one pint vinegar, one pint 
 sage tea; shake all well together, and wash the mouth 
 every morning. Give no hay for twelve days. 
 
 Mange and Surfeit. 
 
 Caused by running out in wet weather, over driv- 
 ing, and poor cleaning. Symptoms — The horse rubs, 
 and is itchy all over, broken out in scabs. To cure — 
 bleed and physic, then take one-half pound sulphur, 
 one pound lard, mix well, grease the parts affected 
 every three or four days, stand the horse in the sun 
 
[12.] 
 
 until all dries in, and give him a few doses of the 
 cleansing powder. 
 
 Founder in First Stage 
 
 Symptoms — The horse is stiff, his feet hot, and 
 often trembles; very thirsty. To cure — Bleed from 
 the plate veins until it stops itself, or until he falls, 
 then give the following: one-half ounce aloes, four 
 drachms gamboge, one-half ounce oil sassafras, make 
 this into a pill, and give him all the sassafras tea he 
 will drink, turn up his feet and fill them full of boil- 
 ing hot lard, bathe his legs in hot water and rub 
 them well. This always cures in forty-eight hours. 
 
 Fresh Wounds. 
 
 First stop the blood by tying the arteries, or by 
 applying the following wash : four grains nitrate sil- 
 ver, one ounce soft water; wet the wound with this, 
 and then draw the edges together by stitches one 
 inch apart, then wash clean, and, if any swelling in 
 twenty-four hours, bleed and apply the blue oint- 
 ment, or any of the liniments spoken of. Keep the 
 bowels open. 
 
 Diseases of Liver or Yellow Water. 
 
 Symptoms — The eyes run and turn yellow, the bars 
 of the mouth the same, the hair and mane get loose, 
 and he often gets lame in the right shoulder, and 
 very costive. To cure — Give the following ball every 
 morning until it operates on the bowels: seven 
 drachms aloes, one drachm calomel, four drachms 
 ginger, molasses enough to make it into a ball, wrap 
 it in paper and give it; give scalded bran and oats — 
 grass if it can be had. When his bowels have moved, 
 stop the physic and give him one ounce of spirits of 
 camphor in a pint of water every morning for twelve 
 days, rowel in the breast and give a few doses of 
 cleansing powder. Turn him out. 
 
 Physic Ball. 
 
 One-half ounce aloes, four drachms gamboge, twenty 
 drops oil juniper; make into a pill with a few drops 
 
[13.] 
 
 of molasses, wrap it in thin paper and grease it, draw 
 out the tongue with the left hand, place a gag in the 
 mouth, and run the pill back with the right hand 
 until it drops off; let the head down and give a sup 
 of water. First prepare the horse by giving one or 
 two mashes. 
 
 Diseases of the Kidneys. 
 
 Caused by feeding dirty and musty grain. To 
 cure — Blister over the kidneys and give the following 
 pills every day: one ounce juniper berries ground 
 fine, two ounces flour, make into a stiff paste, divide 
 into seven pills, give one every night; then use the 
 cleansing powder every day. If the horse has trouble 
 to get up when lie la}^s down, swing him up for two 
 weeks; give no food out that which is clean; this is 
 half the cure. Do not work or ride him. 
 
 For Rheumatism. 
 
 Take one-half pint alcohol, one-half ounce oil ori- 
 ganum, oue-half ounce gum myrrh, one teaspoonful 
 lobelia, and let all stand over night; then bathe the 
 part affected. This is the best medicine I ever saw. 
 I paid five dollars for the receipt. 
 
 Black Liniment. 
 
 This is good to apply to poll evil — fistula. Take 
 of linseed oil one-half pint, tincture of iodine four 
 ounces, turpentine four ounces, oil origanum one 
 ounce; shake and apply it every day; rub it in well 
 with your hand; wash the part clean with soap and 
 water before applying it. Good on any swelling. 
 
 Croggy Knees. 
 
 The cause of this is sprains or over driving, or be- 
 having long high toes and no heels on the shoes. 
 This can be cured in the first stages, but if of long 
 standing there is no cure. To cure — Have shoes 
 made thin at the toe and high at the heel. Take one- 
 half pint linseed oil, four ounces alcohol, one ounce 
 spirits camphor, two ounces laudanum; shake and 
 apply to back part of legs; rub it in well every four 
 
days; still increase the thickness of the shoe at the 
 toe. 
 
 Secret for Subduing tli» Hors>. 
 
 Take oil of rhodium and oil or cummin, of each 
 
 equal part:-, mix aud wet a sponge with it, and ap- 
 proach the horse and squeeze some of it on his 
 tongue, and the horse is your servant, and you can do 
 with him as you wish. 
 
 Greasy Heels or Chronic Scratches. 
 
 Take three quarts strong lye, four ounces white 
 oak bark, one-half ounce sulphate of zinc, one-half 
 ounce blue vitriol, two handfuls of laurel leaves, one 
 ounce sugar of Lead, one handful of common salt, 
 boil all together for thirty minutes; it is then tit for 
 use. Apply twice a day till cured. 
 
 Colic. 
 
 Symptoms — The horse lays down and gets up 
 often, and looks at his flanks. His ears and legs are 
 cold. The cause of this is cold water and change of 
 food, and an over quantity of acid in the stomach. 
 To rare — Take one-half ounce laudanum, one ounce 
 sulphur ether, one pint milk warm water; drench, 
 and if not better in forty or fifty minutes, bleed and 
 repeat the drench. Don't move the horse while sick. 
 
 How to Fatten the Poorest Hjrse. 
 
 Take three drachms nitric acid, two ounces salara- 
 tus, three ounces saltpeter, three ounces black anti- 
 mony, three ounces assafoetida; mix and give one 
 tablespoonful in every mess. This will fatten the 
 poorest horse that lives in two weeks. 
 
 How to Make Blue OiMtmeut. 
 
 Take four ounces ointment of rosin, one-half ounce 
 finely ground verdigris, two ounces turpentine, two 
 pounds mutton tallow, one-half ounce oil origanum, 
 one-half ounce tincture iodine; mix all well. This 
 is one of the best medicines that can be made for 
 scratches, hoof evil, and cuts, and is good to apply 
 on fistula after the rowels are taken out. 
 
lttOnuiatiou of the Bowels. 
 
 Cause — Large quantities of water when overheated; 
 sudden change from warm to cold atmosphere; 
 plunging the horse when hot into cold water; high 
 fed horses are most subject to this disease. Reme 
 dies — Bleed one-half gallon from the neck, and give 
 the following: two pints gruel, one ounce prepared 
 chalk, four ounces catechu, three scruples opium. 
 The above should be repeated every six hours until 
 the purging ceases. The horse must be kept clothed 
 and well rubbed. If there is much tenderness in the 
 bowels, by the pressure of the hands, it will be prop- 
 er to apply the liquid blisters over the bowels. 
 
 How to Make White Ointment. 
 
 For rheumatism, sprains, burns, swellings, bruises, 
 or inflamation of man or beast, chapped hands or lips, 
 black eyes, or any kind of bruises. Take two pounds 
 fresh butter, one ounce tincture iodine, two ounces 
 oil origanum; mix this well for fifteen minutes and 
 it is fit for use. Apply it every night; rub it in well 
 with the hands; if for the human flesh, lay on warm 
 flannel. 
 
 Big: or Milk L,eg. 
 
 This is brought on b\ r a hurt, a want of action in 
 the absorbent system ; it is dropsy of the muscle of 
 the leg. To cure — Apply the liquid blister every 
 three or four hours until it blisters; then in six 
 hours grease it with soft oil of any kind; then in 
 eight days wash the part clean and apply it again; 
 repeat it three or four times, then use the iodine 
 ointment. If this does not remove it all, apply the 
 spavin medicine; this will remove it. 
 
 Broken Knees. 
 
 This is caused by the horse falling on his knees. 
 First cleanse the part of all gravel and dirt, then 
 wash it. Take two gills alcohol, one-half ounce ar- 
 nica, tie the knees up in coarse linen, and if they 
 swell in twenty-four hours, bleed and keep the bowels 
 open with mashes, and then apply the blue or iodine 
 
[16.] 
 
 ointment every other day. Do not use the horse 
 until he is perfectly well, or it may cause the knee 
 to break out again. 
 
 Lampers. 
 
 All young horses are liable to this trouble. It is" 
 nothing but inflamation of the gums. To cure — 
 Bleed or scarify the gums, but never burn, for it 
 spoils the teeth and adds to the cause of the disease. 
 Give the bran mash, rub the gums with salt, and use 
 the cleansing powders. 
 
 Liquid Blister. 
 
 Take one-half pint alcohol, one-half pint turpen- 
 tine, four ounces aqua ammonia, one ounce oil ori- 
 ganum; apply this as spoken of every three hours 
 until it blisters. Do not repeat oftener than ouce in 
 eight days, or seven at least, or it will kill the hair. 
 
 How to Cure Corns. 
 
 Take off the shoe, cut out the corns, and drop in a 
 few drops of muriatic acid; then make the shoes so 
 that they will not bear upon the parts affected. Ap- 
 ply the hoof liquid to the hoof, to remove the fever. 
 This is a sure treatment. I never knew it to fail. 
 
 General Liniment. 
 
 One-half pint turpentine, one-half pint linseed oil, 
 four ounces aqua ammonia, one ounce tincture iodine; 
 shake it all well. This is used for different recipes, 
 sores, swellings, sprains, etc. 
 
 Receipt for lace on any Animal. 
 
 Take four ounces coculus indicus, and boil for 
 thirty minutes in two quarts of vinegar; then wash 
 or rub the animal all over where the lice or nits are 
 and they will all be dead in one hour. 
 
 How to Make the Magic Liniment. 
 
 Two ounces oil spike, one ounce oil origanum, two 
 ounces spirits turpentine, three ounces sweet oil, two 
 ounces spirits wine, one-half ounce tincture Spanish 
 fly, one ounce spirits hartshorn; put in a bottle and 
 shake, and apply to all strains, sprains and bruises. 
 
[17.] 
 Sprain of the Stifle* 
 
 Symptoms — The horse holds up his foot, moans 
 when moved, swells in the stifle. This is what is 
 called stifling. There is no such thing as this joint 
 getting out of place. Cure — Foment the stifle with 
 hot water; rub it dry; then bathe it well with the 
 general liniment every morning and night. Give 
 him a mash and he will be well. Never allow any 
 stifle shoe, but fasten a strip above the hook joint of 
 the well leg to keep the lame leg in position. 
 To Remove Wart*. 
 
 Take one ounce nitric acid, one ounce muriatic acid, 
 one-half stick nitrate of silver; put all into a bottle 
 and let it stand for twenty-four hours; then cork for 
 use. Put on twice a day till the warts disappear. 
 For the Heaves. 
 
 Four ounces land plaster, four ounces tartar emet- 
 ic, four ounces ginger, four ounces alum, four ounces, 
 blue vitriol, four ounces Spanish brown; mix and 
 feed one table-spoonful once a day on chop or mash 
 feed. Dampen all the feed the horse eats. 
 Contractions of Tendons of Neck. 
 
 Symptoms — The head is often drawn around to 
 one side; again, the horse can not get his head to 
 the ground. The cause is spraining the horse, and 
 rheumatism produces the contraction. Cure— If it 
 is taken in the first stages, bleed from the neck two 
 gallons, then foment or bathe the part well with hot 
 water, rub it dry and take the general liniment and 
 apply it two or three times every day. This will 
 cure if it is of long standing. Then blister with the 
 liquid blister all along the part affected. Do this 
 every three weeks untjLJ he is well, and rub with the 
 white liniment. 
 
 Johnson's Liniment. 
 
 Take one ounce oil origanum, one-half pint alcohol, 
 one : half ounce oil cedar, eight ounces olive oil, one- 
 half ounce oil cloves, one-half ounce turpentine and 
 
[18.] 
 
 shake together well. This is used for allmost all 
 complaints of the muscles. 
 
 For Cleansing J lie Blood of tbe Horse. 
 
 Bleed the horse through the nostrils, after which 
 use the following purgative: Six drachms ball of 
 Barbadoes aloes, two drachms pulverized ginger, one 
 drachm pulverized gentian root. Twenty-four hours 
 after give one of the following powders twice a day 
 in his mess: One ounce black antimony, one and 
 one-half ounces saltpeter, two ounces flour of sul- 
 phur, mix and divide into eight powders. 
 For Scratches, <Vc. 
 
 Wash well the parts affected with a solution of 
 castile soap suds, after which use the following: One 
 pound white lead, one ounce castor oil, one ounce 
 pulverized alum, mix well and apply upon the parts 
 affected. 
 
 To Temper Mill and Other Kinds of Picks. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate, prussiate of potash, salamo- 
 niac, alum and saltpeter, of each two ounces, put all 
 in two gallons of water until dissolved, then heat 
 your steel to a cherry red as far up as you wish it 
 hardened and then plunge it in; draw no temper, 
 let it la}' until cold and it will be hard and tough. 
 
 How to Make a Horse Blind. 
 
 Take common flaxseed and chew it fine in your 
 mouth; then blow your breath in the eye two or 
 three times, and in ten minutes there will be a white 
 scum over it. To cure it take a silk handkerchief, 
 wrap it around your fingers, dip it in fresh water, 
 draw it over the eye and part the scum, and it will 
 go off in ten minutes. 
 
 To Make a Horse Appear as if Glandered. 
 
 Take six ounces unsalted butter, one ounce tinct- 
 ure assafcetida, mix and put the half in each ear at 
 night, and the next morning he will run and smell 
 worse than any glandered horse you ever saw. It 
 will cure itself soon if left alone. 
 
[4*9.1 
 Hoof Ail in Sheep. 
 
 Muriatic acid and butter of antimony, of each two 
 
 ounces, one ounce pulverized white vitriol, mix, lift 
 
 up the foot and drop a little upon the hoof twice a 
 
 week. It kills the old hoof and a new one soon grows. 
 
 Hots. 
 
 The bot has been a mystery, until late years, with 
 the best men that ever wrote upon the horse. I am 
 asked almost daily, by horsemen or farmers, "Is a 
 colt foaled with bots; or is it necessary for a horse 
 to have bots?" Certainly it is necessary for a horse 
 to have bots; and he could not live very long without 
 them; they are a part of the horse. They aid and 
 assist the digestion of the food in the stomach. A 
 colt is foaled with a certain quantity of red bots, 
 which adhere to the coating of the stomach, and are 
 natural for a horse to have to preserve health. They 
 never let go to take hold of any strong poisonous or 
 sweet medicine you may pour down his throat. They 
 live upon the gastric juice and mucous of the stom- 
 ach, and are a substitute for the gall-bladder upon 
 a horse's liver, a horse having no gall-bladder upon 
 his liver as other animals have. But a horse has a 
 gall duct through the center of his liver, which serves 
 to convey the gall bile to the intestines to assist the 
 digestion of the food. 
 
 But there is another bot which originates from a 
 species of gadfly that you see in the fall of the year 
 busily engaged depositing their nits upon the legs, 
 shoulders and under jaws of the horse. While rub- 
 bing their jaws about the trough, or rubbing their 
 legs with their teeth, they get those nits in their 
 mouth and among their food, and they are conveyed 
 with the food to the stomach and there hatched out, 
 and adhere to the inner coating of the stomach. This 
 is a yellow bot which forms the internal army which 
 is always contriving a plan to destroy the horse. 
 
 Yellow bots will certainly kill a horse in three 
 ways: the horse will get an over quantity of them, 
 
and they will get up in the cardiac orifice, produce a 
 stoppage, and choke the horse to death; then again 
 they will get down in the pyloric orifice, produce a 
 stoppage, and the horse is perhaps taken with flatu- 
 lent colic, and they kill him in that way; then again 
 they may perforate the stomach, and kill him in that 
 way. But they hare always got something to con- 
 tend with before they will injure the animal. A 
 sound horse was never injured by a bot as long as he 
 eats his food regularly three times a day. His 
 stomach is sweet and his whole sj'stem in good order; 
 they have then plenty of food to live upon without 
 injuring the horse. 
 
 But the horse has the smallest stomach of any 
 animal of his size living, consequently the food is not 
 long retained in the stomach, but is converted into 
 chyle, passes through the pyloric orifice, and enters 
 the duodenum; there it receives the secretion of the 
 excretory duct of the pancreas, the gall-bile from the 
 liver, and is converted into chyle, passes off into the 
 large and small intestines, and is principally digested 
 there. Therefore, if you hitch up your horse in the, 
 morning and work him hard all day long, and omit 
 feeding him at noon (when he is regularly accustom- 
 ed to having his food three times a day,) or in the 
 afternoon, or towards evening, his stomach becomes 
 very empty, and those bots are liable to let go at any 
 moment and go to work upon the inner coating of 
 the stomach. 
 
 Then again there maj r be some disease approach- 
 ing or gnawing upon the animal's system; he loses 
 his appetite and eats but little; you begin to wonder 
 what is the matter with 3'our horse. Just as soon as 
 he loses his appetite, his stomach becomes sour, and 
 then we call it a diseased stomach, and the bots are 
 again liable to let go at any moment and go to work 
 upon the coating of the stomach. Just as soon as 
 the disease threatens the life of the horse, it also 
 threatens the life of the bot, and they will try to 
 
[81.1 
 
 make their escape out of the stomach as best they 
 can. You may take Youatt with Prof. Spooner's 
 notes, Dr. Bracken's, Bartlett's, M agee's or Stewart's 
 works, and they are all wild upon the bot; they will 
 tell you that a bot never perforated, or in other 
 words eat through a horse's stomach whilst he lived, 
 and they thus show that they know nothing about it, 
 for while practicing in the army and while traveling 
 through the States, I have seen horses that died with 
 bots that had eaten entirely through the stomach 
 and its contents also, within ten minutes after the 
 death of the horse; and this goes to show that they 
 will certainly eat through the stomach while he lives. 
 
 Now we have tried almost all the strong and pois- 
 onous medicines imaginable to kill the bot, such as 
 nitric acid, sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, strong 
 elixir vitriol, a strong decoction of pink root, strych- 
 nine, arsenic, turpentine, alcohol, and all those medi- 
 cines commonty fatal to vermin, and they will actual- 
 ly live in any of those medicines from one to twenty- 
 four hours, which goes to show that you may pour 
 all the strong medicine you please down a horse and 
 you will kill the horse instead of the bots. 
 
 But we have a vegetable that nearly every farmer 
 grows upon his farm every year, the juice of which 
 will kill a bot in ten seconds, where nitric acid would 
 not kill them in twenty-four hours; not because it is 
 strong or because it is poisonous, but it is a well 
 known fact that when farmers or stock owners 
 get sick horses, the}" will send off for the best horse 
 doctor (so called,) that they have in the country. He 
 comes and examines the animal: he is perhaps not 
 thoroughly posted in anatomy and physiology, or the 
 different symptoms of the different diseases that the 
 horse is subject to, and he is unable to tell what is 
 the matter with the patient; but he knows enough 
 to know that there is something wrong, and about 
 the first thing he will tell you is that your horse has 
 the bots. Certainly he has bots, but the question is, 
 
are the bots afflicting the horse at the time? 1 will 
 teach any boy fourteen years old, who may enter my 
 class, so that he can alwa} r s tell when the bots are at 
 their destructive work. But this man may tell j^ou 
 that your horse has the bots and he is going to kill 
 them, and he will drench him with strong dose after 
 strong dose of medicine; and still the horse is per- 
 haps getting worse all the time. 
 
 When he has given him all he knows, some one 
 else in the crowd knows of a cure and they will give 
 him that; and still they have no relief. Perhaps 
 some one else will say, "That horse acts just as my 
 horse did some time ago, and we gave him so and so 
 and it cured him;" and they will give him that. 
 After a while they will have ten or a dozen strong 
 doses of medicine poured down his throat, and make, 
 as it were, a drug store out of his stomach; and 
 eventuall} 7 the medicine kills the horse instead of 
 the disease. Hundreds and thousands of horses are 
 killed yearly by over doses of strong medicine, ad- 
 ministered by men that don't understand the prop- 
 erties of medicine, or don't understand their busi- 
 ness. Whether it be a veterinary surgeon or a phy- 
 sician who administers a dose of medicine to his 
 patient, he should be able to tell what effect it will 
 produce upon the patient, or he should not adminis- 
 ter the medicine. Now I can give you several pre- 
 scriptions that will afford temporary relief from the 
 bots, when you find your horse is plagued with them. 
 If you will bleed him in the mouth, or take one quart 
 of blood from the neck vein, and give as a drench, 
 some times that will give relief; then again j r ou can 
 give him sweet milk aud molasses; half an hour af- 
 ter you will give strong boiled sage tea or alum 
 water; half an hour after give him a phjsic; the 
 milk and molasses will cause the bots to let go, the 
 sage tea or alum water will shrivel them up; they 
 will lay in a dead or dormant state and the physic 
 will carry them off. 
 
[83.3 
 
 Then again you can turn up his upper lip, rub it 
 with spirit* of turpentine, rub his breast and ehest 
 with turpentine and you maj r relieve him through or 
 by any of those operations in from fifteen to twenty- 
 five minutes; but it is only a temporary relief; those 
 bots still remain in the stomach to take hold at any 
 time that there is a disease gnawing at the vitals of 
 the stomach or that his stomach is empty. But the 
 beauty of the vegetable juice is that you have it in 
 your house the year around; when you find that the 
 bots are working upon your horse, go and get one 
 quart of the juice and give it as a drench, and as 
 soon as it gets to the stomach the bots will let go 
 and suck themselves as full as ticks and the gas that 
 is in the vegetable juice will actually burst them in 
 the stomach. That is the only medicine which we 
 have found, in all the experiments that we have ever 
 tried, that will kill the bots in a horse's stomach 
 without injury to the horse. Next day you will see 
 them pass off with the evacuation of the bowels, not 
 the bot, but the outside skin or shell of the bot; then 
 your horse will not be troubled with them again un- 
 til the next season, when those gad-flies will come 
 back and deposit their nits in the same places above 
 stated; they are again taken with the food into the 
 stomach, hatch out and remain there until the next 
 summer; then "their time has come, they will let go 
 their hold, pass off with the evacuation of the bowels, 
 get in the earth or manure piles, go through some 
 kind of a transformation similar to a silk worm; 
 there they lay in a dead or dormant state from three 
 to five weeks, then they burst their horny shells like 
 a locust and come out in that same gad-fly again, 
 and deposit their nits in the same places as above 
 stated. Thus those unnecessary yellow bots that 
 destroy so many valuable horses, originate from gen- 
 eration to generation. You can prevent those bots 
 by rubbing the nits in the fall of the year with spir- 
 its of turpentine two or three times — it kills them 
 
and they drop off. If you will shore them off in the 
 palm of your hand, spit upon them, and put the 
 palms of your hands together for two minutes, you 
 will have them hatched. If you will take a live bot 
 from the stomach of a horse that has died or been 
 killed and put him in a phial, put a cork in, giving 
 him a little air by cutting a bit out of the cork, then 
 tie a string to the phial and hang it in a warm room, 
 and in twelve or fifteen da} 7 s it will come out a per- 
 fect gad-fly and creep around in the phial; in that way 
 jou can all see where they originate from. 
 Tlie True Symptoms of the Bot. 
 
 When the horse is taken with the bots while in 
 the team, you will frequently see him paw, first with 
 one foot and then with the other, whisk his tail down 
 between his legs, and exhibit other signs of distress, 
 continually shifting from one position to another. 
 If you unhitch him he will lie down, roll over and 
 over, sometimes lying on his side and putting the 
 muscle of his nose around to his side and give signs 
 of pain, and frequently he will turn up his upper lip. 
 If } T ou will examine his mouth you will find the true 
 representation of the mouth of a bot; you will find 
 little pimples upon the inner surface of the lip, which, 
 in a sound horse, or in any other disease, are per- 
 fectly white, but when the horse is plagued with bots 
 they will turn to a purplish red and become enlarged. 
 By those 33- mptoms you will know that it is bots. To 
 cure — Take one quart of the vegetable juice above 
 mentioned, which is common potato juice, obtained 
 by grating them fine or mashing them as best you 
 can, pressing out the juice with which to drench the 
 horse. This will cure any case in twenty-five min- 
 utes, unless they have eaten entirely through the 
 stomach. 
 
 Poll Evil. 
 
 Among all the evils in this world, the poll evil is 
 the greatest. It is brought on by a bruise or stroke 
 of some kind, which produces fever or inflamation of 
 
;«5.j 
 
 the muscles of the poll of the neck; in first stages 
 you will find an enlargement sometimes on one side 
 and sometimes on both sides of the neck, with fever 
 or inflamation. In its first stages, all that is neces 
 sary is to bathe the enlargement twice a day, with 
 any of the liniments that you find in this work, and 
 in a few days you will scatter the swelling and draw 
 all the inflamation out, and your horse will be cured, 
 but if you neglect and let it run on too long, there 
 will eventually grow roots and core or pips in the 
 enlargement. It has been considered by the best 
 authors, until late years, to be incuraole without, 
 stiffening his neck, because they would put strong or 
 poisonous medicine in the orifice or tumor upon the 
 neck, such as corrosive sublimate. Arsenic or acida 
 eat down and injure the ligaments of the joint, and 
 the result was a stiff neck; but we have tried experi- 
 ments upon that disease until we have now got a 
 cure that will never fail in that disease. We first se- 
 cure the horse against danger to ourselves by putting 
 a twitch upon his upper lip and strapping up one fore, 
 leg; than we take a six inch seaton needle, thread it, 
 with a tape one half inch wide, then we run a sea- 
 ton through from the bottom of the enlargement to 
 the top, draw the tape through and tie it, then make 
 the following lotion : take muriate of ammonia 2 
 ounces, spirits of turpentine 6 oz., 4 ounces linseed , 
 oil, 1 ounce oil of tar, 1 ounce corrosive sublimate, 1 
 ounce oil origanum, tincture of iodine 1 ounce, 1 
 ounce croton oil; shake ail well together and anoint 
 the tapes twice a day and draw them through back 
 and forth every time you apply the medicine, and so 
 keep on as long as it runs a thick yellow matter; but 
 as soon as it runs a thin bloody matter and the en- 
 largement is all gone down, then you will cut the tape, 
 draw it out and keep the parts washed clean with cas- 
 tile soap and warm water and use the magic liniment 
 until it is all healed over, and your horse will be cured, 
 sound without spot or blemish and without a stiff 
 
[26.1 
 
 neck. Keep the parts washed clean every day or two 
 while using the medicine, which will hasten the cure 
 and keep the hair from dropping out ; also, use the 
 cleansing powder as directed in the receipt, to cleanse 
 his blood and system thoroughly. 
 
 Fistula.. 
 
 This disease is one and the same as Poll Evil, only 
 & different location gives it a different name. What 
 will cure one will cure the other ; follow strictly the 
 directions of the Poll Evil receipt and you will never 
 fail to cure the Fistula, unless it has passed down be- 
 tween the shoulder blade and the ribs, then it is too 
 deeply seated to apply any medicine to the seat of the 
 disease ; consequently it is then incurable and your 
 horse would be well sold at five dollars. 
 
 Catarrh, Cold or Chronic Cough. 
 
