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The sinews and bones of the leg should be thoroughly understood by all horse owners.
Splint is a bony growth on the side of the splint bone, caused by the stretching of the ligaments that attach the splint bone to the cannon bone. It often occurs in young horses as a result of working them on ground that is too hard. It is more common on the inside of the leg than on the outside, and if well below the knee or hock may not cause lameness. It is often very difficult to detect, but when a horse goes unaccountably lame splint is frequently the cause.
Treatment: Quiet work on soft ground, and patience.
Bone spavin is a bony enlargement on the lower part of the inside of the hock. The higher it is the more it will interfere with movement. It is the result of concussion and usually occurs on young horses. When on the exterior of the bones, bone spavins are called ‘detectable’; when between the bones they are called ‘occult,’ because they are not easily discovered.
Symptoms: The horse perpetually rests the limb.
When on the move the toe is dragged somewhat, sometimes causing a stumble, and there is a slight vibration, Treatment: Very easy, judicious work on a high-heeled shoe is sometimes recommended; other authorities advise taking the shoe off. Firing or punch-firing should be avoided if possible, but may have to be resorted to; blistering is of no value.og spavin is merely a round soft swelling on the hock joint. It is a sign of weakness.
Treatment: Rest, and hand rubbing.
Thorough pins: This is much the same as bog spavin. It occurs on the upper and back part of the hock. The swelling is often on one side only, but sometimes it goes right through: hence the name.
Treatment: Judicious exercise, with hand rubbing.
Windgalls are the same as thorough pins, but appear just above the fetlock joint.
Treatment: As for thorough pins.
Curb: This is a sprain at the back of the hock, appearing especially with young horses who have been jumped.
Treatment: Rest.

Shoulder sprain is rare. Many horses are thought to have sprained a shoulder when it is the foot that is at fault.
Symptoms: The horse steps short, is more lame going uphill than going down, and drags his leg when backed or when going forward; he shows pain when pressure is applied to the part, and may object to passive movement.

Colic: Colic is a spasm and must not be confused with inflammation. If it occurs within an hour of a full meal it is usually in the small intestines; if it occurs at other times it is in the large intestine. Colic by itself rarely causes death; when a horse dies it is usually due to the added trouble of enteritis.
Symptoms: The horse is in pain and looks round at his flanks. As the pain increases he walks round his box, throws himself down and gets up again. The pain passes and then returns. There is no fever, but the belly is tense and sometimes swollen somewhat, and tender to the touch. The horse sweats. If the spasm has not passed in about six hours the case is serious. If the bowels act it is a favourable sign; lack of tension in the belly is also a good sign.
Causes: Generally, either incorrect watering or feeding, or lack of exercise. Sometimes the initial cause is crib-biting, or calcareous accretions, or insufficient mastication due to bad teeth. Sometimes colic is due to a sudden chill. In a gelding a dirty sheath may cause it. An abrupt change of diet also occasionally brings it on, as when, for example, a starved horse is overfed.
Treatment: Rub the belly with a straw wisp.   Rub
the legs and put on flannel bandages. A good colic draught is:
2 oz. of oil of turpentine, i oz. of tincture of opium,
in 12 oz. of linseed oil, or in a pint of thick gruel. If no medicine is to hand, gin, rum, whisky, or ginger may be substituted. But if the animal wants to lie down let him do so. As the pain decreases he usually wants to. The rubbing must be continued, and sometimes a little walking at intervals will ease the pain. It is, however, foolish to keep a horse continually on the move, as many grooms advocate.
Remember that the colic did not start without a cause, and it is up to the owner to ascertain what unusual treatment his horse has undergone. In slight cases, often intermittent for several days, the horse should be prepared for physic (i.e. soft food), which will probably prove a sufficient remedy.
Enteritis, or inflammation of the intestines, may be a sequel to colic.
Symptoms: Unlike colic, enteritis develops slowly. It is preceded by dullness with partial or complete loss of appetite. At first it is very similar to colic but without the intervals of ease, the pain being continuous. As it develops the horse gets cold extremities, a dry mouth, hurried respiration, and dilated nostrils; he sweats and his tail stands erect and quivering; he also