 This disease is brought on through a neglect of dis- 
 temper, taking cold while over- heated, or taking cold 
 while having the distemper. The seat of this disease 
 is in the larynx and works the same upon the horse 
 as the laryngitis does upon a person. If you let it run 
 on it will terminate in nasal gleet, strangles, glanders 
 or the heaves. The air passage is partially closed by 
 phlegm, inflammation or swelling, and you will ob- 
 serve that his throat is very sore and tender; he will 
 have a very bad cough — many times a rattling noise 
 in his throat and nostrils; sometimes a discharge or 
 running at his nose, sometimes a heaving at his flanks. 
 By the muexperienced, this is oftentimes called 
 heaves. Now this kind of heaves are curable. For 
 this disease, we will use the American horse, cattle 
 and hog powders, a receipt for which you will find in 
 this work. Feed as directed in the receipt and in tea 
 or twelve days it will stop all cough ; it will cleanse 
 the air vesicles, tubes or cells from the lobes of the 
 lungs to the pharynx, and cure him sound. Feed it 
 to a horse that has a loss of appetite — it will sweeten 
 his stomach, give him a good appetite and cleanse his 
 blood and system thoroughly. Feed it to a horse that 
 
has got the distemper and you will hardly notice that 
 he has got the disease, and after he is over the disease 
 he is the same horse that he was before you have 
 cleansed his blood and system thoroughly. He has 
 no bad cough left or any discharge from his nostrils. 
 Feed it to a horse that has an unnecessary amount of 
 worms. The symptoms of worms are — he stands and 
 rubs his tail, tucked up bellv, staring coat, hide-bound, 
 looks dull and mopish out of his eyes, eats generally 
 plenty, but hardly ever thrives, the one half of the 
 food that you give that horse, goes to nourish those 
 worms and the other half goes to nourish the body and 
 system of the animal; consequently only one-half of 
 the feed does the horse any good. For worms we 
 feed the powders above named, as directed and in a 
 few day you will see them pass off with the evacua- 
 tions of the bowels, and in a few days they will all 
 pass off. Now in any of those diseases mentioned 
 you will find an entire difference inside of ten days aft- 
 er you feed the powders; don't be afraid to feed them 
 to your mares in foal or your best horses, for there is 
 no pampering medicine in them. The same powders 
 are also the best preparation ever put up, for cattle, 
 when they are out of fix or diseased in any way; such 
 as hollow horn, wolf in the tail, loss of appetite, or a 
 debilitated system from any cause; also, the best 
 powders that have ever been used to keep off hog 
 cholera, or to cure if taken in time; they are also good 
 for sheep and poultry. 
 
 The Aisuloiu) or Osseous Stractnre of the Horse* 
 
 Anatomy explains, if taken in its widest sense, the 
 nature, office, and structure of every part of an ani- 
 mal. Animal anatomy has been appropriately divid- 
 ed, by writers, into three grand dirisioas, theosseous^ 
 the muscular, and the nervous structure of animals. 
 The osseous is that which we shall now treat of: 
 
 All quadrupeds are formed of an earthly base, call- 
 ed bone; and the assemblage of bony parts, is called 
 a skeleton. Bones are composed of earth and lime, 
 
held together by means of gelatin, a kind of glue, se- 
 creted by appropriate vessels. Bones are covered by 
 a thin skin, called the periosteum, which bears the 
 same relation to the bone as the skin to the body, 
 serving as a covering for its surface, and a sheath for 
 the different cavities which enter it. 
 
 Bones are all of them, except very flat ones, more or 
 less hollow; within their caverns an oily fluid is se- 
 created, called marrow or medulla, which serves for 
 their support, and that of the constitution generally. 
 Bones have nerves, blood vessels and absorbents. 
 Bones are capable of reproduction. They are con- 
 nected by articulation, which, when moveable, is 
 termed & joint. In some cases, as in the skull, bones 
 articulate by indentation of the parts, this union is 
 termed a suture. Bones may be classed in the fol- 
 lowing manner : 
 
 1 . Cylindrical bones, as in the fore-arms. 
 
 2. Flat— as in the shoulder-blades. 
 
 3. Irregular,— as the ribs and bones of the skull. 
 
 The}' are further divided into : 
 
 1. Hollow bones, possessing marrow. 
 
 2. Flat— nearly destitute of marrow, if not altogether. 
 
 A skelleton is an assemblage of the osseous, or bony 
 parts of an animal, and is usually divided, when treat- 
 ed of, into: 
 
 I.— The head. 
 II.— The trunk. 
 III.— The exxtremities. 
 
 First Division. — There are, by counting the ten 
 facial pairs as twenty bones, seventy-one bones enter- 
 ing into the composition of the head of the horse, in- 
 cluding forty teeth, the usual number of a horse. The 
 mare has usually four less than the horse. The tush- 
 es are wanting. 
 
 The head may be divided into two parts, the crani- 
 um or skull, and the face. 
 
 The bones which compose the cranium, and which 
 contain and protect the brain, are nine in number. 
 These nine bones are separate in the foal, at an early 
 period of its existence, but soon after birth, they are 
 united by what anatomists call sutures, a kind of dove- 
 
[ a t . j 
 
 tail union, as & cabinet maker would express kimsei£ 
 
 This suture union becomes so firm, that a fracture 
 
 will occur in any other part more readily than over a 
 
 suture. 
 
 Number and Nantes of the Bones of the Cranium. 
 
 The occipital bone, technically called — os occipitis. 
 
 Two frontal bones — ossa frontis. 
 
 Two parietal bones — ossa parietalia. 
 
 Two temporal bones — ossa temporum. 
 
 The sphenoid bone — os sphenoides. 
 
 The ethmoid bone — os ethmoides. 
 
 Description op the Bones of the Cranium. — Tht 
 occipital bone is, of all the cranial bones, the largest, 
 thickest, and most compact, and in the colt, is com- 
 posed of several pieces which uuite b\ r age. It is at 
 the upper, and back part of the head, and articulates 
 with the first cervical or neck vertebral, called the 
 atlas. At its posterior surface it is perforated by a 
 large hole, which gives passage to the spinal marrow. 
 
 The frontal hones constitute the forehead, and be- 
 hind them is lodged the anterior and inferior portion 
 of the brain. A division of their bony surfaces forms 
 two cavities, called the frontal sinuses, which are 
 lined by the nasal membrane throughout. These 
 bones are united by a suture called sagittal suture. 
 
 The parietalia, or wall bones, lie on each side of 
 the head, to which the posterior or lower jaw articu- 
 lates. 
 
 The two temporals, divided into a squamous and pe- 
 trous portion, within which is situated the internal 
 ear. 
 
 The sphenoid bone, in form, writers have generally 
 compared it with a bat — is hollow and irregular, and 
 with the etkiAoides, serves to intersect and attach the 
 others; and also, to assist by their cavities in extend- 
 ing the pituitary, or smelling membrane. It is call- 
 ed ethmoides, or sieve-like, because it is perforated, 
 with many holes/ * Through the numerous orifices. 
 
fine threads of nerves — the olfactories — pass into the 
 nasal cavities, to constitute the sense of smell. 
 
 The bones of the face, or facial bones, are ten pairs 
 and two single hones. 
 
 Number and Names of the Bones of the Face. 
 
 Nasal pair, technically called — ossa nasi. 
 
 Two angular — ossa lachrymalia. 
 
 Two jugal — ossa m alarum. 
 
 Superior maxillary — ossa maxillaria superioria> 
 
 Superior palatines — ossa palatina superioria. 
 
 Inferior palatines — ossa palatina inferioria. 
 
 The pterygoides — ossa pterygoida. 
 
 The anterior turbinated — ossa turbinata anter- 
 ioria. 
 
 The posterior turbinated — ossa turbinata postr- 
 ioria. 
 
 Vomer bone — os vomer. 
 
 Posterior maxillary — os maxillare inferius. 
 
 The hyoid bone — os hyoides. 
 
 Intermaxillary bones — these are wanting in man. 
 
 Description of the bones of the face. — The nasal 
 bones are slender pieces, meeting in the middle, which 
 thus enable the horse to resist hard blows — within 
 their union, they hold the septum narium, or cartil- 
 aginous plate — the vomer, which separates one nostril 
 from another. The bones also greatly assist to ex- 
 tend the surface of the smelling organ. The fossa or 
 cavities within these bones, are the principal seat of 
 glanders, one of the most formidable diseases to which 
 the horse is subject. 
 
 The two angular bones, or ossa lachiymalia form a 
 considerable portion of the orbits of the eyes, and are 
 of the size of a shilling, or rather larger, having a 
 groove to conduct the tears into the nose. 
 
 The two jugal, malar or cheek bones, occupy also a 
 portion of the orbits. The superior maxillary, or up- 
 per jaw bones, are the largest of the facial bones, and 
 oontain all the upper molar teeth, or grinders. The 
 irrferior. or intermaxillary bones ^xe wanting in man. 
 
131.] 
 
 in whom the face is short — these bones concur with 
 the superior maxillary in forming the alveoli or sock- 
 ets, in which the teeth are deeply and firmly fixed. 
 
 The superior palantines, the inferior palatines, the 
 pterygoids, the two anterior and the two posterior 
 turbinated bones, with the vamer, make up the re- 
 maining facial bones, with the exception of the pos- 
 terior maxillary, which, on its anterior edge, is pierc- 
 ed to lodge the teeth. At the upper part it extends 
 into two angular branches, each of which ends in' two 
 processes and an intermediate groove. This bone, 
 throughout, shows the most admirable mechanism ; the 
 molar or grinding teeth, on which most is dependent, 
 and whose exertions are the greatest, are placed near 
 the centre of motion — and as the upper jaw, in molt 
 animals, is fixed, or nearly so, it was necessary that 
 the lower should have considerable extent of motion, 
 for the purpose of grinding; and it is accordingly so 
 formed as to admit of motion in every direction. 
 
 The os hyoides — shaped much like the capital U — 
 is a bone situated within the head, at the root of the 
 tongue, to which it serves as a support, and for the at- 
 tachment of the muscles. 
 
 The teeth of the horse are the hardest and most 
 compact bones of the body, of all animals. There arc 
 usually forty of them in the horse, and there are thirty- 
 six in the mare. In the latter the tushes are usually 
 wanting. 
 
 Division, names and number of teeth. — They are 
 usually divided into three classes, viz : 
 
 1. Nippers— Incisores, twelve of them. 
 
 2. Tushes— Cu/ipidati, four. 
 
 3. Grinders— Molares, twenty-four— which numbers are equally 
 divided between the two jaws. 
 
 Second Division or Bones of the Trunk. — The 
 trunk of the skeleton consist of the spine, the pelvis, 
 and the chest or thorax, composed of the ribs and 
 sternum. 
 
 The bony column, called the spine, consist of fifty 
 bones, including fourteen tail-bones, viz : 
 
L32.J 
 
 Seven neck, or cervical. 
 
 Eighteen back, or dorsal. 
 
 Six loin, or lumbar. 
 
 Five rump, or sacral vertebrae, with the addition of 
 thirteen or fourteen small tail-bones, called caudal 
 ▼ertebrse. 
 
 The pelvis or basin consists of five bones, viz: 
 
 The lower spinal bone, called os sacrum. 
 
 Two broad hip bones — ossa innominata. 
 
 The two lowest points of the spinal bone — ossa coe- 
 cygis. 
 
 The thorax or chest consists of thirty- seven bones, 
 viz: 
 
 The breast bone, called sternum. 
 
 Thirty-six ribs — costoe. 
 
 It is on this bony column, or the spine, that the 
 horse is to cany the burden or weight placed on him, 
 and there are two principal things to be coasidered: 
 easiness of carriage and strength. If the spine were 
 to be composed of unyielding materials, if it resem- 
 bled a bar of wood, the jar or jolting of the animal 
 could not possibly be endured. To avoid this, the 
 back is so constructed as to meet the end for which 
 the horse was made — the spine is both flexible, and 
 the parts well united with peculiar firmness to afford 
 strength to the animal. 
 
 The neck, or cervical vertebrae, called by farriers 
 and butchers the "rack bones," seven in number, and 
 differ sowewhat in figure; especially do the first and 
 second, and present some peculiarities. The first is 
 the only one to which the great suspensory ligament 
 of the neck does not attach itself, which would have 
 interfered with that freedom of motion which is sd 
 graceful in this noble animal. It articulates with the 
 second by receiving its tubercular process within it, 
 and from which process the second of these bones has 
 been called dentata, or tooth-like bones. The first 
 bone of the neck is called the atlas, so named from 
 supporting the head; as Atlas, the philosopher, was 
 
[33., 
 
 supposed (fabulously) to support the world. Between 
 these two neck bones, the atlas and dentata, is situa- 
 ted apart, where the spinal marrow is exposed from 
 any bony covering, at which part butchers plunge a 
 pointed knife into what they call the pith of the neck, 
 when they want to kill an animal instantaneously, and 
 without effusion of blood; whence it is called pithing. 
 The remaining live cervical vertebrae resemble each 
 other. 
 
 The backbones, or dorsal vertebrae, are nearly alike 
 in structure, except in the length of the spinous pro- 
 cess of the first seven or eight. It is owing to these 
 elongated spines that we owe the height of the with- 
 ers; and as the intention of these parts seems princi- 
 pally to serve as lever? for the muscles of the back in- 
 serted into them, so we can readily understand why 
 their increased or diminished height is favorable or 
 unfavorable to moving. These, like the former, ar- 
 ticulate with each other by processes, as well as by 
 the anterior and posterior surfaces of their bodies; 
 between each of which is an intervening substance, 
 exceedingly elastic, semi-cartilaginous in its struc- 
 ture, convex on both sides, thicker in the centre than 
 at the edges, which is ai.alagous to a small cushion, 
 thus permitting an easy motion of spine, from its 
 peculiar form and compressibility. 
 
 The six loin or lumbar vertebrae, differ from the 
 dorsal in being larger, and having very long trans- 
 verse processes to make up for the deficiency of the 
 ribs in the loin. These bones often unite by the 
 pressure of heav r v weights, and spontaneously by age, 
 and thus we need not be surprise! at the stiifness 
 with which some old horses rise up. The union of 
 the back and the loins should be carefully remarked. 
 There is sometimes a depression between them; a 
 kind of a line is drawn across which slows imperfec 
 tion in the construction of the spine, and may be re- 
 garded as a sure sign of weakness. 
 
 The five rump, or sacral vertebrae, are united into 
 
124 . ; 
 
 one to give strength to the column, and to serve as a 
 fixed support to the pelvis, or the hinder and lower 
 part of the abdomen, in which the bladder and rec- 
 lum are contained, or basin, with which it is inter- 
 wedged. From this compact and firm union, it will 
 appear how admirably this spiral column is adopted 
 to its important functions of serving as a flexible but 
 powerful support, to the machine; and how by the for- 
 mation of a large foramen or opening within the sub- 
 stance of each vertebrae, a bony canal is offered for 
 the safeguard of the spinal marrow, from which, 
 through lateral openings in the vertebrae, the spinal 
 nerves ramify, or are given off in pairs. 
 
 The pelvis or basin supported by tins osseous col- 
 umn, is composed of the os sacrum, ossa innominata 
 and ossa coccygis. The ossa innominata in the foetal 
 colt before birth, are each composed of the ilium, the 
 ischium, and the pubis, all traces of which divisions 
 are lost before birth. The ilium is the most consid- 
 erable, and forms the haunches by a large unequal 
 protuberance, which, when prominent, occasions the 
 horse to be called hipped. The next largest bone is 
 the ischium, or hip bone, on each side. The pubis, 
 or share-bone, is the least of the three; in conjunc- 
 tion with the senium, forms the acetabulum, or cup- 
 like cavity, in which the head of the thigh bone 
 lodges. The pelvis, as above remarked, is supported 
 by the sacral vertebras, and attached to the sacrum, 
 by ligaments of prodigious strength; bat has no bony 
 union, by which means, as in the fore extremities, 
 some play is given, and the jar of pure bony connec- 
 tion is avoided. 
 
 The two extreme .sacral vertebrae are termed ossa 
 coccygis. The elongation of the spine, or caudal 
 vertebrae, are generally about fifteen. These are some- 
 times called twirl bones, from the convoiueary motion 
 afforded tiie animal in switching Hies and other in- 
 sects. 
 
 The throax, or chest, which contains the heart and 
 
lungs, comprises the sternum or breast bone. The 
 sternum of the horse is incline;!, like the keel of a 
 ship, to which the ribs are attacked by strong ties. 
 The costse or ribs are usually eighteen, in a few in- 
 stances nineteen or twenty, to each side: eight artic- 
 ulate with the sternum, and are called true ribs, 
 while the remaining ten, uniting together by inter- 
 vening cartilages, are called false ribs. The centrals 
 are the longest, those anterior and posterior are short- 
 est. The first is placed perpendicularly, the second 
 less so; and their obliquity, as well as dimensions, in- 
 crease as they advance, so as to enlarge the chest to 
 an almost circular form, which is the most desirable; 
 but when ihvy are less arched, the belly partakes of 
 the delect, and a flit sided one is commonly a bad 
 carcassed horse. 
 
 The Third Division, or Boxes of the Extremi- 
 ties. — In the bones of the extremities there is such 
 peculiar adaptedness, displaying a mechanism, as 
 ought to excite admiration. Of a truth, we are led to 
 exclaim, this animal is "wonderfully made.' 1 
 Nasaes ol tlie Boiies 01 tlie Anterior Extremities. 
 
 The two shoulder-blades — ossa scapulae. 
 Two arm-bones — ossa radii and ossa vlxoe, form- 
 ing the humerus. 
 
 Two wrists — ossa carpi. 
 Two. canons, or shanks — ossa metacahpi. 
 Four splint bones — ossa additaaiexta. 
 Pasterns — ossa tall 
 Four sesamoids — ossa sesamoides. 
 Lesser pasterns — ossa coronis. 
 Coffin-bones — ossa tiagii, or astraguli. 
 Shuttle- bones — ossa xaviculare. 
 Names oi tiie Bones oi* t2ie Posterior Extremities. 
 The nppe thigh bones, called ossa femoris. 
 Stifle bones — ossa pati:lloe. 
 Lewer thigh bones — ossa tibice. 
 Outside bones of the leg — ossa fibelge. 
 Hock bones — ossa tarsi, formed by six bones. 
 
I 8 6 . i 
 
 Anterior Extremities. — The scapula or shoulder- 
 blade, situated forward on the side of the chest, is a 
 broad, flat, and somewhat triangular shaped bone. It 
 does not much resemble the human scapula. Its 
 superior surface is furnished with a considerable car- 
 tilage, by means of which its surface is greatly en- 
 larged, without increasing much in weight. The pos- 
 terior surface ends in a superficial cavity, called glen- 
 oid, or shallow cavity, which receives the head of the 
 humerus or the arm bone. It is divided in its upper 
 surface by its spine. The shoulder blade has 
 neither bony nor ligamentous union, but is held 
 in its situation by very powerful muscles. Its usual 
 situation is to a blade perpendicular to the horizon, 
 at an angle of thirty degrees; and it has a ;notion in 
 its greatest extent of twenty degrees; hence as it does 
 not pass beyond the perpendicular backwards, so the 
 more oblique its natural situation is the more exten- 
 sive are its motions. 
 
 The humerus, or arm bone, is so concealed by mus- 
 cles as to be overlooked by a cursory observer, and 
 hence the radius or next bone below, is usually call- 
 ed the arm. It extends from what is called the point 
 of the shoulder, out which, in fact, is a proturberance 
 of its own elbow, forming an angle with the scapula, 
 and extending obliquely backwards as that does tor- 
 wards. Near its upper extremity it sends off a very 
 powerful head to articulate with the shoulder-blade. 
 The motions of the humerus are necessarily confined 
 to a removal from lis inclined point backward to the 
 perpendicular line of the body. 
 
 The Radius and ulna ok fore-arm. — The fore-arm, 
 is strictly speaking, composed of the radius and an 
 appendage, the ulna uuited to it. The ulna is a dis- 
 tinct bon . >f a horse requires a rotary 
 motion, it was unnecessary to be a distinct bone in 
 him. VTe here, however, remark, that in the. colt 
 the ulna is re tinct; and in the adult horse 
 unites with the radius, and serves as an attachment 
 
[37.1 
 
 to muscles. On the slightest inspection of the skel- 
 eton, it will appear how much the motions of the 
 fore-leg must depend on the length and obliquity of 
 this part of the bone or process, which acting- on the 
 principle of a lever in the extension of the arm, must 
 necessarily, as it is either long or short, make all the 
 difference between a long and a short purchase in its 
 mechanical power. The breadth of the arm, as it is 
 called, at this part, will, from this reasoning, be seen 
 to be very important. A full and swelling fore-arm, 
 all agree, is the characteristic of every thorough-bred 
 horse, and for speed and continuance is unequalled. 
 
 The carpus, or wrist, called the knee, is composed 
 of seven bones, whose principal uses appear to be to 
 extend the surface of attachment of ligaments 
 and tendons, and by their interruptions to 
 lessen the shocks of moving or of progression. The 
 carpal or wrist bones articulate with each other, and 
 have one investing capsular, or chest-like ligament, 
 by which means the smallest wound of the knee that 
 penetrates this ligament, has the effect of opening 
 the whole joint; hence the quantity of synovia or 
 joint oil, which escapes in these cases, and, hence 
 also the dangerous consequences which ensue. 
 
 The metacarpus, shank or canon, is formed of one 
 large meta-carpal bone and two smaller ones, called 
 splint bones, which are united with it by strong liga- 
 mentary attachments, converted by age into a bony 
 one. The inner splint bone is placed nearer the cen- 
 ter of the weight of the body than the other, and 
 from the nature of its connection with the bones of 
 the knee, actually receives more of the weight than 
 does the outer bone, and therefore is more liable to 
 injury and inflamation, and the consequent displacing 
 the oone. The inner bone receives the whole of the 
 weight transmitted to one of the ^mall bones of the 
 knee. It is the only support of that bone. A por- 
 tion only of one of the bones rests on the outer splint 
 bone, and the weight is shared between it and shank. 
 
[38. ] 
 i 
 
 The pasterns, or ossa tali, between the metacarpus 
 and the hoof, constitute the extremity below the 
 common shank, and consists of one phalange only, 
 comprising all the mechanism and a double portion 
 of complexity of all the phalanges in the digitated or 
 fingered tribes. Four hones enter into its composi- 
 tion with two small bones, resembling an Indian 
 bean, called sesamoides, to each fetlock; placed there, 
 not only to act as a spring and prevent concussion, 
 but to throw the tendon of the foot, which runs over 
 them, farther from the center of motion. The pastern 
 bone, or ostalis, is situated obliquely forward, and on 
 this obliquity depends the ease and elasticity of the 
 motion of the animal; nevertheless, when it is too 
 long, it requires great efforts in the tendons and lig- 
 aments to preserve it in its situation; and thus long- 
 jointed horses must be more subject to fatigue and 
 to strains than others. 
 
 The lesser pastern, or coronary bone, receives the 
 greater, and below expands into a considerable sur- 
 face articulating with the coffin and navicular bones. 
 The coffin bone forms the third phalange, and cor- 
 responds in shape with the hoof. It is very porous, 
 and laterally receives two prominent cartilages. It 
 is around the outer surface of this bone that the sen- 
 sible laminae are attached; and the inferior surface 
 receives the flex or tendon. The navicular nut, or 
 shuttle bone, is situated at the posterior part of the 
 coffin, and unites with that and the preceding bone. 
 
 Posterior Extremeties. — The posterior differ much 
 from the anterior, not only in their superior strength, 
 and in their different lengths and direction of the 
 parts, but also in some degree in their uses. • 
 
 In our description of the hinder extremities, we 
 will begin with the haunch bone, which is composed 
 of three bones, the ilium, ischium, and pubis. The 
 first is principally concerned in the formation of the 
 haunch. Its extended brandies behind the flanks 
 are prominent in every horse, and when they are 
 
39. j 
 
 more than usually wide, the animal is said to be rag- 
 ged hipped. A branch runs up the spine at the 
 commencement of the sacral vertebrae, and here the 
 haunch bones are firmly united with the bones of 
 spine. The ischius, or hip bone, is behind and be- 
 low the ilium. The pubis unites with the former 
 two below and behind. 
 
 The femur, or thigh bone, is the largest of the 
 body, its vast indentations and risings, almost pecu- 
 liar to itself, show the great strength of the muscles 
 inserted into it. It articulates with the acetabulum, 
 the socket for the head of the thigh bone, or hip 
 joint, by a strong head called a whirl bone. In this 
 situation it is held not only by a powerful capsular 
 ligament, and still more powerful muscles, but by an 
 admirable contrivance resulting from a ligamentary 
 rope, which springs immediately from the middle of 
 its head, and is firmly fixed within the socket joint. 
 In its natural situation it is not perendicular as in 
 the human femur, but inclines to an angle of about 
 forty five degrees. This bone presents large protu- 
 berances for the attachment of very powerul muscles 
 called trochanters, from the Greek, trochao, to run or 
 roll. Throughout it exhibits a mechanism uniting 
 combined qualities of speed and strength unknown 
 to other animals. The lower end of this bone is re- 
 ceived by its condyles, (knots of joints) into the 
 deep depressions of the tibia, while the patella or 
 knee-pan slides over the anterior portions of both 
 bones. 
 
 The patella, answering to the knee-pan in the hu- 
 man subject, and which is commonly called the stifle, 
 is nearly angular, and serves for the insertion of 
 some of the strongest muscles of the thigh, which 
 are then continued down the leg. It thus appears 
 to act as a pulley. 
 
 The tibia, or leg bone, is usually called the thigh 
 by horsemen. It is a bone formed of a large epiph- 
 ysis, (a process attached to a bone, and not a part of 
 
[40.] 
 
 the same;) with a small attached part called the fib- 
 ula, a long body and an irregular lower end, adapted 
 to the particularities in the shape of the princi- 
 pal bones of the back, with which it articulates. The 
 obliquity in the situation of this bone corresponds 
 with that of the femur, being as oblique backwards 
 as the former is forwards. The length of the tibia is 
 e prominent character in all animals of speed; in 
 this respect it corresponds with the fore-arm, and 
 the remarks made on that apply, with even more 
 force, to this — that length is advantageous to speed, 
 but less to ease of motion. 
 
 The fibula forms a prominent instance, in common 
 with splint bones, of what we remarked above, in our 
 detail of the extremeties — that many parts, whose 
 uses did not strike the unobservant, would be found 
 to be organs of harmony, placed in the body to pre- 
 vent interruption to completing the general plan of 
 animal organization. In this way the fibula appears 
 but a process springing from the posterior part of 
 the tibia, forming but the rudiments of the human 
 bone of that name. 
 
 The tursus, or the hock of the horse, is a striking 
 instance of the perfect mechanism displa3 r ed in the 
 bon}' structure of this admired animal. It is formed 
 by an assembly of six bones, and sometimes of seven. 
 As the human anatomy is generally received as the 
 standard of comparison, we must, in order to a prop- 
 er consideration of the hock, consider it as the in- 
 step and the heel, and all the parts beyond it as the 
 foot. The human tarsus makes a right augle with 
 the tibia in standing or walking; but, in the horse, 
 the hock makes one open angle with the tibia, and is 
 far removed from the ground. In him, and the 
 greater part of the upright quadrupeds, all the bones 
 from the hock downwards are much elongated, and 
 form a part of the upright pillar of the limb. In the 
 horse, therefore, the point of the hock is the true 
 point of the heel, and, as in the human figure, the 
 
141.1 
 
 great twisted tendons of the gastrocnetnii (calf or 
 belly of the leg,) muscles are inserted into it; but 
 the appellation of tendo Achilles would be rather 
 forced here. A broad hock, as alre-'id}- observed in 
 the exterior conformation, may be now still more 
 plainly seen to be very important to strength and 
 speed; for the longer the catcaneum or heel bone of 
 the hock, the longer must be the iever that the mus- 
 cles of the tuigh act by; and a very slight increase 
 or diminution in its length must make a very great 
 difference in the power of the joint. It is by this 
 tendon acting on this mechanism, that, when the 
 animal has inclined the angle between the canon 
 and the tibia, or, in other words, when the extremi- 
 ties are bent under him in the gallop or trot, he is 
 enabled to open it again. 
 
 The bones of the hock, like those of the knee, are 
 united together by strong ligamentous libers; and it 
 is an inflamation of those uniting the calcaneum and 
 cuboid bones, that the disease called a curb, is to be 
 attributed; and to a similar inflamatory affection of 
 the ligaments of the front hock, the spavins of the 
 first stage are owing; in the latter stages the peri- 
 toneum and bones themselves becom affected. The 
 remainder of the bones below do not differ so essen- 
 tially from the corresponding bones in the fore leg 
 as to need a separate description. 
 
 We shall here close our remarks on the bony base 
 of the horse, and add a few brief extracts on the ap- 
 pendages of the bones, and define the names of the 
 muscular and nervous structure of animals. The 
 limits of the work do not allow us to enter systemat- 
 ically into a detail of those parts. But when we 
 treat of diseases, we shall, as the nature and case 
 may demand, describe more fully" the muscular and 
 nervous structure with their constituents. 
 
 The appendages to the bones are caflfcilage and 
 gristle, the periosteum, the marrow, the ligaments, 
 and the synovia or joint oil. 
 
The ligaments are compact, fibrous substances, 
 which serve as a connecting medium between the 
 bones. They possess great strength, and are com- 
 mon to every part of the body. 
 
 The synovia or joint oil is secreted from the living 
 membrane of the joints, and affords a slippery me- 
 dium that enables the bones to glide readily over 
 each other. 
 
 Muscle is that part of the body of the horse term- 
 ed flesh, to distinguish it from the skin, gristle, bone, 
 ligament, &c. The muscles are composed of reddish 
 fibers. All the motions of the animal are performed 
 by means of the muscles 
 
 Tendons are inelastic, tough, fibrous substances, 
 of a whitish color. 
 
 The arteries are long, membranous canals. They 
 gradually decrease in their diameter, as they pro- 
 ceed from the heart; They terminate in veins, and 
 in exhalent openings, by means of which sweat is 
 produced. The use of the arteries is to convey the 
 blood from the heart to the different parts of the body. 
 
 The veins are vessels which return the blood of 
 the body which has been distributed to it. They 
 are less solid and more numerous than the arteries. 
 
 The absorbent system of the horse is composed of 
 the l}'mphatics and lacteals, which are thin and 
 transparent, having great strength and power of 
 contractibility. Where they become very minute, 
 they are termed capillaries. 
 
 The nervous system of the horse is composed of 
 white medullary cords springing from the brain and 
 spinal marrow. Their internal structure is fibrous, 
 and they spread themselves over every part of the 
 bocVy. The brain is considered the seat of sensation 
 and volition, and nerves are deemed the messengers 
 to convey it through the system. 
 
 The glands are a numerous set of secretory bodies, 
 composed of ail the different vessels, enclosed in the 
 membrane. 
 
 
t 43. j 
 
 Hair is the clothing of brutes. It is a production 
 of the skin. It varies in color, and is designed both 
 for ornament and use. 
 
 The cuticle is placed immediately under the hair, 
 and is a hard and insensible covering. 
 
 The cutis, or true skin, is situated immediately un- 
 der the hair and cuticle. It is the general in vesture 
 of the body, possesses exquisite sensibility, and con- 
 stitutes the true organ of touch. It is gelatinous, 
 and is used in the manufacture of glue. 
 
 The cellular n embrane and fat constitute 
 considerable portions of most animals. The adi- 
 pose membrane is cellular, and extends over most 
 parts of the body. The cells communicate with 
 each other. The fat is the unctuous juice secreted 
 in these cells. 
 
 The brain is situated in the hollow of the skull, 
 surrounded by two coverings, between which lies a 
 third membrane. The brain has four ventricles or 
 cavities, together with many prominences. The anal- 
 ogy between the human brain and that of the horse 
 is very strong. 
 
 The ear of the horse, in its internal condition, dif- 
 fers but little from the same organ in man, 
 
 The eyes of the horse are not, like those in man, 
 placed directly in front, but incline laterally. The 
 e3 r elids are an upper and an under, moved by mus- 
 cles, and forming an admirable curtain to protect 
 the eye from extraneous matter. The globe oi' the 
 eye is composed of conts, chambers and humors. 
 The cornea, which is transparent, is formed of thin 
 concentric plates, of different degrees of convexity in 
 different animals. The corner is full of vessels, and 
 in an inflamed state admits the red blood, as may be 
 seen by the universal redness over the whole. 
 
 The pupil of the eye is the perforation that is seen, 
 annular in human, oblong in the horse, ox and sheep, 
 and perpendicular in the cat. It is an apperture in 
 the membrane, termed the iris, on which the color 
 
L44.T 
 
 of the eye depends. In the horse it is usually brown, 
 occasionally white, when the animal is said to be 
 wall eyed. 
 
 The humors of the eye are the vitreous, thechrys- 
 taline, and the aqueous. The vitreous humor is of a 
 jelly-like consistence, and occupies all the globe, ex- 
 cept those parts taken up b^y the other humors. The 
 chrystaline humor forms a lenticular body of moder- 
 ate consistence, and is properly termed a lens. It is 
 doubly convex. It is a diseased opacity of this body 
 that forms a cataract. The aqueous humor is a lim- 
 pid liquid that fills up the spaces not occupied by 
 those already described. 
 
 The motions of the ej-e-ball are made by means of 
 seven muscles. 
 
 The criteria of soundness in the eyes arc gained 
 by a careful examination of them, and which expe- 
 rience has shown to be best made by placing the 
 horse within a stable, with his head nearly approach- 
 ing the stable door, which should be -fully open. 
 Small eyes are found more prone to inflamation than 
 large, and large goggling eyes are liable to accompa- 
 ny a starting horse more than lesser ones; and when 
 the convexity is extreme, not only is the starting in 
 proportion, but such eyes are more liable than others 
 to become affected with the disease commonly called 
 glass e a yes, but correctly gutta serena. It is not, 
 however, to be understood that all starters have de- 
 fective eyes; many are so from natural timidity, and 
 still more, from hard usage and bad management in 
 breaking and handling. , The eyes should be exam- 
 ined together, not only to observe whether each pre 
 sents an equal degree of clearness in the transparent 
 part and within the pupil, but also that an equal de- 
 gree of contraction exists between each of the pupils. 
 This is of much consequence. If an inequality in 
 size and form be observable between the pupils, the 
 least of them has been in some way affected, and 
 will probably become so again. It is even more sus- 
 
L 4 5 . j 
 
 picious when a turbid milkiness appears on any 
 part of the transparent portion; and equally so when 
 the inferior part looks other than clear; or in a very 
 strong light, with a lively bluish tinge. When it is 
 all turbid, viewed under various aspects, regard it 
 attentively, and there may probably be found an in- 
 ward speck of perfect white, which is the nucleus or 
 central point of an incipient cataract. A glassy, 
 greenish cast in the eye should always excite suspi- 
 cion. Such eyes are not unfrequently totally blind. 
 
 The nose or organ of smell, in most quadrupeds, 
 is next in importance to that of the eye. Its sensi- 
 bility is derived from the olfactory nerves, spread 
 over its surface. It is this membrane which is the 
 seat of the glanders. The horse breathes in all or- 
 dinary cases through the nostrils. 
 
 The external parts of the mouth are the lips, cheek 
 and beard. The lips are flesh}' masses, covered with 
 skin, and forming the organ of touch. The cheeks 
 are muscular and moveable, and furnished with hair. 
 
 The internal parts of the mouth are the teeth, the 
 gums, the aveolary edges, the palate, the tongue and 
 the parts of the great posterior cavity. The gums 
 are a spongy substance which hold fast the teeth. 
 The palate forms a bony arch, covered b} T membrane- 
 uos folds, which arc apt, when the stomach is affect- 
 ed, to become swollen, and this is called the lampers. 
 
 The tongue is a long fleshy mass, adapting itself 
 below, to the form of the channel, and above, to the 
 arch of the palate. It is a principal organ in masti- 
 cation. 
 
 The pharynx is formed, by the termination of the 
 mouth and no 
 
 The larynx is placed at the : - part of the 
 
 cavity, and forms a kind of cartilaginous box, or 
 entrance b a moveable 
 
 door, which tills up the ea\ »y the arch of 
 
 the palate curtain, thereby closi . v:y of the 
 
[46.] 
 
 mouth and forcing the animal to breathe through 
 his no 
 
 The parotid glands, or in the language of farriers, 
 the vives, are two pretty large holies on each side of 
 the head, extending from the base of the ear around 
 the angle of the jaw. Each parotid gland has little 
 ducts, uniting into one and entering the mouth about 
 the second molar tooth. These glands furnish saliva 
 for the use of the mouth, and it is a gathering in 
 them that constitutes the strangles in young horses. 
 The external parts of the neck are the common cov 
 erings, the cervical ligament, the muscles, and the 
 jugular or neck veins. 
 
 The internal parts of the neck are the vertebrae, 
 which pass the spinal ma now: the carotid arteries, 
 ss up under the jugular veins; the trachea 
 or wind-pipe, for the transmission of air; and the 
 esophagus, a continuation of the funnel-like cavity 
 of the pharynx. 
 
 hen the chest of the horse is opened, a smooth 
 polished membrane is seen, covering its contents, 
 which is called the pleura. 
 
 The diaphragm or midriff, divides the chest from 
 the bell}' by its disk, and is a very important part of 
 the body of the horse. 
 
 The heart is the great agent of circulation, and is 
 composed of membranous and muscular fibres, having 
 four principal cavities and several openings. 
 
 The lungs are spungy masses, divided into right 
 
 and left, with lesser divisions termed lobes. Their 
 
 color, in a colt, is a light lively pink; in a fall grown 
 
 :. iproach to a gray tint. These parts are 
 
 extremelv liable to inflammation. 
 
 The viscera of the abdomen includes the stomache 
 
 the lobes of the liver; tiie omentum or caul to the 
 
 inferior curvature of the stomache; the spleen, 
 
 the kidneys; the rectum; the ovaria; the uterus; the 
 
 bladder; the diaphragm; the gullet; the trachea, etc. 
 
 The abdomen, or cavity of the belly, forms an oval 
 
[47. | 
 
 vault, and is the largest cavity of the body. 
 
 elastic and strong. 
 
 The horse has but one stomach, and that is a small 
 one. It is peculiarly constructed. It is immediately 
 contiguous to the diaphragm, or great breathing 
 muscle. This accounts for the difficulty of respira- 
 tion after full meal. 
 
 The intestines are not merely secreting organs, but 
 possess digestive character; and may be considered 
 as continuations of the stomachic viscera. This is 
 more particularly the case with the small intestines. 
 
 The spleen or milt, is a very spungy body situated 
 at the greater extremity of the stomach. 
 
 The kidneys are two excremerit-.il glands, placed in 
 the lumbar region, the right more anterior than the 
 left. From the cavities of the kidneys, the duct 
 termed the ureter passes out, and carries off the urine 
 secreted within them. These ureters conveys the 
 urine to the bladder. 
 
 The bladder of the horse is a membraneous sack 
 for the reception of the urine, raising on the pubis, 
 immediately under the rectum. To the bladder is 
 attached a membraneous pipe called the urethra, 
 which passes through the penis, and by that means 
 ejects the urine. 
 
 The male organs of generation in the horse, are the 
 testicles, which are two in number. 
 
 The penis or yard, is a long body, in one part nearly 
 prismatic, and in another, cylindrical. It is composed 
 of two flattened portions closely connected, a spongy 
 canal, which is the urethra above mentioned, and the 
 glands or head 
 
 luiiaraxmation of the Lungs. 
 
 There is no animal among all those subdue 1 that 
 previous to his breaking in, is so free from disease as 
 the horse; there is no animal which, after he has been 
 eniiste'l in our service, is so liable to disease, and 
 especially at the lungs. How do we account for this? 
 Few things can be more injurious to the delicate mem- 
 
brane that lines the cells of the lungs, than the sud- 
 den change from heat to cold, to which, under the 
 usual stable management, the horse is subject, In 
 the spring and autumn, the temperature or heat of 
 most stables is several degrees higher than that of 
 the open air; in winter it is frequently more than 
 grees. The necessary effect of this must be 
 :en and exhaust the energies of the parts most 
 exposed to the influence of these change's, and they 
 are the lungs. It is, however, not only heated but 
 empoisoned air that the horse respires; composed of 
 his own contaminated breath, and of vapors from his 
 , and particularly from his brine, strongly im- 
 pregnated with hartshorn, painful to the eyes and 
 irritating to the chest. 
 
 There is likewise an intimate connection between 
 
 the lungs and the functions of the skin. When the 
 
 isible prespiration is suddenly stopped, cold and 
 
 ■ the first consequences. What must inevit- 
 
 blv happen to the horse that stands, twenty hours out 
 
 of the four and twenty, in a heated atmosphere, and 
 
 warmly clothed, and every pore of his 
 
 skin op "ned, and the insensible prespiration, and the 
 
 too, profusely pouring out, and then, with 
 
 • ■ ,'t stripp (1 from his back, is turned shivering 
 
 a nipping winter's air? The discharge from the 
 
 skin is once arrested, and the revulsion, or perni- 
 
 t of the sudd -a stoppage of a natural ev&e- 
 
 . - . ; ;i the lungs, too much weakened, and 
 
 to inflammation by heated air and poison- 
 
 imple observations are pregnant with interest 
 
 : ion to all connected with horses. He 
 
 lid have his stud free from disease, and es- 
 
 lungs, must pursue two objects: 
 
 I el >. In the gentleman's stable, 
 
 of these is studiously avoided, from the 
 
 or the idleness of the groum, and from these 
 
 ■ ■ . I most of the cases of inflamed lungs; 
 
especially when this heat is combined with that tem- 
 porary and mischievous nuisance, the repeated breath- 
 ing of the same air during the night, and that air 
 more vitiated by the fumes of the dung and urine. 
 In the stables of the post-rider, where not only close- 
 ness and heat, but the tilth that would not be endured 
 in a gentleman's establishment, are found, both in- 
 flammation of the lungs and glanders prevail; and in 
 the stables of many agriculturists, cool enough from 
 the poverty or carelessness of the owner, but choked 
 with filth, inflammation of the lungs is seldom seen, 
 but mange, glanders, and farcy abound. 
 
 Symtoms. — Inflammation of the substance of the 
 lungs is sometimes sudden in its attack, but generally 
 preceded by symptoms of fever. The pulse is occa- 
 sionally not much increased in frequency, but op- 
 pressed and indistinct; the artery is plainly to be felt 
 under the finger, and of its usual size, but the pulse 
 no longer indicates the expansion of the vessel, as it 
 yields to the gush of blood, and its contraction when 
 the blood has passed; it is rather a vibration or thrill, 
 communicated to a fluid already over-distending the 
 artery; in a few cases, even this almost eludes the 
 most delicate touch, and scarcely any pulsation is to 
 be detected. The extremities are cold ; the nostril is 
 expanded; the head thrust out, and the flanks begin 
 to heave. There is a peculiarity in the working of 
 the flank. It is not the deep laborious breathing of 
 fever, nor the irregular beating of the broken wind, 
 in which the air appears to be drawn in by one effort, 
 while two seem to be necessaiy to expel it; but it is 
 a quick hurried motion, evidently expressive of pain, 
 and of inability to complete the action, on account of 
 the pain, or of some mechanical obstruction. The 
 membrane of the nose is of an intensely florid red — 
 more vivid in the inside corners of the nostrils, and 
 remaining concentrated there, if at times it should 
 seem to fade away higher up. The countenance is 
 singularly anxious, and indicative of suffering, and 
 
many a mournful look is directed at the Hanks. The 
 horse stands in a singular manner, stiff, with his fore- 
 legs abroad, that the chest may be expanded as much 
 as possible, and he is unwilling to move, lest for a 
 moment he should lose the assistance of the muscles 
 of the arms and shoulders, in producing that expan- 
 sion; and for the same reason, he obstinately stands 
 up day after day, and night after night; or if he lies 
 down from absolute fatigue, it is but for a moment. 
 
 la many instances, however, the approach of the 
 disease is very treacherous, and the most careful 
 practitioner may be deceived. The groom may pre- 
 ceive that the horse is somewhat off his feed, and 
 dull, but he pays little attention to it; or if it arrests 
 his notice, he only finds that the coat stares a little, 
 that the legs are colder than usual, and the breathing 
 in a slight degree quickened and shortened. In other 
 cases, the symptoms are those of common fever, 
 catarrh, or distemper; and the characteristics of true 
 inflammation of the lungs appear late and unexpect- 
 edly. The cold leg and ear, the quickened, not deep- 
 ened inspiration, the disinclination to lie down, and 
 the anxious countenance, will always alarm the ex- 
 perienced observer. 
 
 Whatever may be the state of the pulse at first, it 
 soon becomes oppressed, irregular, indistinct, and at 
 length almost imperceptible. The heart is laboring 
 in vain to push on the column of blood with which 
 the vessels are distended, and the flow of which is 
 obstructed by the clogged- up passages of the lungs. 
 The legs and ears, which were cold before, become 
 more intensely so — it is a clayey, deathly coldness. 
 The mouth soon participates in it, and the breath too. 
 The bright red of the nostril fades away, or darkens 
 to a livid purple. The animal grinds his teeth. He 
 still persists in standing, although he often staggers 
 and almost falls; at length he drops, aud after a few 
 struggles he dies. 
 
 The duration of the dixea.se is singularly uncertain. 
 
! 5 1 • 
 
 It will occasionally destroy in less than twenty four 
 hours, and then the lungs present one confused and 
 disorganized mass of blackness, and would lead the 
 inexperienced person to imagine that long inflamma- 
 tion had gradually so completely broken down the 
 substance of the lnngs. Such a horse is said to die 
 rotten, and many attempts have been made to prove 
 that he must have been unsound for a great while, 
 and prooably before he came into his last owner's 
 possession, and some expensive law suits have been 
 instituted on this ground. Let our readers, however, 
 be assured, that this black, decomposed appearauce 
 of the lungs proves no disease of long standing, but 
 inflammation intense in its nature, and that has very 
 speedly run its course. The horse has died from suf- 
 focation, every portion of the lungs being choked up 
 with this black blood, which has even broken into 
 and tilled all the air-cells by means of which it should 
 have been purified. 
 
 More frequently the disease lasts a little longer. 
 The lungs are sufficiently pervious for some blood to 
 be transmitted, but the inflammation is too great to 
 be subdued, or proper means have been taken to sub- 
 due it; and it rune its usual course, and proceeds to 
 actual mortification, and the lungs are found not only 
 black, but putrid. This, too, w r ould prove recent and 
 violent inflammation, and not any old and unsuspected 
 disease. This termination would be indicated, a day 
 or two before the death of the animal, by the stinking 
 breath and offensive discharge from the nose. 
 
 A frequent, and to the practioner and the owner, a 
 most annoying termination of inflammation of the 
 lungs, is drops}' in the chest. The disease seems to 
 be subdued; the horse is more lively; his appetite 
 returns; his legs and ears become warm; and those 
 about him are deceived into the belief that he is do- 
 ing well; nay, the most skillful surgeon is sometimes 
 deceived. The anxiety to save his patient makes him 
 hope the best, although the coat continueS'anhealthy, 
 
there is a yellow discbarge from the nostrils, the pulse 
 irregular, and the horse is frightened if suddenly 
 moved, and especially it' his head be considerably 
 raised in the act of drenching, and he rarely or never 
 lies down. Many days or some weeks will pass on, 
 with these contradictory and unsatisfactory appear- 
 ances; and a judgment of the result can only be 
 formed by ballancing them against each other. At 
 length the patient shivers, the old symptoms return, 
 and he very soon dies. On opening him, both sides 
 of the chest are found nearly idled with fluid, imped- 
 ing the pulsation of the heart, and the expansion of 
 the lungs, and destroying the horse by suffocation. 
 
 Although the life of the horse may be saved, the 
 consequences of inflammation of the lungs may often 
 materially lessen, or even destroy the usefulness of 
 the animal. A.s in many external inflammations con- 
 siderable thickening of the part long remains, so a 
 deposit of the coagulable portion of the blood may be 
 left in the substance of the lungs, occupyiug the place 
 of many of the air cells, and preventing the contrac- 
 tion and closing of others. This produces the pecu- 
 liarity of breathing, almost incompatible with speed 
 or continuance, called thick wind; and frequently 
 precedes broken wind, when from the violent action 
 thus impeded by the obstruction we have described, 
 some of the air-cells become ruptured. Too frequent}*, 
 considerable irritability remains in the membrane 
 lining the air-cells, and in other portions of the air- 
 passages, and a cough is established, which, from its 
 continuance, and the difficulty of its removal, is called 
 chronic cough. We have already considered inflam- 
 mation of the lungs, as one of the causes of roaring. 
 
 Treatment. — The treatment of inflamation of the 
 lungs must evidently be of one most decisive kind. 
 We have to struggle with a disease intense in its 
 character, and we must attempt radically to cure, and 
 not merely to palliate it. We must look to the future 
 usefulness of the horse, and not to the possibility of 
 
his being enabled to drag on an existence almost in- 
 comfortable to himself. Supposing the attack to ha w 
 just commenced, the horse should be bled, not only 
 until the pulse begins to rise, but until it afterwards 
 begins to flutter or stop, or the animal is evidently 
 faint. The effect of the bleeding, and not the quan- 
 tity of the blood taken, should be regarded; for the 
 inflammation being subdued, the lost blood will soon 
 be supplied again. This is one of the cases in which it 
 is absolutely necessary that the surgeon, or the owner, 
 should stand by with his finger on the pulse and 
 mark the effect that is produced. If, six hours after- 
 wards, the horse continues to stand stiff, and heaves 
 as quickly and laboriously as before, and the legs are 
 as intensely cold, and the membrane of the nose as 
 red, the bleeding should be repeated, until the same 
 etfect again follows. In the majority of cases the in- 
 flammation will be now subdued. A third bleeding 
 may. however, sometimes be necessary, but must not 
 be carried to the same extent, for it is possible, by 
 too great evacuation of blood, to subdue not merely 
 the disease, but the powers of nature. If, after this, 
 the legs become cold, and the heaving returns, and 
 the membrane of the nose reddens, and the horse per- 
 sists in standing, bleedings to the extent of two or 
 three quarts will be advisable, to prevent the re-es- 
 tablishment of the disease. In all these bleedings, 
 let not the necessity of a broad shouldered tleam or 
 lancet, and a full stream of blood be forgotten. These 
 are circumstances of far more importance than is 
 generally imagined. The appearance of the blood 
 will be'some guide in our treatntent of the case. The 
 thickness of the ndhesive buffy, yellow colored coat, 
 which in a few hours will appear on it, will mark 
 with some degree of accuracy the extent of the in- 
 flammation. Not '-egardless of the appearance of the 
 blood, but not putting too much faith in it. we must 
 look to the horse to determine how far that inflam- 
 
L » .4 . 1 
 
 mation may have been diminished, or a repetition of 
 the bleeding be necessary. 
 
 When the bleeding has evidently taken effect, we 
 must consider by what means we may further abate 
 or prevent the return of the inflammation. We should 
 blister the whole of the brisket, and the sides, as high 
 up as the elbows. Blisters are far preferable to 
 rowels. They acton a more extensive surface; they 
 produce a great deal more inflammation; and they 
 are speedier in their action. 
 
 To insure the full operation of the blister, the hair 
 must be closely shaved, and an ointment composed of 
 one part of powdered Spanish flies, and four of lard 
 and one of resin, well rubbed in. The lard and resin 
 should be melted together, and the powdered flies 
 afterwards added. 
 
 To form a rowel, the skin is raised between the 
 finger and thumb, and, with a lancet, or scissors con- 
 trived for the purpose, a slit is cut an inch in length. 
 Into this a piece of tow is inserted, sufficient to lill it, 
 arid previously besmeared with blister ointment. 
 This causes considerable inflammation and discharge. 
 If a little of the tow be left sticking out of the incis- 
 ion, the discharge will conveniently dribble down it. 
 The tow should be changed every day, with or with- 
 out the ointment, according to the action of the rowel, 
 or the urgency of the case. The large piece of stiff 
 leather, with a hole in its center, used by the farrier, 
 is objectionable, as not being easily changed, and 
 frequently, in the extraction of it, tearing the skin so 
 as to cause a lasting blemish. 
 
 The blister sometimes will not rise. It will not 
 when the inflammation of the chest is a 1 its greatest 
 intensity; too much action is going on there, for any 
 to be excited elsewhere. The blister occasionally 
 will not act in the latter stages of the disease, because 
 the powers of nature are exhausted. It is always a 
 most unfavorable symptom when the blisters or the 
 rowels do not take effect. The best time for the ap- 
 
55 
 
 n 
 
 plication of tlie blister, is when the inilamatioi 
 somewhat subdued by the bleeding; and then by the 
 irritation which it excites, and in a part so near tin* 
 original seat of disease, the inflammation of the chest 
 is neither abated or transferred to the skin; for, it is 
 an important law of nature, that no two violent ac- 
 tions of different kinds can take place in the frame 
 at the same time. 
 
 Next comes the aid of medicine. If the patient 
 was a human being, the surgeon would immediately 
 purge him. We must not do this; for from sympathy 
 between the bowels and the lungs in the horse, we 
 should either produce a fatal extension of inflamma- 
 tion, or a transferring of it in a more violent form, 
 and the horse would assuredly die. We must back- 
 rake, administer clysters, or perhaps give eight 
 ounces epsom salts, dissolved in warm gruel. No 
 castor oil must be given. It may be a mild and safe 
 aperient for the human being; it is a very dangerous 
 one for the horse. 
 
 Having a little relaxed the bowels, we eagerly turn 
 to cooling or sedative medicines. The farrier gives 
 his cordial to support the animal, and prevent rotten- 
 ness. He adds fuel to the fire, and no wonder the 
 edifice is frequently destroyed. Nitre, digitails, and 
 emetic tartar, should be given in the doses already 
 recommended, and persisted in until an intermittent 
 state of the pulse is produced. Many practitioners 
 give hellebore in doses of half a dram, or two scru- 
 ples, every six or eight hours, and they say with con- 
 siderable advantage. It is continued until the horse 
 hangs his head, and saliva drivels from his mouth, 
 and he becomes half stupid, and half delerious These 
 symptoms pass mvr in a few hours, and the inflam- 
 mation of the chest is found to he abated. If it be 
 so, it is on the principle of the blister, the determi- 
 nation of blood to the head, and the temporary ex- 
 citement of the brain or its membranes, divert the 
 inflammation or a portion of it from its original seat. 
 
and give the time for the parts somewhat to recover 
 their tone. We confess that we prefer the digi tails, 
 emetic tartar, and nitre; they considerably lower the 
 pulse, and are safe. 
 
 It is of importance that we determine the blood, or 
 a portion of it, from the inflamed and over-distended 
 part to some other region. On this principle we may 
 warmly clothe the horse laboring under this disease, 
 that we may cause the blood to circulate freely through 
 the vessels of the skin, and that we may keep up the 
 insensible perspiration, and perhaps produce some 
 sweating. But do we put the horse in a warm place? 
 No; for then we should bring the heated and poisoned 
 air in contact with the inflamed lungs, and increase 
 the excitement, already too great. It is an absurd 
 practice to shut up every door and window, and ex- 
 clude, if possible, every breath of air; rather let every 
 door and window be thrown open, and let pure and 
 cold air find access to these heated parts. It is in- 
 teresting to see how eagerly the horse avails himself 
 of the relief which this affords him. If no direct 
 draft blows against him, he can scarcely be placed in 
 too cool a stall or stable. 
 
 Now and then the whole skin of the horse may be 
 rubbed with the brush, if it does not tease and worry 
 him; but it is indispensible that the legs should be 
 frequently and well hand-rubbed to restore to circu- 
 lation in them, and they should be covered with thick 
 flannel bandages. As to food, we do not want him to 
 take any at first, and most certainly the horse should 
 not be coaxed to eat. A very small quantity of hay 
 may be given to amuse him, or a coal mash, or green 
 meat (food), but not a particle of corn. 
 
 In eight-and-lbrty hours the fate of the patient will 
 generally be decided. If there be no remission of 
 symptom, the inflammation will run on to congestion 
 of the lungs, and consequent suffocation, or to gan- 
 grene. We must, in this case, give the medicines 
 more frequently; repeat the blister: bleed if the stale 
 
5 7. ] 
 
 of the animal will bear it; and rub the legs or even 
 scald them. If the strength now rapidly declines, 
 the horse may be drenched with gruel, and tonic 
 medicine may be tried, as camomile at first, and this 
 not recalling or increasing the fever, a little ginger 
 and gentian may be added. 
 
 Should the heaving gradually subside, and the 
 legs get warm, and the horse lie down, and the in- 
 flammation be apparently subsiding, let not the owner 
 or practitioner be in too great haste to get the animal 
 well. Nature will slowly, but surely and safely, re 
 store the appetite and strength; and it is very easy 
 to bring back the malady in all its violence b}^ attempt- 
 ing to hurry her. The food should be the same, cold 
 mashes, green meat, or a little hay, if green meat can 
 not be procured, and thin gruel drank from the pail 
 — not given as a drench. Should the horse be very 
 weak, or scarcely eat, tonics may be tried. The way 
 should be felt very eautiousU r with th,e camomile, and 
 the sedative medicine be immediately resorted to if 
 there be the slightest return of fever. To the camo- 
 mile, the gentian and ginger may be gradually added, 
 but no mineral tonic. After a while, hay may be offered 
 and a little^ corn, and the horse is suffered very grad- 
 ually to return to his former habits. 
 
 The causes of inflammation of the lungs are changes 
 from cold to heat, or heat to cold; exposures to cold 
 while the horse is hot; washing with cold water im- 
 mediately after exercise; sudden exposure to cold, 
 after coining from a hot stable; traveling in the face 
 of a cold wind; the transference of general fever to 
 the lungs previously disposed to inflammation from 
 the usual stable management; and neglected catarrh, 
 or catarrh treated with stimulants instead of cooling 
 medicines. Any change from heat to cold, or cold to 
 heat, will produce it with almost equal certainty; the 
 removal from a warm stable to a cold one, or from 
 a cold one to warmer; from grass to the stable, and 
 from the stable to grass^ will equally give rise to dis- 
 
[58.] 
 
 ease of the lungs. It is generally the effect of our 
 
 erroneous system of management. 
 
 We shall presently state the syptoms of which in- 
 flammation of the lungs may be distinguished from 
 catarrh fever. It may be distinguished from inflam- 
 mation of the bowels by the pulse, which, in the lat- 
 ter disease, is small and wiry; by the membrane of 
 the nose, which is not then so much reddened; by 
 the indication of pain as kicking at the bell}", stamp- 
 ing, and rolling; by his eager scraping of the litter, 
 and by the belly being painful to the touch, and also 
 hot, when the bowels are inflamed. 
 
 We are. from our limited knowledge of physiology, 
 aware that there is a great sympathy between the 
 bowels and lungs in a horse, and believe that the 
 practice of violent purging would prove fatal in most 
 cases of pneumonia or inflammation of the lungs in 
 the horse, yet we believe that the great via or open- 
 ing, should be unobstructed when the subject labors 
 under this disease. Drastic purgatives are at all 
 times more injurious than beneficial. 
 
 The treatment of this disease varies in many par 
 ticulars, but the general one is, depletion; free blood 
 letting, and emollient laxatives. If this e<5urse is pur- 
 sued in the first stage of the disease, the animal may 
 recover; but if it let run on a short time, the horse 
 must die. 
 
 Some recommend copious bleeding, then follow 
 it by purgative. 
 
 Laxative. 
 
 Take liquid bacon, (lard), one-quarter of a pound; 
 olive oil, one-half pound; extract of acacia bark, four 
 ounces; wine, one pint; drench the horse. If this 
 does not operate by night, inject the following clys- 
 ter, and repeat the laxative immediately afterwards. 
 No. G. Sect. 130. A Clyster. 
 
 I>rink for Heaving; of Lungs. 
 
 Take hyssop, dill, of each two hanctsful; fleur-de- 
 lis, (flag-flower), one ounce; hoarhound, origan, of 
 
L 39 • 1 
 
 each, one-half ounce; licorice root, two ounces; but- 
 ter, one-quarter of a pound, and one-quarter of honey 
 water; mix — decoct, and administer one-half of it 
 at once. 
 
 The breast of the horse should be daily greased 
 with the following ointment: 
 
 Duck oil, one ounce; butter, one quarter of a 
 pound ; oil of rue, and flag-flowers, of each, four drams ; 
 mix — anoint. This should be succeeded by giving 
 the following drink every other day: The yolk of 
 ten eggs, and one quart of mutton broth, mixed — 
 given lukewarm. 
 
 Pleurisy. 
 
 Hitherto we have spoken of inflammation of the 
 substance of the lungs; but inflammation may attack 
 the membrane covering them and lining the side oi 
 the chest, (the pleura), and be principally or entirely 
 confined to that membrane. This id termed pleurisy. 
 The causes are the same as inflammation of the sub- 
 stance of the lungs, and the symptoms are not very 
 dissimilar. The guiding distinction will ue the pulse. 
 As the blood in this disease still traverse^ the lungs 
 withont obstruction, we have not the oppressed pulse, 
 but rather the hard, full pulse, characteristic of in- 
 flammation; the extremities are cold, but not much 
 so;* the membrane of the nose intensely red in the 
 former disease, because it is a continuation of the 
 inflamed lining of the air cells of the lungs, is here 
 but little reddened, because there is no connection 
 between them; if the sides are pressed upon in pleur- 
 isy, pain will be felt, which the horse will express by 
 a kind of grunt, and which is easily explained by the 
 pressure being applied so close to the seat of disease. 
 The manner of standing, however, will remain the 
 same, and the obstinacy of standing the same, and 
 the extension of the neck, and protrusion of the nos 
 tril. After death, the pleura of the ribs and lungs 
 will exhibit stripes or patches of inflammation, and 
 and the chest will be ovnerallv filled with serous fluid. 
 
t fi . ] 
 
 Copious bleeding is indicated here, as in inflamma- 
 tion of the substance of the lungs. Blisters and se- 
 dative medicines must likewise be restored to. The 
 fever powder, No. 73-7-4, and, fever drinks, No. 75, 
 Section 188, are highly recommended in pleurisy as 
 sedatives, by adding a small quantity of hyosciamus, 
 one dram to Caen formula; they form a sufficient se- 
 dative. The only important difference is, that aperi- 
 ents jnay be administered with more safety than in 
 the former disease. Puncturing of the chest to give 
 escape to the fluid that is thrown out in it may be 
 attempted. It can not do harm, but it has very sel- 
 dom saved or much prolonged the life of the animal. 
 If the operation be attempted, it should be as soon 
 as the presence of the fluid is suspected, and the means 
 by which this may be ascertained we have already 
 described. The opening should be effected with the 
 common trocar us d for tapping in dropsy in the hu- 
 man being, and should be made between the eighth 
 and ninth ribs, and close to the cartilages. Diuretic 
 medicines, combined with tonics, should be admin 
 istered. % 
 
 Catarrh, or Common Coltl* 
 
 This is a complaint of frequent occurence, gener- 
 ally subdued without much difficulty, but oftenjbe- 
 coining of serious consequence, if neglected. It is 
 accompanied by a little increase of pulse: a slight 
 discharge from the nose and eyes; a coat somewhat 
 roughened; a diminution of appetite, and cough 
 sometimes painful and frequent. A little warmth, a 
 few mashes, and some doses of the medicine recom 
 mended under intlammation of the lungs, will speedly 
 effect a cure. Should the cough be very painful and 
 obstinate, it may be necessary to bleed; but then the 
 disease is degenerating into bronchitis or catarrhal 
 fever. 
 
 The division of the windpipe just before it enters 
 the lungs, and the innumerable vessels into which it 
 immcdiatelv afterwards branches out. are called the 
 
bronchial tubes, and inflammation of the membrane 
 
 that lines them is termed. 
 
 Bronchitis. 
 
 It is catarrh extending to the entrance of the lungs. 
 It is characterized 03- quicker and harder breathing 
 than catarrh usually presents, and by a peculiar 
 wheezing, which is relieved by the coughing up of 
 mucous. 
 
 It is to be treated by bleeding, far less copious than 
 in inflammation of the lungs, or even in catarrh. 
 The horse will bear to lose only a small portion 
 of blood when laboring under inflammation of the 
 bronchial passages. The chest should be blistered, 
 and digitalis given, ami the other treatment similar 
 to that for inflamed lungs, with the exception of the 
 bleeding. Thick wind is a frequent consequence of 
 neglected bronchitis. 
 
 Catarrhal Fever. 
 
 This malady has various names among horsemen, 
 as epidemic catarrh, influenza, distemper. By the 
 latter name it is generally distinguished in racing 
 stables. 
 
 Symptoms. — It usually commences, like intkunma- 
 tion of the lungs and fever, with a shivering fit; to 
 which rapidly succeed a hot mouth, greater freat of 
 the skin than is natural, heaving of the flanks, and 
 cough. The eyes are red and heavy, and membrane 
 of the nose red, but considerably paler tnari that of 
 the lungs, and even occasionally bordering on a livid 
 hue. From the very commencement of the disease 
 there is some discharge from the nose; at first, of a 
 mere watery nature, but soon thickening, and con- 
 taining flakes, some of which stick to the membrane 
 of the nose, and have been mistaken for ulcere. 
 
 This discharge, at no great distance of time, be- 
 comes mattery and offensive. The glands likewise 
 of the throat and under jaw become enlarged, and the 
 membranes of the nostril and the throat are inflamed 
 and tender, and therefore the food is * quidded, 5 ' and 
 
there is difficulty even in swallowing water, particu- 
 larly if it be cold. The horse sips and slavers in the 
 pail, and repeatedly coughs as he drinks. The cough 
 is sometimes frequent and painful; so much so, that 
 the horse repeatedly stamps with his feet, and shows 
 signs of impatience and suffering in the act of cough- 
 ing. To these symptoms rapidly succeeds rery great 
 weakness. The horse staggers, and sometimes almost 
 falls as he moves about his box; or he supports him- 
 self b} r leaning his sides or quarters against the stall. 
 To the inexperienced observer, this early and excess- 
 ive weakness will be ver}- alarming, and he will give 
 up the horse as lost. The legs generally swell, and 
 enlargements appear on the chest and belly. These, 
 however, generally are favorable. The pulse is quick- 
 ened. It rises to sixty or seventy, but the number 
 of its beatings, and the character of the pulse, which 
 is seldom very hard, depend much on the degree of 
 fever which accompanies the disease. 
 
 After a few days the cough becomes less frequent 
 and painful; the glands of the throat diminished; 
 the horse begins to eat a little green meat, and is 
 more cheerful. In some cases, however, the mem- 
 brane of the nose reddens, or streaks of red run 
 through the lividness; and the legs become cold, and 
 the countenance haggard, and inflammation of the 
 lungs is at hand. At other times the breath is of- 
 fensive; the discharge from the nose bloody; the 
 evacuation loose, and slimy, and bloody; and the an- 
 imal is speedily destroyed. The cause of this disease 
 is obscure. It may be the consequence of common 
 cold; or it will more frequently depend on some un- 
 explained influence of the atmosphere. About the 
 middle of spring and the commencement of autumn 
 it is most frequent. Many horses in the same dis- 
 trict, or in almost every part of the country, will be 
 attacked by it. If the spring or autumn be wet or 
 variable, almost every cold will degenerate into it; 
 and there are too many circumstances which lead us 
 
[63.] 
 
 to conclude that it is infectious. A lot of horses was 
 bought at one of the fairs. They were all, but one, 
 sent immediately to the residence of the purchaser at 
 a considerable distance. The remaining one was 
 employed for some purpose, and afterwards sent on 
 a journey. He was seized with a distemper, and on 
 recovering sufficient to travel, he was taken home. 
 Three months had now elapsed since the purchase, 
 and the other horses had been perfectly healthy; but 
 in less than a fortnight after this horse arrived, they 
 all sickened with distemper. 
 
 The treatment of catarrhal fever requires much 
 judgment. It is clearly febrile in its commencement; 
 but it speedly assumes the character of weakness. 
 We will suppose that disease is discovered at its very 
 commencement. Bleeding will then be indispensible, 
 regulated in quantity by the degree of fever; rarely 
 exceeding four quarts, never intentionally pursued 
 until the animal is faint, and immediately stopped 
 when there is the slightest appearance of faintness. 
 The bleeding should be repeated if the pulse is fre- 
 quent and strong: or if the membrane of the nose is 
 getting red, and the legs cold, and even although 
 weakness should be rapidly coming on; but it should 
 be in small quantity, and the effect of it carefully 
 watched. 
 
 If the disease has been suffered to run on for two 
 or three days, and the horse begins to stagger, the 
 practitioner or the owner will consider all the symp- 
 toms well before he ventures to bleed. Redness of 
 the nostrils, heat of the mouth, quickness and force 
 of pulse, heaving of the flanks, or coldness of the legs, 
 will require the loss of blood, notwithstanding con- 
 siderable weakness; but if the animal is quite off his 
 feed, and the inside of the nose is livid, and he is 
 fast losing condition as well as strength, bleeding will 
 be better avoided. 
 
 It is of importance that the bowels should be evac- 
 uated; and there is not so much danger in the use 
 
[64.1 
 
 of a little purgative medicine as in inflammation of 
 the lungs. Two drams of Barbadoes aloes may be 
 given in the form of a ball, or in solution ; and in 
 twelve hours another dram may be given, and even a 
 third dose twelve hours after that, if the feces have 
 not been loosened; taking care to back-rake the ani- 
 mal, aud to administer of injections of thin gruel. 
 
 The sedative medicines at first exhibited should 
 be the same as in inflammation of the lungs, and in 
 the same quantity; but as soon as the fever begins 
 to remit, two drams of the spirit of nitrous ether 
 should be added to each dose; and, the weakness in- 
 creasing, and the fever still more subsiding, the cam- 
 omile may be ventured on, but with caution. Warm 
 clothing is necessary, aan particularly about the head; 
 and although the box should still be air}% it should 
 not be so cool as in inflammation of the lungs. If 
 the throat be so sore that the animal will not eat, 
 either the parotid or the submaxillary glands, or both, 
 should be blistered. It will be far better to blister 
 them at once, than lose time by the use of weaker 
 and ineffective applications. The discharge from 
 the nose should be promoted, and the natural prog- 
 ress of the inflammation of the nose aud throat hast- 
 ened by hot mashes being frequently put in the 
 manger, or if the horse is not too much distressed by 
 it, hung under his nostrils in a common nose-bag. 
 "When this is resorted to, a hood about the head will 
 be particularly necessary. 
 
 A great deal of weakness soon follows an attack of 
 catarrhal fever, and it will then be necessary, even 
 while we are subduing the fever, to support the 
 strength of the animal. He should be offered bran 
 mashes, malt mashes, damped hay, green meat, or 
 carrots. If he refuses to take them, they should be 
 inserted between his grinders, when, being com- 
 pelled to bruise them a little in endeavoring to get 
 rid of them, and thus experiencing their taste, he 
 will often be induced to eat several little portions. 
 
t 65 . 1 
 
 If he obstinately refuses to feed, he must be drenched-. 
 with thick gruel; but this will seldom bp. necessary 
 if all water be refused him from the earliest period 
 of the disease, and a pail with thinner gruel be sus- 
 pended in some part of his stall. When he finds that 
 he can get nothing else, he will drink sufficient of 
 this to afford him all the nutriment we require. The 
 preservation of due warmth in the extremities is as 
 necessary here as in inflammation of the lungs, and 
 should be attempted by warm bandages, and frequent 
 hand-rubbing. 
 
 The terminations of this disease most to be dreaded 
 are inflammation of the lungs, and putrid fever. We 
 know how to guard against the former, and we shall 
 presently speak of the latter. When, however, the 
 disease hangs long upon the horse, there is usually 
 much mischief done in the chest, although the ani- 
 mal may recover. Thick wind, broken wind, and 
 chronic cough are its occasional consequences; and 
 likewise, as the disease lias affected so great a por- 
 tion of the air passages, a peculiar liability to cold 
 and cough, and, not frequently, an unpleasant and 
 troublesome discharge from the nose will remain. Of 
 the latter we have spoken under the title of nasal 
 gleet; the others will presently come under consid- 
 eration. The farmer will not forget the infectious 
 nature of this disease, and will immediately separate 
 the sick animal from his companions. 
 
 The disease with which catarrhal fever is most 
 b'kely to be confounded is inflammation of the lungs; 
 and as the treatment of the two is in some particu- 
 lars so different, the farmer should be enabled read- 
 ily to distinguish between them. If a little care be 
 used this will not be difficult. The febrile character 
 of the pulse, the early discharge from the nose, the 
 frequent and painful cough, the enlargement of the 
 glands, and the soreness of the throat; the rapid loss 
 of strength, the sometimes constant, and at other 
 times variable warmth of the legs; the fidgettiness 
 
and pawing, will sufficiently distinguish catarrhal 
 fever from the oppressed pulse, red nostril, heaving 
 flank, little cough, fixedness of limbs, and coldness of 
 the extremities which accompany and characteize in- 
 flammation of the lungs. 
 
 The Malignant Epidemic. 
 
 This commences with nearly the same symptoms 
 as catarrhal fever; it probably at the beginning is 
 catarrhal fever, but more than usually violent, and 
 sooner exhausting the powers of the frame. 
 
 Its symptoms are rapid loss of strength, stinking 
 breath, foetid discharge from the nostrils, all the 
 evacuations becoming highly offensive, the pulse rapid, 
 small and weak, and the animal obstinately refusing 
 to eat. It soon runs its course. Gangrene soon suc- 
 ceeds to inflammation, and rapidly spreads from the 
 part first inflamed through the whole of the cellular 
 substance, and every portion of the frame. When 
 veterinary science was in its infancy, this pest used 
 periodically to appear, and carry off hundreds of 
 horses, and that breeder is fortunate who does not 
 now sometimes suffer from its ravages. The treat- 
 ment of it is very unsatisfactory. The prevention 
 may be a little more in our power, by endeavoring to 
 get rid of the previous disease by one bleeding, when, 
 in some seasons, catarrhal fever appears under a form 
 more than usually violent; and by bleeding with ex- 
 treme caution, or not bleeding at all, when debility 
 begins to appear. A mild purgative may be first 
 administered to carry off a portion of the offensive 
 matter contained in the bowels; after which, chalk, 
 and ginger, and opium, and gentian, and Colombo, 
 with port wine, may be plentifully given, with green 
 meat, or thick gruel; but except the horse be valua- 
 ble, the chance of saving him is so light, and prob- 
 ably the danger of spreading the pest so great that 
 prudence will prompt his destruction. Most frequent 
 in occurence among the consequences of catarrhal fe- 
 ver, and inflammation of the lungs, is chronic cough. 
 
THE WILD COLT. 
 
 The first requisite in the management of the wild 
 colt is to have a good room or training yard of about 
 twenty-five by thirty or forty feet. See that possible 
 causes of injury are removed, get the colt into this 
 room or inclosure as quietly as possible; if very wild, 
 see that hens, chickens, etc., are driven out. Say to 
 your friends, it is necessary to your success and a 
 condition of your instructions to be alone. 
 
 Your first object is to halter the colt. If not very 
 wild, you can easily work up to the shoulders and 
 head, and by scratching the mane, etc., slip the halter 
 on the head. But if the colt is wild, this may be dif- 
 ficult, if not dangerous, and one of the most import- 
 ant requisites is to guard against injury either to 
 yourself or horse, and at tae same time aceomplish 
 your end most easily and surely. The best way to 
 do this, is to proceed as follows: 
 
 Take an edging or pole about ten or twelve feet 
 long, more or less, as you may happen to find, or 
 danger may require. Whittle up a few strong chips 
 with your knife, about an inch or two from the end, 
 towards the center, and about seven or eight inches 
 from this, whittle up a few more chips from the oppo- 
 site direction, or you can drive a couple of nails into 
 the stick about the same distance apart, the heads 
 bent a little outward from each other. Take a com- 
 mon rope halter with a running noose, pull the part 
 that slips through the noose back about two feet. 
 Now hang the part thai goes over the head upon the 
 chips or nails at the end of your pole nicely, with the 
 hitching part held in your hands with the stick. 
 Your halter is now so spread and hung upon the stick, 
 
: 6 8. j 
 
 as to be easily put upon the head. If the eolt is not 
 greatly excited, he is easily attracted to the notice of 
 whatever is new to him. He has no way of examin- 
 ing objects but by his nose, and so he is prompted to 
 smell and feel of things that are new and strange to 
 him. Consequently you will find upon reaching out 
 the halter gently, hung as above upon the end of your 
 pole, he will reach out to smell and feel of it, and 
 while he is gratifying his curiosity in this way, you 
 can easily raise the stick high enough to bring the 
 halter over and back of the ears, when by turning the 
 stick half way round, the halter will drop from it 
 upon the head. This may frighten the colt a little 
 and cause him to run from you, but by doing so, the 
 slack of the part passing back of the jaw through the 
 noose, will be pulled up and the halter is on the head 
 securely. 
 
 Having your colt haltered, your object next is to 
 teach him to submit to its restraint. Take a position 
 about on a line with the shoulders, but at some dis- 
 tanee, and give him a sharp, quick pull towards you, 
 but instantiy slacking upon the halter. You have 
 the greatest advantage from this position, and by 
 adroitly following up this advantage, not attempting 
 to pull upon the eolt when he attempts to run back 
 or from you, he will soon, by a few sharp pulls in this 
 way, learn to feel and submit to the force of your 
 power. Should you pull slow and steady, he would 
 learn to pull bank upon you, and might throw him- 
 self down. This you will avoid b} T letting loose the 
 instant after you pull. When there is a disposition 
 to yield to you, get on the opposite side and repeat 
 pulling in the same manner, gradually alternating 
 from side to side, until the colt will come around 
 promptly. 
 
 You are to carefully avoid pulling ahead, until 
 there is a prompt submission to the restraint side- 
 ways. You can then gradually pull a little more on 
 a line with the body, until the colt will follow readily 
 
[69. \ 
 
 Ifthecolt isof a quick, prompt character ho will soon 
 learn to submit to the restraint of the halter; but if 
 very young or of a slow, sulky disposition, unaccus- 
 tomed to being handled, the most reckless resistance 
 is likely to be evinced. These fellows will sometimes 
 strike, kick, and plunge with remarkable energy 
 when pulled upon. When this character is shown, it 
 is necessary, not only to be patient, but careful. If 
 the colt becomes excited and reckless, let him stand 
 until cool, then continue the lesson slowly until suc- 
 cessful, Now put the hand lightly upon the nose and 
 gradually work it up the head, and back upon the 
 withers. It is possible the colt will strike with the 
 fore feet upon being touched upon the nose, or he 
 may stand apparently indifferent until the hand is 
 brought up to the ears. Colts that fight in this wa^y 
 are exceedingly dangerous, and it is policy not to be 
 hurried or rash. So far as the hand will be borne 
 on the head, } r ou can gradually work farther, but at 
 the least cringing, or appearance of resistance, hold 
 and work back to the nose or insensible part, then 
 up again to the point of resistance or beyond. In 
 this way you can work a little farther at each repeti- 
 tion, until there is no resistance to being handled 
 about the head. 
 
 Now tie a knot through the noose, so that it can 
 not slip, to prevent drawing tightly upon the nose 
 when pulled upon, leaving the nose piece large enough 
 to be quite loose. If the colt does not work up very 
 well to the halter after a reasonable effort, take a short 
 hold of the halter with the left hand, with the right 
 grab the tail and swing him sharply for a few times, 
 then repeat the pulling sideways upon the halter. 
 If the colt proves decidedly sulky and you wish more 
 power, you can either tie up one fore foot, which will 
 greatly lessen his resistance, or put on the war bridle 
 which will increase your power, and continue your 
 short, quick side pulls as before. The objection to 
 the war bridle in educating the colt to lead, is that it 
 
affords an advantage of too much severity to be 
 hazarded without the advantage of care and judg- 
 ment. 
 
 It is often advisable and even necessary, when the 
 colt acts sulky and excitable in breaking to lead to 
 the halter, to make it the object of two or three les- 
 sons; at all events the lessons must be repeated to 
 the end of perfect success. 
 
 In halter b eaking, it is important that the colt 
 should be taught to submit to be hitched. All re- 
 straints upon the head, especially by a - hard rope, 
 causes pain which perhaps frightens and stimulates 
 to greater resistance, and as in the efforts of teaching 
 submission to its restraint to lead, the efforts of re- 
 sistance must be prevented until a sense of submis- 
 sion is enforced. 
 
 Hitching the Colt in Stall. 
 
 Two principles are involved in controlling and 
 teaching the horse to submit to the restraint of the 
 halter while hitched. 
 
 The first, Jty teaching a sense of restraint upon the 
 head, until there is tacit obedience to the control of 
 the halter. Second, by disconcerting and disabling 
 at the moment of resistance. The first to be recom- 
 mended in the management of the colt. This is best 
 accomplished as follows: 
 
 Prepare your stall, which should be about four or 
 five feet wide, by attaching a rope so as to bring it 
 across and fasten firmly, so as to strike the hind parts 
 a little below where the breechen comes, or you can 
 bore holes through, or drive staples into the posts, 
 and fit a pole so as to put through in the same posi- 
 tion. Now lead the colt into the stall, and if conven- 
 ient, have an assistant tie this rope or pole, previously 
 fitted to come across the stall behind. If alone, run 
 the halter through the ring or hole in the manger, 
 and while holding the end in the left hand, step back 
 cautiously and tie your rope across the stall behind. 
 
r i . j 
 
 Now tie the halter long enough, so that as the colt 
 attempts to go baek, he will strike the rope or pole 
 across behind him, before lie can feel the restraint of 
 the halter. 
 
 You should in this, as in everything else 3-011 at- 
 tempt to teach your colt, be gentle. Get the colt into 
 the stall as quietly as possible, and after tying, which 
 should be after the rope or pole is put up behind, get 
 out as easily and quietly as you can. Would always 
 unite the halter before taking down the rope or pole 
 across behind, when wishing to remove the colt from 
 the stall. This prudence should be observed so long 
 as the colt is likely to resist or become frightened at 
 the plain, possible restraint of the halter would 
 render. 
 
 If a thorough sense of submission to the control of 
 the halter is taught in breaking to lead, and the colt 
 is of a prompt, nervous character, it ma} r be scarcely 
 necessary to resort to the prudence of putting any- 
 thing across behind the colt when first hitched in the 
 stall. But if a wilful, sulky character, and has not 
 been handled mueh, the prudence of putting a pole 
 or rope across the stall behind while hitched, is nec- 
 essary for at least a week or more. 
 
 Teaching the colt to submit to the restraint of the 
 bit is next of importance. * 
 
 Bitting: 
 
 Implies teaching the horse to submit the mouth to 
 the restraint of the bit, and at the same time give the 
 head and neck as great an elevation as the form and 
 temper will bear. Whenever the reins are pulled 
 upon, if this is imperfectly done, the horse may ac- 
 quire habits of resistance to the control of the reins, 
 as exhibited by pulling too hard on the bit, pulling 
 on one rein, will not baek, etc. 
 
 To accomplish this end most easily and perfectly, 
 implies a restraint that would be both flexible and 
 positive. If the bitting is inclined to the restraint 
 
of a chock, there being only simple dead pressure 
 upon the mouth, if checked up at first tightly and 
 too long, the horse may learn the habit of resting the 
 head upon the bit to relieve the weariness of the re- 
 straint, which would possibly teach the horse to work 
 into some one of the common habits of resitance to 
 the control of the bit. But as such resistance is easily 
 overcome by the use of the war bridle, (a description 
 of which find in a future page), there is but little dif- 
 ficuty with ordinary care and effort to educate the 
 mouth to submit the head fully and freely to the con- 
 trol of the reins. 
 
 To Get the Colt Accustomed to the Bit. 
 
 Put on the colt a common headstall with a joint bit 
 without reins. Allow him to run about in the yard, 
 or stand in the stall twenty or thirty minutes before 
 taking it off. Then after a while put it on longer, 
 and so repeat until the colt becomes accustomed to 
 the bit. 
 
 Bitting Bridie* 
 
 The colt may now be subjected to the restraint of 
 a bitting bridle. Any good bitting bridle will answer. 
 The object is to bring restraint upon the bit that will 
 hold the head up and back most easily and naturally 
 without freedom in any direction but in the direction 
 of the reins, 
 
 It seems needless to explain the details of making 
 a bitting bridle. There is necessity of its being made 
 to fit well, the gag runners to be well up near the ears, 
 and that the throat latch is not buckled so short as 
 to possibly choke, or press the least upon the thro it 
 when the head is thrown up. 
 
 When the bitting bridle is first put on, the reins 
 should be buckled so as to bring the restraint upon 
 the head a little short of entire freedom when the 
 head is held naturally. After being on fifteen or 
 twenty minutes, it should be removed. After an in- 
 
terval of an hour or two, it can be put on again, and 
 the reins buckled a little shorter, and left on a few 
 minutes longer; then again taking it off, and as con- 
 venience may dictate put it on again, a teach repeti- 
 tion making the reins a little shorter, until the colt 
 becomes accustomed to and able to bear the head to 
 be checked up to the extreme of his capacity. 
 
 If checked up tightly and tied short at first, the 
 colt is liable in his struggles for freedom to rear up 
 and fall over upon his head. If kept checked up too 
 long, the restraint becomes tiresome, and the colt may 
 learn to relieve the weariness so caused by resting 
 the head upon the bit, which would in most cases 
 teach the habit of lugging and pulling down upon the 
 bit, when pulled upon by the reins. If, however, the 
 colt should act sulky and mad at the restraint of the 
 check, leave it on until the fit is exhausted, and there 
 is a disposition to submit. 
 
 The lessons should be short until the mouth be- 
 comes hardened and accustomed to the bit, conse- 
 quently the shorter and more frequent the lessons 
 are repeated during the first three or four days the 
 better. 
 
 Very great difficulty is often experienced in both 
 teaching good submission of the mouth and bringing 
 the head up. When subjected to the restraint of the 
 bit by this svstem of checking, on account of the 
 imperfect manner, it is possible to teach prompt 
 obedience of the mouth to the restraint of the reins 
 by this system of dead pressure only, should the colt 
 resist the bit and act sulky, put on the colt's bridle, 
 (large loop, described in another page), and work up 
 the mouth three or four minutes, and repeat the les- 
 son until the head is thrown up promptly, and the 
 mouth given back freely to a very slight restraint 
 upon the bit. 
 
 The best form of check is made by passing the 
 ends of the ordinary check rein through the rings of 
 the bit, and attach to the check pieces a little above 
 
the eyes. This form of check brings the restraint 
 directly up and back upon !me mouth, ami accomp- 
 lishes the object more directly of bringing tiie head 
 up, than can be done }>3 r any other form of check 
 in use. / 
 
 Harnessing tiie Colt. 
 
 Put the harness on the colt carefully, and allow 
 him to stand in the stall, or run about the yard for a 
 half or three-quarters of an hour. Then remove it, 
 and after awhile replace it again, repeating two or 
 three times in this way, until the colt is thoroughly 
 reconciled to harness. Then tie the tugs into the 
 breechen, so as to be drawn moderately tight. Now 
 put on reins and gradually teach him to go ahead 
 and be controlled to the right or left, or to stop as 
 you please, by the restraint of the bit. Too much 
 should not be expected of the colt, at the commence- 
 ment of this lesson. First, gradually urim him ahead 
 by touching the whip lightly over his hips, and as he 
 moves turn him to the right and left, until he will 
 move promptly and turn in any direction freely to the 
 control of the reins. Would then teach him to stop 
 and start at will, by urging him ahead by a touch of 
 the whip, and stopping him by pulling on the reins, 
 being careful to say "get up," and "whoa," as each 
 requirement of going ahead or stopping is made, until 
 the colt learns to submit implicity to the control of 
 the reins, and is quite handy to drive in this way. 
 This may require several lessons of half or three- 
 quarters of an hour each. 
 
 Hitching the Colt to Wagon. 
 
 If it is intended to drive the colt single, would, if 
 convenient, prefer a sulky at first. Before hitching 
 into the shafts, he should be led up to the wagon or 
 sulky, and permitted to feel and smell of it as he 
 pleased. Then rattle and shake the shafts, at the 
 same time moving the colt around so that he can see 
 and hear the obiect from different sides. Should the 
 
COit show fear of the wagon and resist control, put on 
 the war bridle and work him up with it sharply, 
 until perfectly manageable and reconciled to it, Then, 
 regardless of the noise and rattle of the wagon or 
 •shafts, while between the shafts attach to the wagon 
 quietly, and for additional safety, put on a foot strap, 
 (a description of which find on another page), and 
 hold as a third rein while driving, Would let the 
 colt move off almost as he pleases* on a straight line. 
 Then gradually, as he will bear, teach, him to go to 
 the right and left, to the control of the reins. Great 
 care should be taken not to drive the eolt too much 
 at first, and at no time to the extreme of exhaustion. 
 Neither should the strength of the colt be taxed 
 much at first by driving up and down hill. Let him 
 move on a level road until accustomed to the noise 
 and restraint of the wagon. No attempt should be 
 made to back the colt, until gentle and manageable 
 to go ahead and sideways. It must be remembered 
 that the colt can not become handy and able to stand 
 the fatigue of much driving without time and patience. 
 Let his drives be moderate, both in gait and distance 
 at first. About a mile or two on a walk at first, grad- 
 ually increasing the distance to as much as he will 
 bear without fatigue, After learning to go nicely on 
 a walk, let him trot a little, gradually letting him out 
 faster and a little longer, as nice smooth pieces of 
 road give opportunity, but would be very particular 
 to confine these little bursts of speed at first to the 
 limits of a fvw rods, and never to the extent of ex- 
 haustion. Let him dash out a short distance, t 1 
 gradually pull to a walk, and speak eneoir 
 just as if talking to a boy. After awhi 1 
 again, perhaps pushing a trifle fas'" 
 not to the extreme of breaking 
 
 means expect that }~ou h - igiqgfo 
 
 haps, your colt is a - , cf -« jet kim. oik 
 
 good stepper, it o ov er . jVf l °^er, JJ, 
 
 rfenee. T ^ Z lVe * tetter? Uot fr ail 
 
[1 fl . 1 
 
 such a colt's speed and bottom. He is pushed, over- 
 done and spoiled, perhaps before he knows how to 
 trot, or is grown to his full strength. 
 
 It is generally the custom to drive the colt at first 
 in harness by the side of a gentle horse accustomed 
 to harness. When this is designed, the colt should 
 put on the off side, and to guard against danger, a 
 short strap with a ring on it, should be put around the 
 near fore-foot below the fetlock. Fasten the end of a 
 piece of rope or strap of about eight or ten feet long- 
 to the ring. Pass the other end over the belly-band 
 of the harness to the wagon. The fetrap is to 
 be held with the reins to ensure the utmost, control, 
 should the colt become frightened and attempt to 
 break away or kick, The whip should be held over 
 the old horse to keep him up to the movements of 
 the colt in starting, hut the gait should be kept mod- 
 erate, 
 
 In braking the colt to drive double, after driving 
 well on the off side, he should be reversed to the near 
 side $ there being less danger of becoming frightened 
 from getting into, or out of the wagon, or of seeing 
 things while being passed to or from the wagon on 
 account of being more from view on the off side. To 
 lesson the probabilities of fear and resistance as 
 much as possible, the off side is preferable at first. 
 The limited understanding of the horse, seems to re- 
 quire that the same impressions and understanding 
 should be given of the character and appearance of 
 things forced to his attention on both sides. If not, 
 when driven alone, or on the near side, he may become 
 suddenly frightened by the moving of a robe, um- 
 brella, the rustling of a lady's dress, etc., from that 
 side, See artieles on " Causes of Fear." 
 
 Teaching tlio Colt to Back* 
 
 When the colt drives well to the reins, he should 
 
t'l 7 . ] 
 
 be taught to back. This is most easily done with 
 the war or bitting bridle. Should he act stubborn 
 after using the war bridle a few moments, reverse by 
 putting the large loop over the neck, which will touch 
 him more sharply. If, however, he should become 
 warm, after a reasonable effort, or a lesson of Ave or 
 ten minutes, stop and repeat the lesson at any time 
 after becoming cool and quiet, when with rare excep- 
 tions the colt will soon learn to go back promptly. 
 You can now, if the colt is not warm or excited, put 
 on reins and teach him to go back by being pulled 
 upon from behind. This lesson of backing to the 
 reins should be repeated until the colt -is promptly 
 obedient. He may now be backed to wagon, but first 
 on a slightly descending grade, gradually requiring 
 more, and repeating the lesson until prompt to back 
 under any circumstances. 
 
 To Slide the Colt. 
 
 If the colt is not an extremely surly fellow, there 
 is but little difficulty in teaching him to submit to be 
 rode. Put on a bridle and tie the reins short over 
 the neck; you may now, after caressing a little over 
 the back, throw yourself lightly upon his back, and 
 gradually work into an upright position. But if 
 there is probability of much resistance, attach the 
 end of a strap or web to the off fore foot below the 
 fetlock. Take a short hold of this over the back; 
 move the colt to the left, and when the foot is raised 
 to step, hold it up. This may be done a few times, 
 until the foot is submitted. Then while holding the 
 foot up by the strap with the right hand, rest the left 
 on the mane, over the withers, and throw yourself 
 lightly across his back and work gently into an up- 
 right position. Then, as may be necessary, move the 
 colt, taking and giving the foot until there is perfect 
 submission. 
 
To Handle jlte Coifs Feet. 
 
 It is natural for the colt to resist being handled 
 about the feet. The feet are his natural means of 
 defense, and any impudence or excitement may induce 
 resistance, 
 
 Tie the end of your short strap gently around the 
 hind leg above the fetlock, then, while holding the 
 halter in the left hand, with the right, pull up this 
 strap, which will bring the foot forward. As the foot 
 is submitted in this way, pull it in other directions 
 until submitted freely to the restraint of the strap. 
 Then take the foot in the hands, put it down, take 
 up, rub and handle it as may he necessary, until it is 
 freely submitted in any manner. If, however, the 
 colt is determined in resistance, the restraint must be 
 made more positive, 
 
 Tie the end of your long strap around the neck, 
 near the shoulders, pass the other end back between 
 the fore legs, around the hind foot, but under the 
 strap around the neck, and draw upon it, at the same 
 time holding him by the bridle or halter. The colt 
 may be frightened and jump to get clear of the re- 
 straint. Should he act very much frightened, slack 
 upon the strap until the foot is almost back to its 
 natural position ; then, as he will bear, again pull a 
 little shorter, at the same time pulling him around 
 in a circle by the head, until he ceases struggling to 
 get the foot 'uiose. You may now pull the foot farther 
 forward, and hold it as before, until the colt will stand 
 quietly, Now step back a little and pass the hand 
 down fche hind leg. Slap the hand upon the leg a 
 little until there is no resistance, then take it in 
 the hands If there is no resistance, undo the end of 
 the strap, and allow the foot a little more freedom; 
 at the same time, while holding the foot by the strap, 
 pass I he ol her hand from the hip down the leg quietly, 
 rubbing and carressing until able to take in the hands. 
 Now. let it down gently, at the same time rub the 
 foot q little Then, while standing in front of the 
 
leg, put the left hand upon the hip, while you pass 
 the other down the leg to the fetlock. At that in- 
 stant press against the hip with the left hand, while 
 you pull gently with the right upon the foot. Press- 
 ing upon the hip throws the weight of the hind parts 
 upon the opposite leg, which relaxes the muscles of 
 the one nearest, and allows it to be taken up freely. 
 
 The other foot must be eontroled and taken up in 
 the same manner. Care should be taken when it is 
 desired to take up the foot, that the hand is started 
 from some part of the back or hip, and then as it is 
 being passed down to the foot, place the other hand 
 against the shoulder or hip of the foot, and, as before 
 explained, at the instant of pulling upon the foot to 
 take it up, press from you with the other hand. To 
 forcibly take up the fore feet, pass your short strap 
 over the back and attach it to the foot below the fet- 
 lock. Then with the left hand pull the head around 
 to you, when, as the horse steps, with the right pull 
 on the strap, and the foot can be taken up easily. 
 Tamper the colt around in this position until he 
 ceases in his struggles to free the foot, then take the 
 foot in the hand. After rubbing it a little, put it 
 down gently, then take it up again, and so continue 
 until no resistance is offered. 
 
 This lesson should be repeated several times, or 
 until the colt is made thoroughly gentle to have the 
 feet taken up and handled. 
 
 War Bridle. 
 
 This is simply a fine threaded cotton cord of the 
 best material, twisted hard, of about three eights of 
 an inch in diameter, and twelve or fourteen feet long. 
 Tie each end into a hard knot, just as you would to 
 prevent its raveling, with the difference of putting 
 the end through the tie twice. Then pull down tight 
 and hard close to the end. Now tie another knot 
 about twelve inches from the end, but before drawing 
 it tight, put the end through. This will make a loop 
 
that will not slip or draw through. The great sim 
 plicity of this form of knot, with the ease with which 
 it can be united, gives it preference to me over all 
 other forms of knot I have e^er used, and is, in my 
 judgment, the best form of knot, all things considered, 
 to be recommended for general use. The peculiar 
 power this means of control enables upon the 
 mouth, is liable to cause accident, when used upon a 
 quick; sensitive horse or green colt, with too much 
 energy in such a manner as to bring the restraint di- 
 rectly back upon the mouth, which would in many 
 cases, cause the horse to rear up and possibly fall 
 over backwards upon the head. The objection to this 
 form of knots is, that it forms so sharp an angle at 
 the point of junction as to catch and prevent the cord 
 from sliding back loose the instant slacked upon, 
 which would increase the danger of a horse going 
 over upon his head when jerked upon in a rough, im- 
 prudent manner. Of course a horse is liable to get 
 killed by such an accident, and it must and should 
 be guarded against. But the difficulty of making 
 and untying knots that would afford more freedom 
 for the part passing through, makes them objection- 
 able. The principal danger is, however, from violent 
 erking too much on a line with the body backwards. 
 This loop should be just large enough to go over the 
 lower jaw, back of the bridle teeth of the horse it is 
 intended to be used upon. 
 
 The other end can now be formed into another 
 loop in the same manner, with the difference of being 
 large enough to go over the head and lit tightly around 
 the neck, near the shoulders. 
 
 Applying the War Bridle* 
 
 There are two ways of applying and using the war 
 bridle : 
 
 First method: While standing forward of the 
 shoulders on the near side of the horse, throw the 
 small loop over the neck, and take in the left hand 
 
s i .; 
 
 Then, with the right, put the large loop through from 
 
 the top side. Now pass the left hand forward to the 
 mouth, adroitly spreading the loop in the same posi- 
 tion over the thumb, second, third and fourth fingers, 
 at the same time the right hand is to he passed un- 
 der the neck, around the head, upon the nose, which 
 is to be grasped gently but firmly, while the loop is 
 put over the jaw back of the bridle teeth with the left. 
 
 Second method: Take the large loop between both 
 hands, and while standing directly in front of the 
 horse, slide it over his head, well back upon the neck, 
 about where the collar rests. The loop should be 
 made in size to fit tightly around this part of the 
 neck. Now put the other end down between the 
 loop and neck. Put the loop this forms into his 
 mouth back of the bridle teeth, then draw down upon 
 the end until the slack is taken up. The small loop 
 form we denominate the old horse's bridle. The large 
 loop, the colt's or bitting bridle. It is noticed that 
 the action of each form is exactly the reverse of the 
 other. When great power and control of the mouth 
 is required, the small loop is to be used. When to 
 give style and make the mouth sensitive to the bit, 
 the large loop. The peculiar value of the war bridle, 
 depends very much upon the skill and tact employed 
 in its use. 
 
 Like the whip, it may, and often must be employed 
 with energy, but with discretion, but always propor- 
 tioned to what it is seen the horse will safely bear. 
 
 Frequent allusion will be made to the use of this 
 means of control for different purposes. The advant- 
 ages it enables over the mouth, though in itself 
 simple, is susceptible of being made directly, or in- 
 directly, not only an instrument of great power in 
 many ways, but of making a great variety of impres- 
 sions, both in changing and forming habits. There 
 seems to be an intimate connection between the 
 mouth and the brain. Hence a manageable mouth 
 
implies a manageable horse. It' the mouth is un- 
 manageable, the horse is headstrong, wilful and vi- 
 cious. Again, one of the great points of success in 
 the successful management of horses, is the ability 
 of attracting the. mind from the channel of inten- 
 tional resistance. 
 
 Now, thorough control of the mouth, enables these 
 advantages in establishing a sense of submission be- 
 yond what can be taught in any other way, to the 
 control of the bit. When used skillfully for such 
 purposes as it is adapted, it is an instrument of great 
 power and value in educating and controlling the 
 horse into habits of sumbission. The effects we are 
 now able to produce upon the mouth in a few min- 
 ute's time by the use of this simple instrument, are 
 often so great as to seem wonderful and beyond be- 
 lief, if not seen. 
 
 Foot Strap. 
 
 Any piece of strap or rope of about twelve or four- 
 teen feet in length, simply tied around the fore foot 
 in most any manner, will answer in an emergency. 
 Hut as simply tying or knotting around the foot is 
 objectionable on account of the danger of chafing 
 and preventing circulation, or possibly untying at 
 some critically moment, when necessary to use a foot 
 strap much, it should be especially adapted for the 
 purpose, by making as follows: Have a nice smooth 
 strap made, about twelve inches long and an inch 
 wide, with a buckle on one end and buckle holes 
 punched in the other. About one inch from the 
 buckle should b< Itted under the lap passing around 
 the buckle, a ring or 1) stitched in nicely. The edges 
 of this strap should be dressed down nice and 
 smooth, or much better, cover the part coming in 
 contact with the foot, with a piece of soft leather. 
 This sirMi) is intended to buckle around the foot be- 
 low the fetlock. Into the rinsj fasten the end of a 
 
strap or web, fourteen feet long and an inch and a 
 half wide. 
 
 How to Use the Foot Strap. 
 
 Buckle the short strap around the near fore foot 
 below the fetlock, then pass the long strap over the 
 hell}' band on the near side, back to the wagon, and 
 hold as a rein. This gives control of the foot at 
 will, which so disconcerts and disables the h:>rse as to 
 make him comparatively helpless. If there is an ef- 
 fort to run away, run back, or kick, simply pulling 
 upon the strap, throws the horse off his balance, and 
 disables him from his purpose. This, it is seen, can 
 be repeated and followed up at will, as may be nec- 
 essary. 
 
 On the instant the foot is taken up, the horse 
 is thrown off his balance, and to keep him from fall 
 ing he has to throw the other foot forward. There 
 is really no danger of the horse falling, and you hold 
 him at a disadvantage that renders successful resist 
 ance almost impossible. Now if you strap up one of 
 the fore legs, the horse cannot travel* and if disposed 
 to kick, can balance on the other leg and kick, which 
 he cannot do when held and disconcerted at will in 
 this way. We are unable to carry out the principle 
 of disabling practically, by simply straping the leg 
 up. The moment tin' strap is off, protection against 
 resistance is removed, and yourresourse of control is 
 limited to that of prudence and good management, 
 while with the foot strap tin* horse is really free to 
 travel, but completely in your control, should emer- 
 gency require it. You control and disconcert the 
 horse in the very act of resistance, ami make your 
 control available so far as it is possible b> do, by dis- 
 abling one foot. The short foot strap is simply a 
 piece of web ten feet long. 
 
CAUSES OF FEAR. 
 
 To the excitement and Impulses of resistance in- 
 duced by tear, may be attributed, directly or indi- 
 rectly nearly all the bad habits to which horses are 
 subject. Hence it is of the greatest importance in 
 educating the young horse to guard against any cause 
 of excitement that would rouse the mind to an ex- 
 treme sense of danger. Repeated and continued suc- 
 cess teaches confidence, while failure weakens and 
 destroys strength of purpose. 
 
 The limited understanding of the horse induces 
 great extreme of this peculiarity. Hence very sus- 
 ceptible to the influence of good or bad treatment, 
 and almost wholly in character, in accordance to the 
 influences made subject. 
 
 Were we to play upon a drum quickie or unex 
 pectedly near a horse unaccustomed to the sound or 
 appearance of a drum, it would in almost every in- 
 stance induce the most terrible fear, and if success- 
 ful in getting away, he would be ever afterwards 
 frightened at the sound or appearence of a drum or 
 anything of the kind; the rattle of the wagon, or fly- 
 ing of the blanket from his back, he would perhaps, 
 in his terror, regard with equal alarm, and associat- 
 ing those things with the first cause of fear, they may 
 become objects of equal repugnance and resistance. 
 Now kicking is the horse's principal means of de- 
 fense. The excitement and fear prompts this act. 
 This brings his heels in contact with the whiffletrees 
 or cross-piece, which adds to his excitement and fixes 
 the impression that the object from which he is run- 
 ning, has hit him. The struggle to escape the danger 
 
18 5. . 
 
 is redoubled both by running and kicking, and thus 
 the horse becomes not only nervous, but a kicker, 
 possibly learns to resist the control of the bit and be- 
 comes a headstrong, reckless, dangerous animal. But 
 if the drum were brought to the notice of the horse 
 slowly and gently, allowing him to feel of it with his 
 nose, then touch it lightly with your linger, gradually 
 striking harder as he would bear, it would be but a 
 short time before the horse will bear the drum being- 
 played upon in any manner, even though it were 
 resting upon his back, and he would care nothing 
 about it, and be less likely to become frightened at 
 the sound or appearance of a drum afterwards, but of 
 other objects or sounds of like character. 
 
 We see that when the horse is not given time to 
 get a correct understanding of the harmless charac- 
 ter of the object, or cause of excitement, his sensibil- 
 ities are liable to be stirred to an anticipation of real 
 danger, and excite resistance, while gentle, careful 
 management, is a repetition of convincing proofs of 
 the innocent character of causes exciting suspicion, 
 until the horse becomes so fearless and confident, as 
 to care nothing about ordinary causes of excitement 
 and restraint. Now the great difficulty with most 
 people is, they are too harsh and precipitate. They 
 undertake to do, and require more than they have 
 power to enforce, or than the horse is able to under- 
 stand. 
 
 In educating the eolt, the rule should be to do and 
 require only so much as lie will bear and understand, 
 by commencing slowly, and gently repeating and fol- 
 lowing up one advantage after another, to the end of 
 inspiring entire disregard of cause of excitement. 
 The horse's principal sense of understanding, is by 
 seeing and feeling with the nose. This is his means 
 of examining things new and strange to him. If in 
 approaching the colt, you were to reach out your hand 
 gently, he would smell and feel of it with his nose. 
 
Every other means of understanding seems lo be 
 subordinate to this, consequently in handling the eolt 
 we should always commence at the nose, then gradu- 
 ally work back as there is submission. The same 
 care should be taken to overcome fear of being handled 
 about the feet, etc. Commence at an insensible part 
 and work -to the sensible. In educating to harness, 
 the same prudence should be exercised by bringing 
 the object to the nose, or leading the horse up to 
 the object and allowing him to feel and examine it in 
 his own way. 
 
 We must be satisfied with our ability to guard 
 against and overcome these difficulties of fear as we 
 can, or as circumstances and opportunity will oiler. 
 The great point of success is in guarding the horse 
 from being roused to a great sense of danger from 
 any cause, and gradually as he will bear, force the 
 mind to an understanding of the innocent character 
 of the object, or cause of excitement. Familiarity 
 with any kind of danger blunts the sensibilities, and 
 the object is to produce this result most easily and 
 directly. I regard this care and prudence so essen- 
 tial and important in attaining real success in render- 
 ing horses gentle and manageable, that at the risk of 
 being tedious in my explanations, I subjoin details of 
 management in reconciling horses to the most com- 
 mon causes of fear. 
 
 To Reconcile the Colt to a Kobe. 
 
 First, while held under careful restraint, let the 
 robe be brought up gently to the colt's nose. After 
 smelling and feeling of it in his own way until satis- 
 fied, rub it gently against the head, neck and body 
 the way the hair lies, as he will bear. Then stand 
 oil' a little and throw it across the back, over the neck 
 and head, gradually stepping farther, until you can 
 throw the robe upon and around him as you please, 
 though quite distant. 
 
To Overcome Fear of an Embrclia or Parasol. 
 
 While holding the colt by the halter or war bridle 
 as maybe neoessay, bring the umbrella up to his nose 
 gently, rub it against the head, neck and bo$y, and 
 as he will bear, then spreading it a little, repeating 
 
 the process of rubbing, and so continue gaining little 
 by little until you can raise the umbrella over the 
 head and pass it around the animal as you please, 
 without exciting resistance. 
 
 To Reconcile to the Sound of a, Gun. 
 
 First, commence by snapping caps a short distance 
 from the horse, gradually as he will bear, approach- 
 ing nearer until you can snap caps while the gun is 
 resting on the back, over the head, etc. Then put in 
 a little powder, and at each repetition increase the 
 charge until you can fire oil' a heavy load without 
 exciting fear. 
 
 To Prevent Fear of Railroad Cars. 
 
 Let the animal see them at rest, then gradually 
 lead or drhe him up to them, even smelling them 
 with his nose. Now as you have an opportunity, 
 drive the horse around while they are moving, work- 
 ing up nearer as you can, at the same time turning 
 him around so that he can hear and see them from 
 different directions. This lesson should be often re- 
 peated, being careful not to crowd beyond what the 
 colt will easily bear, until they cease to attract his 
 serious attention. 
 
 Objects Exciting- Fear While Riding or Driving. 
 
 Should the horse show fear of a stone or a stump, or 
 anything of the kind, he will naturally stop instantly 
 and stare at the object in the most excited manner. 
 Should the cause of fear be great and sudden, he may 
 attempt to turn around and run away. This is to 
 be guarded against, by sitting well forward on the 
 
seat, and taking a short hold of the reins, at the same 
 time speaking calmly and encouragingly to the horse. 
 Bear in mind, that the horse has a great advantage 
 over you that his excitement is liable to precipitate 
 his whole strength against you at the least sense 
 of freedom, or additional cause of excitement; that 
 once resisting in this position, he will try to do so 
 again at all hazards, under like circumstances. 
 
 Speak encouragingly to the horse, but keep a close 
 watch upon his actions. In a short time the tension 
 of his alarm will not only be perceptibly relieved, but 
 he will become calmer, and almost disregarding the 
 object. Then drive nearer as he will bear, exercising 
 the same patience and care. At each effort to get 
 nearer the horse will become apparently as much 
 frightened as at first. But keep pushing a little at a 
 time this way as the horse will bear, until you can 
 drive up to the object or by it, and you not only leave 
 no bad impressions upon the mind, but gradually 
 overcome the disposition to be frightened. 
 
 Sometimes a horse will dislike a wheel-barrow, 
 baby wagon, turkeys, etc., but the treatment is the 
 same. When the excitement is not so great as to en- 
 danger successful resistance, and the horse is dispos- 
 ed "to play off, or soldier " it may be advisable to ap- 
 ply the whip a little sharply, but this is to be avoid- 
 ed, when it is seen the resistance is wholly induced 
 by fear, and the animal is not lazy. 
 
 Some horses while driven to carriage, will not bear 
 the noise and excitement of other horses being driv- 
 en up behind. This is principally on account of the 
 horse's inability to see and understand the cause of 
 the excitement, or it may be owing to the fault of the 
 driver. Some one drives up rapidly behind, perhaps 
 wishes to "go by," to prevent which, the colt is hal- 
 looed at and whipped up, to prevent such a result. 
 This may be repeated a few times and thercsultis, if a 
 spirited horse, the habitis acquired of rushing ahead 
 
to avoid the punishment expected under such cir- 
 cumstances, and* very often, too, a horse is forced in- 
 to this habit by being run into from behind. 
 
 The Blinders Prevent Seeing 1 Plainly. 
 
 It must be remembered that the bliners in general 
 use so cover up the eyes as to make it impossible to 
 see things plainly sideways, and wholly so from be- 
 hind, must tend to this result; and certainly we are 
 convinced of this, when we see that to overcome the 
 animal's fear of any object, the first and most obvious 
 point is to induce an understanding of its appearance 
 and character. Blinders are admissable only when 
 there is a desire to conceal the effects of a large head 
 and to cause a naturally lazy horse to drive steadily, 
 by preventing his ability to see when the whip is 
 about to be applied. 
 
 Tine Horse Must See tne Object off Fear ffrom Dif- 
 ferent Positions. 
 
 Tt is one of the peculiarities of the horse to under 
 stand and be reconciled to an object, or cause of ex- 
 citement only from the position and circumstances 
 brought to his notice. This seems to be on account 
 of the horse's reasoning powers being so limited, as 
 to be unable to retain the same understanding of the 
 object beyond the position from which it is brought 
 to notice. 
 
 Every progressive change of position requiring al- 
 most the same care and patience of that preceding. 
 For example, if in teaching a horse to become re- 
 gardless of an umbrella, it were shown only on the 
 near side, upon carrying it to the off side, would in- 
 spire nearly as much fear as at first from the near 
 side, or there may be aversion to some particular ob- 
 ject, or resistance may be inspired only under certain 
 circumstances. You may succeed in getting a colt 
 gentle to be rode from the near side, but upon at- 
 tempting to do so from the off side, would, in all 
 
probability, be resisted. A gentle horse upon being 
 hitched to a top buggy for the first time, upon get- 
 ting a glimpse of the top over the blinders, became 
 so alarmed as to defy all control, kicked clear of the 
 carriage and ran away; was as usual gentle and fear- 
 less to an open buggy, but would not bear a top. A 
 fine young stallion perfectly regardless of a locomo- 
 tive, and apparantly of everything else, was so fright 
 ened by the sound and appearance of an engine sud- 
 denly from behind, which was a position he never 
 saw it from before, that he kicked himself clear of the 
 /wagon and got away, and would thereafter, not only 
 kick in harness upon hearing the least rattle or un- 
 usual sound, but would not bear a locomotive. The 
 impulse of fear first induced by the engine, prompted 
 the kicking which brought the feet in contact with 
 the cross-piece of the shafts, which increased his ter- 
 ror, and associating thereby the wagon with the en- 
 gine, its rattling noise became a cause of repungence 
 as that of the engine or cars. 
 
 A high spirited, but gentle mare was taken to a 
 smith shop. The smith struck her sharply tw r o or 
 three times, for not standing or submitting the foot 
 to his; satisfaction, which so frightened the mare that 
 she would not allow any one having a leather apron 
 on to go near her, or allow her feet to be handled. 
 Have frequently found instances of horses being 
 gentle single, but vicious and unmanageable double, 
 and gentle double, but not single, etc., etc. 
 
 These peculiararities imply the necessity, as ex- 
 perience proved, of forcing an understanding of the 
 object from every side, and in every manner it is us- 
 ually seen byjiim when in use. 
 
 If, for instance, a horse is afraid of an umbrella 
 while in harness, he ma}- be taught to care nothing 
 about it out of harness; but if not taught to feel and 
 understand, its character in harness, would be apt to 
 
I 91. i 
 
 be as much frightened at it in that position, as if he 
 knew nothing about it. 
 
 This seems to puzzle many well-meaning men, and 
 is often the cause of much disappointment, 
 
 A horse that is afraid of an umbrella, is brought 
 forward to illustrate the management of such habits. 
 In a short time the horse will bear the umbrella over 
 and around him in any manner without seeming to 
 care anything about it. The owner is pleased with 
 the belief that his horse is broken; when in harness 
 at some future time, he raises an umbrella behind the 
 animal and is astonished to find him as bad as ever, 
 and he naturally condemns the instruction as of no 
 account; and indeed without reflection, this would 
 seem to be about the truth of the matter. But when 
 it is seen in the first place that it is often necessary 
 to repeat the lesson several times a day, possibly for 
 days, to fix an impression of the harmless character 
 of the object; and in the second place that it is often 
 necessary to give the horse the same understanding 
 of the object in harness, that expecting the animal 
 to be broken of the habit by a single indirect lesson, 
 only tends to defeat success. For without ability to 
 control the horse, every attempt to force upon him l he 
 object of aversion, only inspires greater resistance, 
 because taught to a still greater degree to resist con- 
 trol, and a sense of freedom always tends to increase 
 the animal's fear of the object. Now the efforts of 
 the owner to control the horse directly in a position 
 of so great a disadvantage, may produce exactly this 
 result, and then from an ignorance of the cause of 
 failure, it is believed impossible to make the horse 
 gentle. 
 
 The main point of success in overcoming nervous 
 sensibility, is in the tact of preventing the horse from 
 becoming frightened from any cause, and when ex- 
 cited with fear of an object, as circumstances and op 
 portunity will permit, to let him see and understand 
 
(92. j 
 
 that it is harmless. Let the object be seen and brought 
 to his notice from different directions, and above all, 
 the lesson must be repeated day after day, if neces- 
 sary, so long as the animal shows fear of the object, 
 otherwise the efforts will be useless and the horse 
 made more timid and unmanageable than before. 
 
 The Management of Old Horses of this Character* 
 
 is virtually the same as that of colts. The only dif- 
 ference being in the greater restraint necessary to 
 overcome the extreme resistance a great sense of fear 
 may cause. A horse excited with great fear of an 
 object, may not only try with all the energy of de- 
 spair to free himself from restraint and get away, but 
 light most wickedly. Indeed, I regard a horse feel- 
 ing extreme fear of an object, as being one of the 
 most difficult and dangerous to encounter. He is 
 likely at any instant to throw all his strength into 
 the contest for freedom, and if held near the object 
 may strike and kick at it with all the recklessness of 
 despair. The control of such should be made as se 
 vere as possible, by thorough training with the war 
 bridle (small loop.) Then tie down as tight as pos- 
 sible. The horse will be so disconcerted and disa 
 abled by this, that he is unable either to wholly con- 
 centrate his attention upon the object, or resist the 
 severe restraint upon the mouth. If an umbrella, 
 robe, or anything of the kind is the cause of fear, it 
 can now be brought gently to his notice, and as he 
 will bear, against the nose, head, neck and body as 
 b. lore described. 
 
 Should the animal prove to be not only extremely 
 nervous, but vicious, tie the head to the tail, as ex- 
 plained for balking, etc., and keep the horse moving 
 until resistance becomes impossible, and while tied, 
 forcing an understanding of the object, gradually 
 giving freedom, and repeat the lesson as may be nec- 
 essary. If a top wagon is the cause of fear, getthor- 
 
93. i 
 
 ough control of the mouth with the war bridle, then 
 gradually work the horse up to the wagon rattling it, 
 etc. Then lead hirn into the shafts, and, as he will 
 bear, turning him around and backing him into and 
 pulling the shafts upon him, raise and lower the top, 
 etc., repeating the lesson as may be found necessary. 
 When the horse is attached to the wagon, the top 
 should be lowered, and the greatest care a should be 
 taken to have the harness strong, and every detail of 
 the hitching perfect, and to guard against possible 
 resistance or accident, attach a strap to one or each 
 of the fore feet, with the ends carried over the belly 
 band back to the wagon and hold with the reins. 
 Such a horse, it must be remembered, is likely to do 
 his utmost to get away, and as it is not always possi- 
 ble to control with the reins, the advantage of con- 
 trolling by the feet becomes indispensable. The 
 horse must now be driven and be made to submit to 
 control, with the top up or down at will, until regard- 
 less of it and is perfectly manageable. 
 
HABITS OF THE HORSE. 
 
 Turning - Around find Running' Away. 
 
 Some horses get in the habit of turning around in 
 the road and running headlong in the defiance of the 
 control of the reins when excited b} T fear of an ob- 
 ject or sound. To break such, get the utmost con- 
 trol of the mouth with the war bridle, and carry out 
 this advantage by keeping the head checked high 
 and using a sharp, strong bit that gives purchase 
 enough to jerk the horse off his feet at the least inti- 
 mation of resistance. Now be gentle and prudent in 
 overcoming the fear of the animal, as explained in 
 other cases, if necessary* 
 
 Horses often resist with so much energy in this 
 way from a sense of a great fear, or some particular 
 objecl of sound, most commonly that of an engine 
 and cars, that all sense of restraint is lost in the 
 struggle to get away. To overcome such resistance, 
 we use what we denominate 
 
 Mechanic or Safety Shafts, 
 
 ms le as follows: 
 
 Get three scantlings or poles of good tough timber 
 >ut four inches in diameter, and fourteen feet 
 in length* each. Put down two ol' these, so as to 
 them two»feet apart and thirteen at the other. 
 Now lay the other pole across on the ends of the 
 others widest apart, about six inches from the ends. 
 Mi : : and halve them together. Then bore a hole 
 through both pieces at each corner so fitted, and bolt 
 then; firmly together. To fix the other ends, get a 
 in iron, four feet long, and bend it in the 
 
form of a breast collar, the rounding side in, so as to 
 have each end extend back on the inside of the poles, 
 ten or twelve inches, and lit up nicely to the wood. 
 Have two holes punched or drilled through each end 
 of the iron, by which to bolt it firmly to the poles. 
 Then drive staples into or near the ends. 
 
 To finish the other ends, take two pieces of iron 
 about a foot each in length and an inch in diameter, 
 flat one end and punch through two holes. Work 
 down the other ends to a sharp point; bend down the 
 ends so sharpened about six inches, in the form of a 
 half circle; bolt these irons under the ends of the 
 poles, the sharp end pointing down and back, form- 
 ing dogs, something like those on the end of sleigh 
 runners, to prevent the sleigh running back. Now 
 harness your horse into this arrangement, taking the 
 precaution to wind the irons across the ends with an 
 old piece of cloth and strengthening the harness if at 
 all likely to break, by tying a piece of rope around 
 with the breechen and around the body as may be 
 thought necessary. Though perhaps the best way 
 to hold, the shafts, as we call them, nicely up to the 
 neck, is by bringing a strong rope or strap over the 
 neck and fastening around the iron near the wood. 
 It must be remembered that before hitching the horse 
 into this, he should be subjected to the most thor- 
 ough training of the mouth with the war bridle. 
 When hitched, get behind the cross-piece, holding 
 the reins. If the horse now attempts to go back, the 
 iron hooks on the ends of the poles settle into the 
 ground, making it impossible to do so. Should lie 
 attempt to turn short around, the pole extends out 
 and back from the shoulders at almost right angles, 
 preventing a movement in that direction. If he at- 
 tempts to rear, the restraint of the breechen becomes 
 a lifting lever upon the hind parts, and the horse is 
 at once disabled. Now drive the horse forward to 
 the cars, putting your loot on the cross-piece and 
 holding the horse to his position when showing fear, 
 
to the end of forcing him up to the object of fear. 
 
 It must be remembered that a horse once really 
 frightened at an object, which is likely to produce 
 such great and sudden fear as an engine or cars, can 
 seldom with anything like ordinary effort, be made 
 so regardless of them when suddenly and unexpect- 
 edly moved near him, as to be made at all safe for 
 family driving, or purposes involving much respons- 
 ibility when brought into possible proximity to them. 
 But if the animal is much prized, and rendering him 
 safe and gentle much of an object, go to work with a 
 will, following up one advantage after another, driv- 
 ing the horse often and perseveringly around the cars 
 until successful. But it must be remembered that 
 fear is the least voluntary and least controlable to 
 the reason of the feelings, when once fully aroused 
 and when the nervous system is prostrated by its 
 force and continuance, it is the most difficult of all 
 manageable habits to overcome. There is a limit to 
 the advantages of skillful management, in this re- 
 spect, so far as absolute success is concerned. It is 
 not possible to make a horse of any spirit absolutely 
 fearless, and the consideration which should govern 
 an honest desire to hit the mark best, is to give a 
 correct understanding of what it is practical to do. 
 My advice is, if the horse is really bad, do not trust 
 yourself or family behind him. The risk is too great 
 to be borne, or advised to be hazarded in the hands 
 of most men. 
 
 Kicking- in Harness. 
 
 It is very essential, in the first place, that the mouth 
 is made as manageable as possible to the control of 
 the bit. An unmanageable mouth is one of the 
 great causes of mischief in many ways, and none 
 more than in kicking. If there is good control of 
 the mouth, so that you can attract and hold the 
 horse's attention and throw the head up the instant 
 
there is the Least intimation given of kicking by a 
 sharp jerk on the reins, yon can, in almost an instant 
 prevent the developement of this intention. Put on 
 the war bridle (small loop,) and work up the mouth 
 thoroughly. If the horse is dull or hard mouthed, 
 change the small loop for the large one, or colt's bri- 
 dle, which lias a more severe and positive effect up- 
 on the mouth. Repeat the lesson twoor three times, 
 or until the mouth is made perfectly manageable. 
 Then use a sLort snaffle bit that will enable the abil- 
 ity to retain this advantage. 
 
 If the horse is young and not very bad or deter- 
 mined in the habit, put on the foot strap, having the 
 war bridle on. Now work the horse up on the tioor, 
 tripping and disconcerting as in teaching the colt to 
 submit to being touched with straps or anything else 
 about the legs. When there is submission to being 
 touched in this way, hitch to a wagon and hold the 
 foot strap as a rein while driving. Now trip and dis- 
 concert the horse, by taking and giving the foot at 
 pleasure, and so disabling him at each indication of 
 resistance until gentle. This training should be 
 thorough, and repeated until there is perfect sub- 
 mission. Now check up short and control and hold 
 the horse from kicking by the restraint and control 
 of the bit, If the horse is slow and kicks only once 
 in a while, take a rounded strap or strong half inch 
 rope about twenty feet in length, place the center of 
 it on top of the head, pass both ends through the 
 rings of the bit, then through the gag runners and 
 back through the terrets. Have a ring fastened to 
 the back strap of the breechen, back of the hips, put 
 both cords or straps through this ring, pass down on 
 each side and tie short enough to the shafts to bring 
 the head well up. Everything should be so strong 
 as not to endanger oreaking. The horse is now nice- 
 ly checked up, with the restraint so connected that 
 at the least effort to throw the hind parts up, the 
 reins are so pulled upon as to throw the head up in- 
 
bluntly, and the horse is thereby disconcerted and 
 disabled from bis purpose A leather strap that has 
 been nicely fitted and rounded at least from the head 
 to Lips, adds to the appearance of the harness, and 
 shows the apparent intention-only of a check. If the 
 horse is a reckless, determined kicker, more severe 
 and positive measures of restraint and reproof are 
 necessary. 
 
 Put on the war bridle, (small loop,) and work up 
 sharply right and left. If tiie month is hard and un- 
 yielding, change for the large loop, or colt's bridle, 
 and work up three or four minutes. Then let the 
 horse rest a few hours, and repeat until the mouth is 
 sensitive and manageable to the hit. Next put on 
 the war bridle, (small loop,) tie a piece ot rope tight- 
 ly around the body, just back of the shoulders. Put 
 a strong and well fitting rope halter on the head, tie 
 a strong' two-inch ring on the end of the hitching 
 part, which should be of a length to extend between 
 the fore legs, over, and just back of the belly band. 
 Have made two strong straps, with rings in them, of 
 a, suitable length, to buckle around the hind legs 
 above the fetlocks. Now drawn down tightly upon 
 the war bridle and tie into a half inch. This will 
 make the horse stand quietly while being handled 
 beh'nd. Now buckle the straps around the hind legs 
 above the ietlocks. Then take a piece of strong 
 Manilla rope, long enough to extend from the ring- 
 on the end of the halter back to the belly band, to 
 each hind foot. Pass the end of this through the 
 ring to the center, and tie each end carefully into the 
 ring on the straps around the hind legs, the whole so 
 arranged in length that the horse can travel easily 
 and naturally. Now untie the war bridle and let 
 the horse jump and kick. If necessary restrain and 
 punish with the war bridle. If the horse is a reckless, 
 determined kicker, make him kick all he will, then 
 treat him gently. If the horse submits pretty well, 
 the straps may be taken oil', and let him stand quietly 
 
for a few hours. The folly should never be indulged 
 of trying to see if the horse would kick after the 
 straps have been taken off. Then put on the straps, 
 etc., as before. If the horse does not kick treat him 
 gently; if he does, force sharply, until there is sub- 
 mission. If the horse is a bad kicker, leave the 
 straps on while standing. When he will bear being 
 moved around in the yard without kicking, would 
 hitch to a wagon and drive, repeating thoroughly, day 
 after day, until there is no disposition to kick. Thfm 
 take off the straps, and, when driving, checkup 
 short. The best and most natural check lor this pur- 
 pose is made by passing the < heck reins through the 
 rings of the bit and fastening to the check pieces of 
 the bridle up near the ears, or passing up and unty- 
 ing the ends on top the head, back of the ears. The 
 gag-runners ought to be well up near the ears, and 
 strong, or use the Jackson form of check. Checking 
 up the horse in this way, short, with the control and 
 restraint of the reins, by pulling upon them sharply 
 at the instant there is an indication of kicking, will 
 now, with care, enable the advantage of keeping the 
 horse from kicking. 
 
 Bad kickers must be handled thoroughly, and with 
 great care to be successful. It is necessary in some 
 cases, to leave the straps on a week or two, and then 
 the control or reproof upon the mouth should be 
 carried out in the most careful and thorough manner. 
 The mouth is the grand point of control in most all 
 cases, and especially in the management of the kicker 
 is this essential. The mouth should be worked up 
 once in a while with the war bridle, to keep it sensi- 
 tive, and fix upon the mind a sense of submission to 
 the restraints of the bit. 
 
 When the horse is very excitable and nervous, this 
 is a difficult habit to break up. If the training is 
 careless, and is not made thorough, little advantage 
 will be gained in the management of these bad kick- 
 ers. With the most skilful and thorough treatment 
 
it is hard enough, and indeed almost impossible, in 
 many instances, to make such horses practically safe. 
 
 Kicking and Striking while Shoeing-. 
 
 Some horses have a peculiar aversion to having 
 their feet handled, and if once roused to resistance, 
 from any cause, arc apt to become pretty determined 
 in the habit. If the foot is pulled away when taken 
 up, or the horse is excited and injured in some way, 
 while the foot is held, the fear of injury is produced 
 and associated with the requirement, which by the 
 usual pulling, hauling and kicking practices of the 
 shop, make the horse worse. The least intimation 
 of ability to resist after being taken in hand, always 
 inspires the horse to renewed confidence and resist 
 ance, and if there is not ability or perseverance 
 enough to enforce the end of perfect submission after 
 trying to do so, the horse is only made worse, more 
 reckless and determined in the habit. As the object 
 is to break up the habit, the energies must be con 
 contrated as directly and forcibly as possible, until 
 the horse is so disconcerted and shaken in the confi- 
 dence of his powers of resistance, as to yield to re- 
 straint and submit the feet as required, when the 
 submission must be made permanent by patient, gen 
 tie treatment. The treatment here given applies to 
 the worst eases, though we have found it necessary 
 in some instances to resort to more severe treatment, 
 but the exceptions are so rare, requiring the extreme 
 of force, and may be the cause of accident to others, 
 that we do nol think it advisable to give more than 
 we would believe most practical, with rare excep- 
 tions. 
 
 If the horse kick's and resists, having the hind feet 
 shod, put. on the war bridle, (small loop,) leaving the 
 bridle or halter on. 'Take a firm hold of the strap, or 
 nun, about six or eight inches from the" head, grab 
 the hair of thj tail, and swing the hors s 3harply four 
 or live times around. Phis will make tie j horse diz 
 
zy. Now pull the cord right ami left six or eight 
 times, as quickly and energetically as possible. Then 
 tie the long 1 strap around the neck, near the shoul- 
 ders, in the form of a running noose; pass the other 
 end back between the fore legs, around the hind leg, 
 below the fetlock and back through the loop, round 
 the neck, drawing it through short enough to bring 
 the foot well forward. Pass the end back under, to 
 prevent sliding, and retain in the hand. The horse 
 will now be very likely to struggle to uet the foot 
 loose Should his resistance be so great as to en- 
 danger injury, you can give loose on the end of the 
 strap. When the horse cease* trying to get the foot 
 loose, rest the left hand upon the hip, with the right 
 pull on the foot forward and outward. If there is great 
 resistance, pull the horse around by the head, which 
 will enable you to keep him in such limits as you 
 wish. When the struggle ceases, go back and han- 
 dle as before. When the foot is submitted to the 
 hand, while held to the restraint of the strap, put 
 the cord well back upon the neck, draw it down 
 tightly, and tie into a half hitch. Then pull upon 
 the foot with the hand as before. If not resisted, 
 untie the strap and take the foot in hand gently. 
 Put it down and take it up, rubbing and handling 
 until there is entire submission. Then carry it back 
 with the right hand, keeping well forward out of dan- 
 ger, by resting the hand upon the hip, and pulling 
 and yielding to the foot until manageable. Now pass 
 the left hand down to the inside of the leg, and take 
 it adroitly from the right and carry it back gently; 
 put it down and take it up once or twice. Then ham- 
 mer upon it lightly, gradually increasing, until the 
 foot is submitted as required. Now untie the cord 
 and tie it a little longer; go back and handle the foot 
 as before. If submitted, untie the cord, holding the 
 end in the left hand, and handle as before. If there 
 is an intimation of resistance, tremble on the cord, 
 which will keep attention on the mouth and remind 
 
of the previous control until the toot is submitted 
 
 without restraint. Manage the other hind foot in 
 the same manner. Handle the horse in this way 
 three or four times, with the difference of lessening 
 the severity force as there is submission, until the 
 feet can be handled without resistance or fear. 
 
 When the horse is taken to the shop to be shod, 
 put on the bridle, stand at the head, and at the least 
 intimation of resistance, tremble the cord; if neces- 
 sary, even tying down prett}- short, as at first, but 
 care must be taken in no instance to keep the cord 
 tied down longer than two or three minutes, as the 
 pressure is usually so great upon the mouth and neck 
 as to prevent circulation. The smith should handle 
 the foot gently, hammering lightly at first, gradually 
 striking harder, as there is submission. The foot 
 should not be held up very long at a time, and there 
 should be especial care to speak encouragingh' to the 
 horse, rub the head and neck, etc., after doing well. 
 
 The object is to fix the impression that submission 
 is the only wa} r to evade the pain and force of re- 
 straint. If the horse strikes and resists shoeing the 
 fore feet, turn him around and train with the war 
 bridle, as before explained. Then put the long strap 
 over the back, and attach the end to the foot. Pull 
 the foot up and hold it by this strap, turning the 
 horse around by the head if necessary, until the foot 
 is submitted. Then pass the end of the strap around 
 the foot and tie fast. Now pull right and left four or 
 five times energetically with the war bridle, put the 
 cord well back upon the neck and tie down tight. 
 Handle the foot, and hammer upon it. If there is 
 no resistance, untie the strap and take the foot in 
 hand and hammer upon it lightly. If there is no 
 resistance, untie the cord, caress, and while holding 
 the end in the hand, take up the foot quietly. If 
 there is no resistance, put it down almost immedi- 
 ately, caressing and speaking kindly, as before. In 
 this way gradually do and require more, until the foot 
 
can be taken up, handled ami pounded upon as may 
 be necessary, without resistance; but at the least in- 
 timation of resistance, punish sharply. This char- 
 acter of resistance is not very common, but is usual- 
 ly persistent and dangerous. When an extreme char- 
 acter, train with the war bridle thoroughly and per- 
 severing!}-, while the leg is tied up, until the horse 
 is pretty well exhausted. If a colt of a sanguine tem- 
 perament, not accustomed to being handled much, 
 tie the bridle rein into the tail, as for balking, and 
 keep the horse moving, until his reckless spiteful- 
 ness wears out, and he submits the foot to be han- 
 dled as required. Then untie and handle gently. A 
 colt though apparantly very bad, will yield readily to 
 this method of management. This treatment is 
 pretty effectual, if made at all thorough. But it must 
 be remembered that adroitness and care in guarding 
 against needless haste and severity, is as essential to 
 success, as the advantages of force. Most horses of 
 this character are excitable and nervous, and conse- 
 quently easily roused to resistance by careless, harsh 
 treatment. If the horse strikes badly, and it is only 
 desired to put on the shoes with safety, tie the toot 
 up, pull sharply right and left upon the war bridle 
 until the horse is pretty thoroughly disconcerted. 
 Then keep' the foot tied up while putting on the shoe. 
 
 Kit lining Away 
 
 Is the result of a sense of freedom, and want of con 
 trol of the mouth. The horse throws the momentum 
 of his strength against the bit, and if successful in 
 resisting control, the habit is induced. It is true the 
 resistance may be caused by the animal becoming 
 frightened; but this only points to the principal 
 cause of weakness, the feeble control there is over the 
 mouth. Train with the war bridle (small loop) four 
 or five times. If the mouth is very unmanageable, 
 change for the large loop, and work back upon the 
 mouth of it pretty thoroughly. This lesson must be 
 
repented until the mouth is sensitive and managea- 
 ble to the bit. Then hitch the horse single, using a 
 small steel snaffle-bit, and having on the foot-strap. 
 Move the horse gently; after going a few rods pull 
 on the foot-strap, saying, "whoa!" Trip and stop the 
 horse in this way a few times, by way of feeling of 
 him; then move him off sharply and jerk upon the 
 reins, saying, "whoa !" in an excited manner. Repeat 
 in this way making the horse go slow or fast, making 
 him stop at will. You are now in a position to learn 
 your exact control of the mouth. If there is 
 prompt and unconditional submission to the control 
 of the bit, you can trust to the reins; if not, that 
 point must be attained by greater advantage of the 
 bit. Take two straps, each about a foot in length, 
 with a buckle on one end and a ring on the other. 
 Run the buckle ends through the rings of the bit, and 
 buckle on over the cheek pieces of the head-stall, or 
 the cheek pieces may be taken out and these pieces 
 put in place of them. When arranged in this way 
 the rings must be so large as not to go through the 
 rings of the bit. Fasten the reins to the rings on the 
 straps. As the lines are pulled upon now the bit is 
 forced into the mouth, which will greatly disconcert 
 and disable the horse from his purpose. Now drive 
 as before, stopping and starting at will. If there is 
 decided willfulness, or a determination in the horse 
 to resist control, be decided and positive. I have 
 had instances of such horses trying to run away in 
 defiance of the control of the foot-strap. If this tem- 
 per is anticipated put a strap on each forward foot at 
 first, then if there is an attempt to rush ahead when 
 the foot is drawn up, pull on the other, which will 
 stop him at once. Care should be taken, when this 
 is found to be necessary, to select a sandy or sodded 
 piece of road to prevent having the knees injured. 
 Now drive the horse fast or slow, as you please, and 
 repeat, stopping him at will, until promptly obedient 
 to the control of the reins. 
 
\ .) 
 
 It the horse mas away from fear of some object or 
 cause of excitement, drive around and near sueh, 
 stopping and starting the horse, until there is will- 
 ingness to submit to restraint and look at things 
 without attempting to get away. Remember, also, 
 the slower the horse is moved the less liable he is to 
 become frightened, and the easier to control his ac- 
 tions. 
 
 The mouth should be kept thoroughly managea- 
 ble by a sharp lesson with the war bridle two or 
 three times a week, for a mouth or two. 
 
 If the horse runs away in double harness, work 
 with the war bridie, as before explained, and drive 
 with the foot-strap, and repeatedly, until there is sub- 
 mission to the control of the mouth. The main 
 thing is to get such control over the mouth as will 
 insure abilit\ 7 to control the actions of the horse by 
 the bit. This is the ultimate object and must be aim- 
 ed at from the first. 
 
 It is the worst of folly to hazard life and property 
 behind a horse that has once run away until thor- 
 oughly broken of the disposition to resist. If the 
 horse is old and determined the training must be 
 made very thorjugh, and repeated until there is cer 
 tainty of control with the reins under any circum- 
 stances of excitement. Short of this the horse can- 
 not be driven with safety, and had better be put off 
 or used for purposes not involving danger. 
 
 It is very remarkable what a powerful effect train- 
 ing will have on the mouth, and how strangely stub- 
 born and unmanageable a horse may become after 
 once learning to resist the restraint and control of 
 the bit. 
 
 A strong, high-tempered horse nerved to the con- 
 test of resistance in this way, is not by any means to 
 be regarded lightly or easily controlled. The greatest 
 care should be taken to have the harness and wagon 
 used, safe and strong. The contest may be desper- 
 ate, and it is part of your strength to provide against 
 
accident. The great trouble with most people of ev- 
 en good experience with horses, is that they do not 
 see the necessity and advantage of being thorough 
 in changing this habit. Better do much more than 
 is necessary, and be successful, than hazard the pos 
 sibility of failure by not doing enough. 
 
 A very good way. although not so practical, to man- 
 age a desperate runaway horse is as follows: Have 
 a little ring or loop attached to the head-piece 
 of the bridle, just - back of each ear. Pro- 
 
 vide a strong cord, pass one end through the near 
 loop from the top -side, pass down under the throat 
 up through the loop on the opposite side, and tie into 
 the other part back of the head. The cord now forms 
 a loon that draws directly upon from the wagon, 
 when the other end is intended to be held, with the 
 veins in your hand. When the horse attempts to run 
 you can instantly, with the greatest ease, prevent his 
 breathing, and he must stop, or soon fall down from 
 exhaustion. This is a terrible means of restraint 
 and punishment, and is pardonable only when the 
 horse is so desperately reckless as to resist other 
 mea 
 
 Turning Around While Driving* 
 
 rious and dangerous habit. The limit- 
 
 s it is possible to exercise over the 
 
 ideways while driving, makes it difficult to 
 
 control the resistance of a determined, reckless horse, 
 
 when excited to opposition in this way. The horse 
 
 is usually excited to resistance by being frightened 
 
 in ome way, and when there is, it is most always 
 
 without warning, and with all the energy of despair. 
 
 Without a sense of ability to control the mouth in 
 
 rough and convincing manner, it will be 
 
 impossible to break up this habit, It is easy enough 
 
 to prevent the horse turning around by other means. 
 
 but tl 30 little disposition to use anything re 
 
 quiring any trouble to obtain or use. that they are 
 
not practical. Get the greatest possible control of the 
 mouth with the war bridle (small loop.) To do this 
 well, may require three or four thorough lessons. If 
 there is not ability to control the horse with ease by 
 the ordinary form of power bits, use one made as fol- 
 lows : Let the mouth pieces of the simple snaffle form 
 extend out two inches from where the rings for the 
 reins are, with rings on the ends. Now attach a 
 strong, double strap around the nose, from one inside 
 ring to the other, quite short, but not tight. Buckle 
 the reins into the rings on the ends. When the 
 reins are pulled upon now, the joint in the center is . 
 thrown forward against the roof of the mouth, the 
 strap around the nose being the fulcrum, while the 
 great length of mouth piece outward, from where the 
 strap is fastened, gives all the advantage of power 
 necessary. It would be better perhaps, by having 
 two joints at the center, about an inch apart. The 
 power over a mouth bj T a bit of this form is very 
 great. It gives the power needed to bring the head 
 sideways. Associated with this habit is usually that 
 of 
 
 Runuiiig- Ka.ck. 
 
 To break up this habit, there must be established 
 a thorough fear of the whip, so as to induce going 
 ahead, whenever commanded. Put on harness and 
 tie the tugs into the rings of the breeehen rather 
 short. Now drive around with the reins, giving a 
 sharp cut with a good bow whip around the "tegs, 
 once in a while, if not prompt. As the horse learns 
 to spring ahead a little on the lines, gradually repeat- 
 ing until he will pull quite hard on the bit to go 
 ahead. Make this as thorough as possible. In driv- 
 ing, repeat, and carry out this, going ahead prompt- 
 ly, whipping up sharply once in a while if necessary. 
 This purpose can be carried out with more certainty 
 in driving, if the foot strap is used. 
 It is scarcely necessary i'o add, that to in- 
 
10 8. J 
 
 sure success, requires prudence and thoroughness. 
 Persevere until the horse is made manageable under 
 the most exciting circumstances. If the animal is 
 reckless and dangerous, the mechanic or safety shafts 
 described to control horses afraid of cars, etc., can be 
 used. 
 
 Pulling Hard on tike Bit. 
 
 If the horse is of a moderate character, the resist- 
 ance proceeds from a want of sensibility in the mouth. 
 Work the mouth up with the war bridle, (large loop) 
 until made sensitive to restraint. Whenever there 
 is a disposition to pull a little too hard, give a quick 
 raking pull on the lines, repeating as may be neces- 
 sary. Repeat the lesson of working up with the war 
 bridle three or four times, to fix the impression of 
 submission to restraint. As there is now a disposi- 
 tirn to pull too hard while driving, give a quick, 
 raking pulkm the reins, which will soon break up the 
 habit, If the horse is sensitive and energetic, estab- 
 lish, if possible, a feeling of submission to restraint 
 by careful and thorough training with the war bri- 
 dle, both small and large loops. Use a small snafHe 
 bit, and at each effort to rush ahead, give a sharp side 
 pull right and left on the lines, as before explained, 
 giving loose immediately, and so repeating at each 
 effort to pull ahead, being careful not to show any 
 excitement. The horse will soon learn to avoid the 
 pain of these raking pulls, by going slower. Great 
 delicacy and patience are necessary to break up this 
 habit thoroughly. The natural ardor of the horse 
 forces resistance to restraint. Excitement increases 
 this tendency, and if once established, the horse will 
 pull a bit that will bruise and cut the mouth in the 
 most severe manner. Talk gently and encouraging- 
 ly to such a horse, but reprove sharply, as before ex- 
 plained, for the least disposition to lug. This will 
 excite the horse at first. He may dance and fret but 
 no matter. At every attempt to pull, set him back. 
 
1 1)9 . 
 
 V>v beins patient and persevering in -reproving and 
 forcing obedience to control, whenever .there lis an 
 impulse to resistance, with rare exceptions, the horse 
 will soon learn to yield readily to the most gentle 
 control of the rein, [f the horse resists this treat 
 ment, drive with the purchase strap, as explained 
 for the control of runaway horses. 
 
 Will not Back. 
 
 Put on the war bridle, (large loop,) step in front 
 of the horse, and press back upon the bridle quietly. 
 If the horse goes back a little, caress; if not, after a 
 short interval, press •< little harder, being careful not 
 to be too hurried or excited, as by too great an effort 
 to force at first the horse is apt to become so greatly 
 excited, and the sensibility of the mouth in conse- 
 quence,' so soon blunted, that the horse could scarcely 
 be made to yield to very severe training. Continue 
 at slow intervals, repeating the pulls upon the mouth 
 caressing and speaking encouragingly for the least 
 effort to go back but making tic power of the bridle 
 felt, Some horses do not seem to know how to 
 back, or are so dull and sulky as to resist all ordi- 
 nary effort. When the resistance is of this charac- 
 ter, throw the short web over the back, and tie the 
 vnd to the off fore foot. Pull the foot up with this 
 web, then let it down gradually, and while doing so, 
 press back gently upon the 'bridle Holding the 
 the foot and letting it down in this way. brings it 
 down back of the other, which weakens the resist 
 ance, and by a little effort will induce the horse to 
 move the other foot to an equal distance to regain 
 his balance. Repeat this, until the horse will move 
 back quite easily: then follow up the advantage by 
 control of the bridle, oi' get an assistant to attach a 
 web or cord to the foot, and get behind the horse and 
 pull the foot back, wheu you can press as before, 
 gently upon the bridle. To work easily and thor 
 oughiy. it is best to stop as soon as the horse becomes 
 much excited or sulks, for an hour or two: then re- 
 
LI 10 
 
 peat. When the horse will go backas required, then 
 back while hitched to a wagon, first a little down hill, 
 and then on a level, gradually in positions requiring 
 more strength. Work gradually but thoroughly, giv- 
 ing the horse time to understand what is required, 
 thus gradually pressing him to do more, until he has 
 learned, and is willing to use his strength in this 
 way. 
 
 Pulling; on the Halter. 
 
 Tie a piece of rope around the body, back of the 
 shoulders, in the form of a girth; put on a strong rope 
 halter, with the hitching part about ten feet in length. 
 Lead the horse into his stall, and quietly pass the 
 hitching part through the ring or hole in the manger, 
 and pass it back between the forelegs over the girth, 
 and around the fetlock, long enough to enable the 
 horse to go back four or five feet before feeling re- 
 straint. When all is ready, strike upon the rope fif- 
 teen or twenty inches from the head, with a pole in 
 an excited manner. The instant the horse settles 
 back to pull, the restraint comes equally upon the 
 hind foot, which will so disable and disconcert him, 
 that after a hard pull or two, he will jump ahead. If 
 the horse is of a slow, determined character, force 
 back with energy. The instant the horse conies 
 ahead, stop and caress. Then push him back by the 
 halter and at each repetition of settling back to a 
 pull, make him pull as hard as possible. 
 
 This lesson must be repeated so long as there is 
 the least disposition to pull. Hitch in the stall in 
 this way for a few da^ys, and, as may be necessaiy to 
 hitch to other places, attach to the fore leg above the 
 knee. The horse should be hitched in this way, un- 
 til there is certainty of his not pulling. 
 
 Almost any way of bringing the restraint upon the 
 hind parts if carried out with energy and prudence, 
 will enable the changing of this habit. The halter 
 can be attached to the hair of the tail, a piece of rope 
 brought under the tail in the form of crouper, tied 
 
together over the buck, then brought forward on each 
 side of the shoulders, and fastened to the end of the 
 hitching part of the halter, would be perhaps a better 
 way of doing this. When the horse is of a moderate 
 determined character, the great point of success is in 
 frightening and forcing back with energy, when 
 hitched, Colts of a sanguine temperament, not ac- 
 customed to much restraint, are by far, more reck- 
 less and determined than old horses. 'While they 
 yield more readily than the old horse, the;, are more 
 reckless at first, and would be apt to pull themselves 
 down. Whipping and frightening the old horse with 
 energy at the instant of his pulling, prevents this; 
 but the colt is not likely to respond to the force of 
 any excitement. He seems to loose all conscious- 
 ness of feeling in his strange desperation, and you 
 would be defeated. 
 
 Instead of tying the hitching part to the leg, bring- 
 round the leg and retain in the hand. Now, if the 
 horse pulls too recklessly, give loose on the halter, 
 then lead him up again and repeat until the resist- 
 ance is so weakened that the halter can be attached 
 to the foot with safety. It is always best to weaken 
 the disposition in the colt to pull, by training with 
 the war bridle, until there is prompt obedience to its 
 restraint, when pulled upon ahead, as for bridle pull- 
 ing. 
 
 Pulling oit the Bridle. 
 
 Put on the war bridle (small loop) and bring the 
 part over the neck up to the ears. Now step a little 
 forward and sideways and give a quick energetic pull 
 on the cord. In a few seconds, give another sharp 
 pull, repeating at short intervals until the horse comes 
 ahead a little. Immediately loosen the cord and ca- 
 ress. Then repeat the pull and so continue for four 
 or five minutes, when the horse' should be allowed to 
 rest an hour or two, and again repeat the lesson un- 
 til a the horse will come ahead promptly when pulled 
 upon. 
 
Now run the curd through tbo ring of the hitching 
 post, having the horse stand three or four feet side- 
 ways from it, and give him a sharp pull. Should he 
 come up to the post promptly, loosen the cord upon 
 the head and caress; repeat pulling until he does. 
 When the horse comes up promptly, get some one to 
 frighten him hack; should he pull, hold against him 
 until he comes up again, and so repeat. It may be 
 necessary to repeat this lesson two or three times to 
 break up the habit thoroughly. Make the lesson of 
 leading ahead very thorough. Lf the horse does not 
 lead well, put the cord down on the neck and pull 
 sideways, right, and left, a lew minutes, then bring 
 the cord up to the ears and pull ahead until there is 
 prompt obedience to the least restraint upon the bri- 
 dle. 
 
 Culling- on one Reiia. 
 
 Put on the war bridle (small loop) and pull in the 
 opposite way, until the horse will come round prompt- 
 ly. Make this thorough by training, etc., two or 
 three times. Use a small snaffle bit :m<\ at the least 
 intimation of resistance, pull on the line two or three 
 times sharply. If the horse does not yield to this, 
 put on the war bridle and give a few sharp side 
 pulls as before. When the horse is roused to resist 
 anee, alter there is an effort to change the habit, the 
 training must be continued until there is uncondi 
 tioual surrender. 
 
 Had to KritUc. 
 
 Put on the war bridle (small loop,) pull right and 
 left a few times and tie down short. Now handle' the 
 head quietly, rubbing the way the hair lies, gradual 
 ly working up to the ear--. A^ there is submission 
 tie the cord a little longer. riieu hold the con I in 
 the hand, whole the other is pas-;. 1 . 1 over the neck; 
 as this is done press down a little with the hand 
 over the neck and head and pull neatly with the 
 otiier on t he i-ow\. When I h. 1 h.?a 1 is viet.lj 1 in t he 
 
[113.] 
 
 least, ease on the cord and caress and so repeat until 
 the head can be handled freely. 
 
 Now tie down short enough to prevent the head 
 being thrown up. Take the bridle in the right, 
 bring it over the head and neck gently; with the left 
 hold the bit lightly between the fingers. Press down 
 with the right to hold the head steady, while the bit 
 is being worked in the mouth gently with the left. 
 If the horse does not open his mouth freely for the 
 bit, press the lower lip against the teeth with the 
 fingers, which will cause him to do so readily. Now 
 gradually reduce the restraint, until the bridle can be 
 put on easily without being tied. If the horse runs 
 back and strikes, back him into a stall, put on the 
 girth, press the cord between the legs over the girth 
 back to the head and tie into the part around the 
 jaw. Now put on the bridle gently. It requires 
 much firmness and prudence to manage horses of this 
 character well. They are usually excitable, and, 
 however severe the restraint, at first, it must be re- 
 moved and the fear or disposition to resist, overcome, 
 until the head can be handled and submitted as re- 
 quired. If the horse is disposed to resist the bit and 
 it is simply desired to put on the bridle, pass the 
 right hand under the neck around the nose and hold 
 it firmly, while the bit is put into the mouth with the 
 left, then bring the head up gently and put it over 
 the ears. If there is much resistance at any time, it 
 ought to be immediately controlled by the restraint 
 of the bridle. 
 
 If ail Hiters. 
 
 An old, bad horse of this character cannot be made 
 reliably gentle, by the most thorough training. The 
 least want of watehiag seems to be forever encoura- 
 ging the horse to satisfy his propensit\ T ; and however 
 through the training, it' there is not watchfulness, the 
 horse will be continually encouraged to break over, 
 and persevere in the habit. The main point of suc- 
 cess is to fix, and hold the horse's attention. Work 
 
up thoroughly with the war bridle, then reprove 
 sharply for the least attempt to bite. Let the actions 
 and language indicate confidence and power. In ap- 
 proaching the head look at the e} T e and speak sternly 
 saying, "Take care, sir!" or something of the kind. 
 If the eye is roguish, and the ears are thrown back, 
 bring the hand well up on the head, then down to 
 the nose-piece of the halter, and grab firmly where 
 the cheek-piece is attached. If there is an attempt 
 to bite now, the hand is carried up with the head, 
 and is held out of reach of the mouth. If the horse 
 is not very old, with thorough training and good man- 
 agement the habit can be held in cheek, and possibly 
 broken up; but an old, bad horse of this character 
 cannot be made safe. So long as there remains a 
 desire to resist, the horse cannot be regarded broken. 
 The intention is most always held latent, liable to be 
 developed at the least indication of weakness; and if 
 the horse is allowed to bite in a determined manner, 
 without instant and positive reproof, training will do 
 but little good — and in fact, the horse is liable to be- 
 come worse by the experiment. 
 
 Pawing in Stalls. 
 
 Get a piece of chain about ten inches in length, 
 run a short strap through one of the end links, and 
 buckle it around the foot above the fet lock; or a 
 piece of light chain can be fasted to a small block, 
 and attach it. to the foot in the same manner. When 
 the horse attempts to get paw, the clog or chain rat- 
 tles against the foot, and prevents a repetition of the 
 practice. 
 
 Getting Cast in Stall. 
 
 Drive a staple into a beam or the floor directly ov- 
 er the horse's head, as he stands in the stall, to which 
 attach a strap or piece of small rope of sufficient 
 length to extend to within fifteen inches of the floor. 
 Before retiring for the night, attach the other end of 
 the cord or strap to the top of the halter, making it 
 
[115] 
 
 just long enough to allow the horse to put his nose to 
 the floor. Being now unable to get the top of his 
 head to the floor he is prevented from rolling. 
 
 Running in Pasture and Jumping Fences. 
 
 Put on the horse a nicely fitting old five-ring hal- 
 ter; get a piece of thin leather from twelve to four- 
 teen inches square (an old boot leg cut open is the 
 best,) cut a hole in each corner of this leather. Now 
 tie two corners up to the cheek piece of the halter, 
 near the ears, with a couple of strings; tie the other 
 corners to the cheek pieces below the eyes in the 
 same manner. This brings the leather in front of 
 the eyes with its corners so drawn back, above and 
 below, as to prevent the horse looking forward, above 
 or below the eyes, though free to see in any other di- 
 rection. He will not trot or run or jump, because un- 
 able to see ahead, and is in consequence afraid to do 
 so. s 
 
 Breaking up While Trotting. 
 
 If the horse cannot be held down to his gait, when 
 forced on the trot, put on a light web halter. Have 
 fitted a nice, strong strap, long enough to extend 
 from the jaw to the belly-baud of the harness, one 
 end arranged with a buckle so as to enable taking up, 
 or letting out to fit, with a two-inch ring stitched into 
 the other end; attach this to the halter back of the 
 jaw, run the other end back between the legs, over 
 and just back of the belly band. Buckle two nicely 
 fitting straps with rings in them, around the hind 
 legs above the letlocks. Now take a strong piece of 
 half inch rope and run it through the ring on the end 
 of the halter strap, and tied the ends into the rings 
 in the straps around the hind feet, regulating the 
 length so as to enable the horse to move easily and 
 naturally, but not longer. 
 
 The horse is now free to trot, but the instant there 
 is an effort to run, the connection between the feet 
 
ami head is shortened, and the head is pulled 
 back to a corresponding degree with the feet. The 
 horse will very soon learn this, and fear the effect of 
 breaking, so much so as to hold to the trot at all haz- 
 ards. 
 
 The horse should be exercised and driven with 
 this means of restraint until he learns to strike out, 
 and there is ability to hold him down to the top of 
 his speed. 
 
 To Add Style. 
 
 Put on the war bridle, ( large loop) step in front, 
 holding cord in the right hand, give a slight pull. 
 The horse will usually throw the head up, as the ef- 
 fect of the restraint is back and upwards, but if the 
 nose is given back towards the breast, reverse the 
 pull by throwing the hand up. Repeat this until the 
 head is thrown up promptly to the least pull, either 
 on the cord or halter. 
 
 By making this lesson thorough, the horse can be 
 so fixed in the habit of throwing the head up, by be- 
 ing pulled upon, that while driving, the head can be 
 thrown up at will, b} r giving a short pull on the reins. 
 
 Throwing the head up gracefully, when pulled up- 
 on with reins or by halter, is a part of the object of 
 bitting. 
 
 If the nose is thrown out, pull down and back 
 steadily, but firmly. As the horse yields, give loose 
 and caress, repeating untii t'le mouth is given back 
 promptly. In driving to harness, have the martin- 
 gales a little short, using them so, until the mouth is 
 submitted to restraint easily and naturally. Now 
 gradually add more style, by pulling on the reins a 
 little, and repeating as the head is lowered in the 
 least, until it is not only brought up, but back, as re- 
 quired. If not successful in this, put on the bridle 
 as before, and work up with it until successful, fcnen 
 gradually, while driving, hring the head up with the 
 control of the reins. 
 
TEACHING HORSES TO DO TRICKS, &C, 
 
 Do not hurry your horse too fast in his tuition. 
 When it is desired to teach him to do anything, be- 
 gin inoderatety and thoroughly — go on the? slow, sure 
 principle. If } 7 ou undertake to learn your horse too 
 much, or too fast in the start, or indeed at any time, 
 you only confuse and discourage him. Do so much as 
 he can comprehend and appreciate, and daily pro- 
 gress. 
 
 Teaching the Horse to Follow You. 
 
 If it is desired to simply teach the horse to follow 
 promptly with halter or bridle on, apply the war bri- 
 dle, (small loop) when he comes round promptly, 
 stand off a short distance and say, "Come here, sir." 
 If he does not come to you, give a sharp pull, gradu- 
 ally changing positions and going a little farther. — 
 When he comes promptly, caress; if not, pull sharp- 
 ly, repeating in this way until you can make him 
 come to you promptly in any direction. 
 
 TO Make the Horse Follow AVith the Whip. 
 
 The simplest and easiest way to do this is to work 
 up sharply with the war bridle, and when the horse 
 comes around promptly, take a short blunt whip, step 
 up to the shoulder, and while holding the bridle 
 loose in the hand, press the whip gently over the 
 shoulder, and tap lightly on the off side of the head. 
 This will annoy the horse and cause him to move the 
 head a little from it towards you ; instantly stop and 
 caress; then repeat the tapping again. Should he at- 
 tempt to run from you, hold him by the bridle. Re- 
 peat in this way until the horse will step towards you 
 
[1 15.1 
 
 promptly. Then touch the whip over the hip and 
 say, "Come, sir." If he comes up to you or shows the 
 least disposition to do so, caress, and so continue un- 
 til he will come up promptly. Now step a little side- 
 ways and ahead, and say, "Come, sir.'' If he should 
 step after you, caress; if not, touch the lash over the 
 hips. In a short time the horse will learn to step to 
 you and follow promptl}'. When he will do this, 
 stand him in a corner of the room, stand a little in 
 front of him and touch him lightly with the whip on 
 the fore legs, and say, "Come here, sir." At the 
 least intimation of coming, stop and caress. Then 
 repeat, touching with the whip. If he moves to you 
 a little, stop and caress, and in this way repeat until 
 he will come to } r ou promptly. Then get a little far- 
 ther from him and repeat in the same manner until 
 he will learn to hurry up to you to get away from the 
 whip. Should he bolt away, put on the bridle and 
 hold the end in the left hand. You can now hold him 
 by the bridle when he attempts to run, until he finds 
 he can not get away, and will come up promptly. 
 
 This lesson should be made very thorough before 
 there is an attempt to take the horse out of doors, and 
 then in a small yard, If this is not convenient, put 
 on the bridle, having good length of cord, and hold in 
 the hand loosely. 
 
 If the horse is of a bad character, the following 
 method may be used : Turn the horse into a room 
 or small yard well enclosed. Provide yourself with 
 a good bow whip. The horse will feel uneasy and 
 look around at you, and then perhaps for some place 
 by which to escape. Walk up to him, and as he runs 
 into a corner, apply the lash sharply under his flanks 
 following him up and making the whip sting keenly 
 for a short time. When he stops or turns his head 
 toward you, stop instantly, reach out the hand, at the 
 same time approaching gently. Should he run or 
 turn around to kick, whip instantly as before, and so 
 
[119 .] 
 
 continue until you can approach and caress the head 
 and neck a little. Then say, "Come sir,'' at the same 
 time touching the whip lightly over the hips. If he 
 comes, or shows the least disposition to do so, caress 
 and speak encouragingly. If he runs, whip as before, 
 and so repeat until the horse will come up promptly 
 when shown the whip. 
 
 As the object is to make the horse honest in fol- 
 lowing, it is necessary to make him feel that you 
 whip him only for resistance, encouraging and flat- 
 tering for every intimation of obedience, until he re- 
 alizes his safet}' from the whip to be to come to you. 
 
 To JLie Down. 
 
 Tie the bridle reins into a knot back of the neck. 
 Throw your strap over the back, bring the end back 
 under the body and tie to the near foot, back of the 
 fetlock. Now pass the right hand well over the back 
 and take a short hold of the strap. Cause the horse 
 to step toward you and pull the foot up. Then pass 
 the left hand around the reins and pull down upon 
 them in such a manner as to turn the head a little to 
 one side, at the same time pulling down steadily but 
 firmly on the strap over the back with the right hand. 
 As the horse goes down gradually pull down on the 
 near rein, so as to bring the head to the left, at the 
 same time pressing down and from you firmly with 
 the right, until the horse will lie down. Pass the 
 end of the strap now through the ring of the bit and 
 draw through gently; step over the neck, and as the 
 horse attempts to get up, pull him back until he lies 
 quiet. Rub and caress him, and after lying a few 
 minutes say, "Get up, sir." Repeat in this way for 
 a few times until the horse will lie down readily. 
 Then while holding him on the near knee with the 
 strap, hit him on the shin of the other with a little 
 whip, until he will bring it under and lie down. Af- 
 ter awhile he can be made to come on his knees an<3 
 
' 120. . 
 
 lie down by simply pulling the head down a little, 
 and hitting the shins with the whip, at the same time 
 saying, "Lie down sir," repeating until the horse will 
 lie down to the motion of the whip. This is about 
 the easiest and most practical way to treat a horse to 
 lie down. There is no danger of injuring the knees, 
 or causing accident. If the reader should not get 
 the sleight of laying a horse down in this way, cover 
 the floor deeply with straw, tie up the off fore leg, us- 
 ing the strap on the near one over the back as be- 
 fore, until the horse will lie down, repeating as may 
 be necessaiy, until the horse will lie down at the mo- 
 tion of the whip, as before explained. 
 
 To Sit Up. 
 
 When the horse will lie down promptly, put on him 
 a common collar, and while being' down, take two 
 pieces of rope or anything suitable, about ten feet in 
 length. Tie the ends around the hind feet, carry 
 them forward between the fore legs, and bring them 
 once around the collar. Now step on his tail, take 
 the bridle reins in the right hand, while you hold the 
 ends of the ropes firmly in the left. Give a little jerk 
 on the reins, and say, "Get up, sir." Now, when the 
 horse throws out the forward feet, and springs to 
 raise himself on the hind feet, he finds himself una- 
 able to complete the effort, on account of the hind 
 feet being tied forward under him, and so he brings 
 himself in a sitting position. Instantly step forward 
 holding the ropes firmly, rub and caress the head 
 and neck a little for a few seconds, then as you see 
 the effort to keep up becoming tiresome, let loose, and 
 say, "Get up, sir." By repeating in this way a few 
 times, the horse will soon learn to sit up when com- 
 manded, without being tied. 
 
 To Malte a Bow. 
 
 Take a pin in your right hand, between the thumb 
 and fore-finger, and stand before, but a little to' the 
 
[121 
 
 left of your horse. Then prick him on the breast very 
 lightly, as if a fly biting, which to relieve, he will 
 bring clown his head, which you will accept as yes, 
 and for which you will reward by caressing and feed- 
 ing as before. Then repeat, and so continue until 
 he will bring his head down the moment he sees the 
 least motion of your' hand toward his breast, or sub- 
 stitute some signal which he will understand readily. 
 
 To Say No. 
 
 Stand by your horse near the shoulder, holding the 
 same pin in your hand, with which, prick him light- 
 ly on the withers, and to drive which away, he will 
 shake his head. Y"ou then caress as before, and so 
 repeating, until he will shake his head at the least in- 
 dication of your touching him with the pin; you can 
 train your horse so nicely in this wtxy in a short time, 
 as to cause him to shake his head or bow, by merely 
 turning the hand a little, or moving it slightly to- 
 wards him. 
 
 To Teacli Your Horse to Kiss You. 
 
 Teach him first to take an apple out of your hand. 
 Then gradually raise the hand nearer your mouth 
 at each repetition, until you require him to take it 
 from your mouth, holding it with your hand, telling 
 him at the same time to kiss you. He will soon learn 
 to reach his nose up to your mouth; first to get his 
 apple, but finally, because commanded to do so. Sim- 
 ply repeat until the horse understands the trick thor- 
 oughly. 
 
 To Shake Mauds. 
 
 Tie a short strap, or a piece of cord, to the forward 
 foot, below the fetlock. Stand directly before the 
 horse, holding the end of this strap or cord in your 
 hand, then say, "Shake hands, sir," and immediately 
 after commanding him to do so, pull up on the strap, 
 which will bring his foot forward, and which 3-011 are 
 
1 •■> 2 . j 
 
 to accept as shaking bauds, thanking him for it, by 
 caressing and feeding, and so repeat until when you 
 make the demand, he will bring the foot forward in 
 anticipation of having it pulled up. This is a very 
 easy trick to teach the horse. By a little practice a 
 horse may easily be trained to approach, make a bow, 
 shake hands and follow like a dog, lie down, sit up, 
 etc., which make him appear, both polite and intelli- 
 
 How to Break a Horse from Jumping Fences. 
 
 Buckle with a strap with a ring in around above 
 the fetlock joint, on the near fore ieg, and one in the 
 same place on the near hind leg, then buckle a girth 
 around his chest — the same as a saddle girth, and tie 
 a half inch rope in the ring of the strap on the fore 
 leg, bring the rope over the girth, and back to the 
 ring of the strap on the hind leg; tie it so that he can 
 walk with it on, and he will jump backwards in the 
 same field he starts out of. 
 
 To Break a Horse from Wind-Sucking or Cribbing. 
 
 Take a narrow fine-toothed saw and saw up be- 
 tween the upper and lower teeth, in the front part of 
 his mouth, and this will stop him in a short time. 
 
 To Keep a Horse from Shoving Down Fences or 
 Gates With His Breast. 
 
 Cut out of the harness a piece, in a half-moon fash- 
 ion, so it will fit his neck and hang down over his 
 breast in the shape of a heart, then drive tacks 
 through that will stick through half an inch, then 
 buckle a strap to each corner around his neck; tie a 
 string to the strap on the top of his neck and back 
 to a girth around the body of the horse so it don't 
 drop down over his neck, when he puts down his 
 head ; every time he goes to the fence, he gets stuck ; 
 this will break him in a few days. 
 
1 133. 
 To Keep a. Hone from Breaking: Halters or Bridles. 
 
 Take a rope about twenty feet long, place the cen- 
 ter of the rope under his tail, bring up over hi3 rump 
 in a shape of a crupper, twist three or four times, so 
 it don't drop down over his quarters, then bring the 
 ends forward one on each side of his neck and through 
 the halter ring or through the rings of the bridle and 
 tie him to a tree or post, then scare him and make 
 him pull on it a few times, and it will break him so 
 that he will stay broke. 
 
 To Break a Balky Horse. 
 
 Take a rope twenty -four feet long, place the middle 
 of the rope under his tail the same as to break a 
 horse from breaking halters, bring it up over his 
 rump like a crupper, give a few twists, bring the ends 
 forward, one on each side of his neck through the 
 rings of his hames, where the breast chains rest in; 
 then to the end of the tongue — this is in double-har- 
 ness. Be sure to have your horse hitched equal or 
 even, and then start, and your horse will pull every 
 time. To work in a four-horse team would, perhaps, 
 be the best plan; tie the ends of the rope to the 
 stretchers of the front team, and he will always pull 
 his share of the load, and break him of the bad habit 
 entirely. 
 
 To Make a Horse Appear as if Blind Staggered. 
 
 Take a small rifle-ball, drill a hole down through 
 the center; draw a string through and tie a knot on 
 it; let the string be about five inches long; put the 
 ball in one ear, push the string down in the ear so no 
 one can see it, and he will appear to be the worst 
 blind-staggered horse you ever saw. To cure, get 
 hold of the string and pull out the ball. 
 
 To Break a Horse from Lolling His Tongue Out. 
 
 Have a straight-bore bit made five inches in the 
 clear between rings. Make the bit square, round off 
 
L 1*24 . ] 
 
 the corners a little, then drill two holes through the 
 bit from the bottom side up. Then bend a wire in a 
 half moon shape, the size of the tongue. Put the 
 ends through the holes so that the wire is on the un- 
 der side. Buckle the bit in the bridle, and when you 
 put on the bridle drop the tongue through the wire 
 and he can not get it out of his mouth, and will 
 break up the bad habit entirely. The wire must be 
 put in the center of the bit two inches apart — that 
 is, the ends of the wire should be each one inch from 
 the center of the bit. 
 
 American Horse Ponder, 
 
 One ounce Antimony; 
 
 One ounce Fluor of Sulphur; 
 
 One ounce Salt Petre ; 
 
 One ounce Ginger; 
 
 One ounce Gentian ; 
 
 One ounce Fenugreek ; 
 
 One ounce Rosin; 
 
 One ounce Cream Tartar; 
 
 One ounce Tartar Emetic; 
 
 One ounce Alum ; 
 
 One ounce Blue Vitrol; 
 
 One ounce Copperas; 
 
 One ounce Spanish Brown ; 
 
 One ounce Asafcetida. 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR SHOEING. 
 
 ["Shoeing a horse as most commonly practiced," says White, "has 
 a destructive tendency, and produces a variety of diseases." Al- 
 though we believe that the proper the proper shoeing of a horse is of 
 the utmost importance, and with the view to throw out some hints 
 about it, we have made a few selections. Still, we cannot believe 
 that the injury done to horses iu shoeing, is not to the extent that 
 White and many others have fancied.] 
 
 The Concave Seated Shoe. — The proper form and 
 construction of the shoe is a subject deserving of 
 very serious inquiry, for it is most important to as 
 certain the kind of shoe that will do the least mis- 
 chief to the feet. 
 
 The concave-seated shoe presents a perfectly flat 
 surface to the ground, to give as many points of bear- 
 ing as possible, except that round the outer edge, there 
 is a groove or fuller, in which the nail holes are 
 punched, so that sinking into the fuller, their heads 
 project but a little way above, and are soon worn 
 down level with the shoe. The ground surface of 
 the common convex shoe, is somewhat convex, and 
 the inward rim comes first on the ground; the conse- 
 quence of this is, that the weight, instead of being 
 borne fairly on the crust, Is supported by nails and 
 the clincher, which must be injurious to the crust, 
 and often chip and tear it. 
 
 The web of the shoe is of the same thickness 
 throughout, from the toe to the heel; and it is suf r 
 ficiently wide to guard the sole from bruises, and as 
 wide at the heel as the frog will permit, in order to 
 cov r er the seat of the corn. 
 
 On the foot side it is s&dtecl. The outer part of it 
 
is accurately flat, and of width of the crust, and de- 
 signed to support the crust, and the crust only, for it 
 has already been proved, that by the crust alone, or 
 rather the union between the numerous little plates 
 proceeding from the crust, and the covering of the 
 coffin-bone, the whole weight of the horse is 
 supported. Towards the heel this flattened part is 
 wider, and occupies the whole breadth of the web, to 
 support the heel of the crust and its reflected part, 
 the bar; thus, while it defends the horn, included 
 within this angle from injury, it gives that equal 
 pressure upon the bar and the crust, which is the 
 best preventive against corn, and a powerful obstacle 
 to contraction. 
 
 It is fastened to the foot by nine nails, five on the 
 outside, and four on the inner side of the shoe; those 
 on the outside extending a little down towards the 
 heel, because the outside heel is thicker and stronger 
 and there is more nail-hold; the last nail on the thin- 
 ner quarter being farther from the heel, on account of 
 the weakness of that quarter.- For feet not too large 
 and where moderate i work only is required 
 from the horse, four * nails on the outside and 
 three on the inside, will be sufficient; and the 
 last nail being far from the heels, will allow more ex 
 pension there. 
 
 The inside part of the web is bevelled off, or ren- 
 dered concave, that it may not press upon the sole. 
 The concave shoe prevents the possibility of injury, 
 because the sole can never descend in the degree in 
 which the shoe is bevelled. A shoe bevelled still fur- 
 ther is necessary to protect the projecting or pumic- 
 ed foot. 
 
 While the horse is traveling, dirt and gravel are 
 apt to insinuate themselves between the web of the 
 shoe and the sole. If the shoes were flat they would 
 be easily retained there, and bruise the sole, and be 
 productive of injury; but whhen the shoe is thus bev 
 
elled otf, it is scarcely possible for them to remain. 
 They must be shaken out every time the foot comes 
 in contact with the ground. 
 
 The web of the shoe is likewise of that thickness, 
 that when the foot is properly pared, the prominent 
 part of the frog shall lie just within and above its 
 ground surface, so that in descent of the sole the frog 
 shall come sufficiently on the ground to enable it to 
 act as wedge, and to expand the quarters, while it is 
 defended from the wear and injury it would receive 
 if it came on the ground with the first and full shock 
 of the weight. 
 
 The nail holes are, on the ground side, placed as 
 near the outer edge of the shoe as they can safely be, 
 and brought out near the inner edge of the seating. 
 The nails thus take a direction inward, resembling 
 the direction of the crust itself, and take firmer hold; 
 while the strain upon them in the common shoe is al- 
 together prevented ; and, the weight of the horse be- 
 ing thrown on a flat surface, contraction is not so 
 likelj- to be produced. 
 
 The Preparation of the Foot. — We will suppose 
 that the horse is sent to the shop to be shod. If the 
 master would occasionally accompany him there, he 
 would find it much to his' advantage. The old shoe 
 must first be taken off. We have something to ob- 
 serve, even on this. It was retained on the foot by 
 the ends of the nails being twisted off, turned down, 
 and clenched. These clenches should be first raised, 
 which the smith seldom takes the trouble thoroughly 
 to do; but after going carelessly round the crustand 
 raising one or two of the clenches, he takes hold of 
 first one heel of the shoe and of the other, and by a 
 violent wrench, separates them from the foot, and by 
 a third wrench, applied to the middle of the shoe, he 
 tears it oft*. By this means he must enlarge every 
 nail hole, and weaken the future hold, and sometimes 
 tears off portions of the crust, and otherwise injure 
 
the foot. The horse generally shows by his flinch- 
 ing, that he suffers by the violence which this pre- 
 liminary operation is performed. The clenches 
 should always be raised or tiled off; and where the 
 foot is tender, or the horse is to be examined for 
 lameness, each nail should be partly punched out. 
 Many a stub is left in the crust, the source of future 
 annoyance, when this unnecessary violence is used. 
 
 The shoe having been removed, the smith proceeds 
 to rasp the edges of the crust. Let not the stander- 
 by object to the apparant violence which he uses, for 
 fear that the foot will suffer. It is the only means 
 he has, with safety to his instruments, to detect 
 whether any stubs remain in the nail holes; and it is 
 the most convenient method of removing that portion 
 of the crust into which dirt and gravel have insinu- 
 ated themselves. 
 
 Next comes the important process of paring out, 
 with regard to which is almost impossible to lay down 
 any specific rules. This, however, we can say with 
 confidence, that more injury has been done by the 
 neglect of paring, than by carrying it tu too great an 
 extent. The act of paring is a work of much more la- 
 bor than the proprietor of the horse often imagines; 
 the smith, except he be overlooked, will give himself 
 as little trouble about it as lie can; and that, which 
 in the unshod foot would be worn away by contact 
 with the ground, is suffered to accumulate month af- 
 ter month, until the elasticity of the sole is destroyed, 
 and it can no longer descend^ and the functions 
 of the foot are impeded; and the foundation is laid for 
 corn, contraction, navicular disease, and inuamation. 
 That portion of horn should be left on the sole, 
 which Will defend the internal parts from being 
 bruised, and yet surfer the external sole to descend. 
 
 If the foot has been previously neglected, and the 
 horn is become very hard the owner must not object 
 if the smith resorts to some means to soften it a little; 
 
: 1 * 9 . | 
 
 and he takes one of his flat irons, and having heated 
 it, draws it over the sole, and keeps it a little while 
 in contact with it. When the sole is thick, this rude 
 and apparently barbarous method can do no harm, 
 but it should never be permitted with a sole that is 
 regularly pared out. 
 
 The quantity of horn to be removed in order to 
 leave the proper degree of thickness will vary with 
 different feet. From the concave foot the horn maj r 
 be removed, until the sole will yield to a moderate 
 pressure. From the flat foot little need be pared; 
 while the pumiced foot will spare nothing but the 
 ragged parts. 
 
 The paring being nearly completed, the knife and 
 the rasp of the smith must be a little watched, or he 
 will reduce the crust to a level with the sole, and 
 thus endanger the bruising of the sole by its pressure 
 on the edge of seating. The crust should be reduc- 
 ed to a perfect level, all round, but left a little high- 
 er than the sole. 
 
 The heels will require very considerable attention. 
 From the stress which is thrown on the inner heel, 
 and from the weakness of the quarter there, it usual- 
 ly wears considerably faster than the outer one; and, 
 if an equal portion of horn were pared from it, it 
 would be left lower than the outer heel. The smith 
 should, therefore, accommodate his paring to the 
 comparative wear of the heels, and be very careful to 
 leave them precisely level. 
 
 He should be checked in his almost universal fond- 
 ness for opening the heels, or, more truly, removing 
 that which is the main impediment to contraction. 
 That portion of the heels between the inflection of 
 the bar and the frog should scarcely be touched, at 
 least nothing but the ragged and detached parts 
 should be cut away . The foot may uot look so pretty, 
 but it will last longer without contraction. 
 
 The bar, likewise, should be left fully prominent 
 
notonly at its lirst Inflection, but as it runs down 
 the side of the frog. The heel of our shoe is design- 
 ed to rest partly on the heel of the foot, and partly 
 on the bar, for reasons that have already been stated. 
 If the bar is weak, the growth of it should be encour- 
 aged, and it should be scarcely touched at the shoe- 
 ing, until it has attained a level with the crust. 
 
 The horn between the crust and the bar should be 
 carefully pared out. Every horseman has observed 
 the relief given to the animal lame with corns, when 
 this angle is well thinned, a relief, however, which 
 is but temporary, for when the horn grows again, and 
 the shoe presses upon it, the torture of the animal is 
 renewed. 
 
 The degree of paring to which the frog must be 
 subjected, will depend on its prominence, and on the 
 shape of the foot. It must be left so far projecting 
 and prominent, that it shall be just within and above 
 the lower surface of the shoe, it will then descend 
 with the sole, sufficiently to discharge the functions 
 which we have attributed to it. If it be the lower, 
 it will be bruised and injured; if it be higher, it can- 
 not come in contact with the ground, and thus be en- 
 abled to do its duty. The ragged parts must be re- 
 moved, and especially those occasioned by thrush, 
 but the degree of paring must depend entirely on 
 this principle. 
 
 It appears, then, that the office of the smith re- 
 quires some skill and judgment, in order to be prop- 
 erly discharged; and the horse proprietor will find it 
 his interest occasionally to visit the shop and com- 
 plain of the careless, or idle, obstinate, and reward, 
 by some trifling gratuity, the expert and diligent. 
 He should likewise remember that a great deal more 
 depends on the paring out of the foot, than on the 
 construction of the shoe; that few shoes, except they 
 press upon the sole, or are made outrageously bad» 
 will lame the horse; but that he may be very easily 
 
lamed from ignorant and improper paring out of the 
 foot. 
 
 The- Putting on of the Shoe. — The foot being thus 
 prepared, the smith looks about for a shoe. He 
 should select one that as neatly as possible tits the 
 foot, or may be altered to the foot. He will some- 
 times care little about this, for he can easily altar 
 the foot to the shoe. The toe-knife is a very conven- 
 ient instrument for him, and plenty of horn can be 
 struck off with it, or removed by the rasp, to make 
 the foot as small as the shoe; while he cares little, al- 
 though by the destructive method, the crust is ma- 
 terially thinned where it should receive the nail, and 
 the danger of puncture is increased, and a foot so ar- 
 tificially diminished in size will soon grow over shoe 
 to the hazard of considerable or permanent lameness. 
 
 A shoe, thinner at the heel than at the toe, by let- 
 ting down the heel too low, is apt to produce sprain 
 of the flexor tendon, and a shoe thicker at the heels 
 than at the toe, is fit only to elevate the frog, to the 
 destruction of its function, and to its own certain dis- 
 ease, and also to press upon, batter and bruise that 
 part of the foot which is soonest and most destruc- 
 tively injured. 
 
 Calkins. — It is expedient that not only that the foot 
 and ground surface of the shoe should be most accu- 
 rately level, but that the crust should be exactly 
 smoothed and fitted the shoe. Much skill and time 
 are necessary to do this perfectly without the draw- 
 ing knife. The smith has adopted a method of more 
 quickly and more accurately adapting the shoe to the 
 foot. He pares the crust as level as he can, and then 
 he takes the shoe, at a heat something below red 
 heat, and applies it to the foot, and detects any lit- 
 tle elevations by the deeper color of the burned horn. 
 This practice has been much inveighed against; but 
 it is the abuse and not the use that is to be condemn 
 ed. If the shoe be not too hot, nor held too long on 
 
the foot, an accurac}* in producing, or would not pro- 
 duce at all. If, however, the shoe is made to burn 
 its way to its seat, with little or no previous prepara- 
 tion of the foot, the heat must be injurious both to 
 the sensible and insensible parts of the foot. 
 
 Nothing is more certain, than that in the horse for 
 work, the heels, and particularly the seat of corn, 
 can scarcely be to well covered. Part of the shoe 
 projecting outward can be of no possible good, but 
 rather an occasional source of mischief, and especial- 
 ly in a heavy country. A shoe, the web of which 
 projects inward as far as it can, without touching 
 the frog, affords protection to the angle between the 
 bars and crust. 
 
 Of the manner of attaching the shoe to the foot the 
 owner can scarcely be a competent judge; he can on- 
 ly take care that the shoe itself shall not be heavier 
 than the work requires — that for work a little hard 
 the shoe shall be still a light, and a bit of steel weld- 
 ed into the toe — that the nails shall be as small, and 
 as few, and as far from the heels, as may be consist- 
 ent with the security of the shoe; and that, for light 
 work at least, the shoe shall not be driven on so 
 closely and firmly as is often done, nor the points of 
 the nails brought out so high up as is generally prac- 
 ticed. 
 
 There are few cases in which the use of calkins (a 
 turning up and elevation of the heel) can Inadmiss- 
 ible in the fore feet, except in frosty weather, to pre- 
 vent the slipping of the feet. If the outer heel only 
 be raised with the calkin, as is too often the case, 
 the weight cannot be thrown evenly on the foot, and 
 undue straining and injury on the part of the 
 foot or of the leg must be the necessary consequences. 
 Few things deserve more the attention of liorsemen 
 than this most absurd and injurious of all the prac- 
 tices of the smith. One quarter of an hour's walking- 
 with one side of the shoe or boot raised considerably 
 
[133] 
 
 above the other, will painfully convince us what the 
 horse must suffer from this too common method a of 
 shoeing. If the horse be ridden far to cover, or gal- 
 loped over much hard and flinty ground, he will in- 
 evitably suffer from this unequal distribution of 
 weight. If the calkin be put on the outer heel to 
 prevent the horse from slipping, either the horn of 
 the heel should be lowered to a corresponding degree, 
 or the other heel of the shoe should be raised to the 
 same level bj^ gradual thickening. Of the use of the 
 calkins in the hinder foot, we shall presently speak. 
 
 Clips. — These are portions of the upper edge of the 
 shoe, hammered out, and turned up so as to embrace 
 the lower part of the crust, and which is usually par- 
 ed out a little to receive the clip. They are very use 
 ful, as more securely attaching the shoe to the foot, 
 and relieving the crust from the stress upon the 
 aails which would otherwise be injurious. A clip at 
 the toe is almost necessary in every draught horse, 
 and absolutely so in the horse of heavy draught, to 
 prevent the shoe from being loosened and torn off by 
 the stress which is thrown upon the toe in the act of 
 drawing. A clip on the outside of each shoe at the 
 beginning of the quarters will give security to it. 
 Clips are likewise necessary on the shoes of heavy 
 horses, and of all others who are disposed to stamp, 
 or violently paw with their feet, and thus incur the 
 danger of displacing the shoe; but they are evils, in 
 that press upon the crust as it goes down, and should 
 only be used when circumstances absolutely require 
 them. 
 
 The Hinder Shoe. — In forming the hinder shoes, 
 it should be remembered that the hind limbs are the 
 principal instrumets in progression, and that in every 
 act of progression, except the walk the toe is the point 
 on which the whole frame of the animal turns, and 
 from which it is propelled. This part, then should be 
 
strengthened as much as possible; and, therefore, the 
 hinder shoes are made broader at the toe than at the 
 fore ones, and the toe of the foot, which is naturally 
 broader than that of the fore -foot, is still further wid- 
 ened by rasping. Another good effort is produced 
 by this, that the hinder foot being shortened, there 
 is less danger of over-reaching or forging, and espe- 
 cially if the shoe is made to slope inward, and is a 
 little within the toe of the crust. 
 
 The shape of the hinder foot is somewhat different 
 from that of the fore foot; is straightcr in the quar- 
 ters, and the shoe must have the same shape. For 
 carriage and draught horses generally, calkins may 
 be put on the heels, because the animal will be thus 
 enabled to dig his toe more firmly in the ground, 
 and urge nimself forward, and throw his weight into 
 the collar with great advantage. But the calkins 
 must not be too high, and they must be of an equal 
 night on each heel, otherwise, as has been stated 
 with regard to the fore- feet, the weight will not be 
 fairly distributed over the foot, and some part of the 
 foot or leg will materially suffer. The nails in the 
 hinder shoe may be placed nearer to the heel than 
 in the fore-shoe, because, from the comparative little 
 weight and concussion thrown on the hinder feet, 
 there is not so much danger of contraction. 
 
 Different Kinds of Shoes. — The shoes will vary 
 in substance and weight with the kind of foot, and 
 the nature of the work. A weak foot should never 
 wear a heavy shoe, nor any foot a shoe that will wear 
 longer than a month. Here perhaps, we may be per- 
 mitted to caution the Iiorse proprietor against having 
 his cattle shod too much by contract, unless he binds 
 his hostler to remove the shoes once at least every 
 mouth; for if the contractor, by a heavy shoe, and a 
 little steel, can cause five or six weeks to intervene 
 between the shoeings, lie will do so, although the feet 
 of the horse must necessarily suffer. The shoe should 
 never be heavier than the work requires An ounce 
 
or two in the weight of the shoo will sadly toll bofore 
 the end of a hard day's work. 
 
 The Bar-Shoe. — A. bar-shoo is a very useful con- 
 trivance. It is the continuation of the common shoe 
 round the heels, and by means of it the pressure may 
 be taken off some tender part of the foot, and thrown 
 on another which is better able to bear it, or more 
 widely and equally diffused over the whole foot. It 
 is principally resorted to in cases of corn, the seat of 
 which it perfectly recovers — in pumiced feet, the 
 soles of which may be thus elevated above the ground 
 and secured from pressure — in sand-crack, when the 
 pressure may be removed from the fissure and thrown 
 on either side of it — in thrushes, when the frog is 
 tender, or has become cankered, and requires to be 
 frequently dressed, and the dressing by this means 
 alone be retained. In these cases the bar-shoe is an 
 excellent contrivance, if worn only for one or two 
 shoeings, or as long as the disease requires it to be 
 worn, but it must be loft off as soon as it can be dis- 
 pensed with. If it be used for the protection of a 
 diseased foot, however, it may bo chambered and 
 laid off the frog, it will soon be flattened down upon 
 it; or if the pressure of it be thrown on the frog to 
 relieve the sand-crack on the corn, that frog must be 
 very strong and healthy which can long bear the 
 great and continued pressure. More mischief is of- 
 ten produced in the frog than previously existed in 
 the part which was relieved. It will be plain that 
 the use of the bar-shoe for corn or sand-crack, the 
 crust and the frog should be precisely on a level, and 
 the bar should be the widest part of the shoo, to af- 
 ford as extended bearing as possible on the frog, and 
 therefore less likely to be injurious. Bar-shoes are 
 evidently not safe in frosty weather: thev are never 
 safe when much speed is required from the horse, and 
 they are apt to be wronehed off in a heavy clayey 
 countrv. 
 
11 3 6.] 
 
 Tips. — Tips are short shoes, reaching only half 
 round the foot, and worn while the horse is at grass 
 to prevent the crust being torn by the occasional 
 hardness of the ground, or by the pawing of the ani- 
 mal; and the quarters at the same time being free, 
 the foot disposed to contract has a chance of expand- 
 ing and regaining its natural shape. 
 
 The Expanding Shoe. — Our subject would not be 
 complete if we did not describe the supposed expand- 
 ing shoe. It is either seated or concave like the com- 
 mon shoe, with a joint at the toe, by which the natu- 
 ral expansion of the foot is said to be permitted, and 
 the injurious consequences of shoeing prevented. 
 There is, however, this radical defect in the jointed 
 shoe, that the nails occupy the same situation as in 
 the common shoe, the gradual expansion of the sides 
 and quarters, and allow only of a hinge-like motion 
 at the toe. This is a most imperfect accommodation 
 of the expansion of the foot to the action of its in- 
 ternal parts, and even this accommodation is afford- 
 ed in the slightest possible degree, or rather scarcely 
 can be afforded at all. Either the nails fix the sides 
 and quarters as in the common shoe, and then the 
 joint at the toe is useless; or, if that joint merely 
 opens like a hinge, the nail holes in the shoe can no 
 longer correspond with those in the quarters which 
 are unequally expanding at every point; and, there- 
 fore, there will be more stress on the crust at these 
 holes, which will not only enlarge them and destroy 
 the fixed attachment of the shoe to the hoof, but will 
 often tear away portions of the crust. This has, in 
 many cases, been found to be the effect of the joint- 
 ed shoe : The sides and quarters of the foot have 
 been broken until it has become difficult to find a 
 nail-hold. This shoe to answer the intended pur- 
 pose, should consist of many joints, running along 
 the sides and quarters, which would make it too com- 
 plicated and expen sive and frail for general use. 
 
LIST, i 
 
 While the shoe is to be attached to the loot by 
 nails, we must be content with the concave-seated 
 one, taking care to place the nail-holes as far from 
 the heels, and particularly from the inner heel, as the 
 state of the foot and the nature of the work will ad- 
 mit; and where the country is not too heavy nor the 
 work too severe, even ommitting the nails on the in- 
 ner side of the foot. Shoes nailed on the outer side, 
 and at the toe, are more secure than one would imag 
 ine, while the inner quarter will be left free, to pre- 
 vent its contraction, or to arrest its progress. 
 
 The attempt, however, to lessen the evils produced 
 by shoeing is most praiseworthy. Every contriv- 
 ance permanently to fix the shoe on the foot without 
 the use 01 nails has failed. 
 
 Felt or Leather Soles. — When the foot is bruis- 
 ed or inflamed, the concussion or shock produced by 
 the hard contact of the elastic iron on the ground 
 gives the animal much pain, and causes a short and 
 feeling step, or even lameness, and aggravates the 
 injury or disease. A strip of felt or leather is some- 
 times placed between the seating of the shoe and 
 crust, which, from its want of elasticity, deadens or 
 materially lessons the vibration or shock, and the 
 horse treads more freely and is evidently relieved. 
 This is a very good contrivance while the inflama- 
 tion or tenderness of the foot continues, but a very 
 bad practice if constantly adopted. The nails can 
 not be driven so surely or so securely when this 
 substance is interposed between the sole and the 
 foot; the contraction and swelling of the felt or 
 leather from the effect of moisture or dryness will 
 soon render the attachment of the shoe less firm; 
 there will be too much play upon the nails; the nail 
 holes will enlarge and the crust will be broken away. 
 
 After wounds or extensive bruises of the sole, or 
 where the sole is thin and flat and tender, it is some- 
 
times covered with a piece of leather, fitted to the 
 sole, and nailed on with the shoe. This may be al- 
 lowed as a temporary defence of the foot; but there 
 is the same objection to its permanent use from the 
 insecurity of fastening, the strain on the crust, and 
 the frequent chipping of it: and there are additional 
 inconveniences, that if the hollow between the sole 
 and the leather be filled with stopping and tow, it is 
 exceedingly difficult to introduce them so evenly and 
 accurately as not to produce some partial or injur- 
 ious pressure — that a few days' work will almost in- 
 variably so derange the padding as to produce par- 
 tial pressure — that the long contact of the sole with 
 stopping of almost every kind, will produce, not a 
 healthy, elastic horn, but horn of a scaley, spongy 
 nature — and that if the hollow be not thus fill- 
 ed, gravel and dirt will insinuate themselves, and 
 cause unequal pressure, and eat into and injure the 
 foot. 
 
UNRULY ANIMALS. 
 
 To Stop Cows from Kicking while Milking. — 
 Take a rope twelve feet long, tie a slip-noose on one 
 end, and put around the under jaw, bring the other 
 end down and through between her fore-legs, back 
 to the hind leg on the side you wish to milk on, and 
 tie to the hind leg: then go to milking, and she may- 
 go to kicking and bawling; let her kick and bawl: 
 you can break her in two miikings, so that she will 
 stand as well as any cow. 
 
 Another way is: draw a girth or strap tight around 
 her belly just in front of her bag or elder, and by 
 applying the same strap, you can break a cow of the 
 habit of holding up her milk. 
 
 To Stop a Cow from Sucking Herself. — Make 
 an open ring about two and one-half inches in diam- 
 eter the same as you would use to lead an ox or bull 
 with by the nose; put it in the nose of the cow, and 
 it will stop an}' one on the spot. They cannot suck 
 when they raise their upper lip to get the teat; the 
 ring drops down over the lip and they are disapoint- 
 ed at every effort. 
 
 To Stop Hogs from Rooting. — You will find a mus- 
 cle or tendon running down each side of the pig's head 
 or snout, and are inserted into the roots. Get some 
 one to hold the hog on his right side; hold his hind 
 legs; another person to put his knee on the shoulder 
 of the hog, and put one hand on the upper jaw, and 
 one on the under, just between the eyes, and hold 
 the hog so that he cannot bite or squeal; then put 
 your hand on his rooter and pull down and the mus- 
 cles can be seen; raise up the skin on each side; take 
 a small pen-knife and run the blade under the skin 
 and muscle and cut them both off, and he will cease 
 rooting. 
 
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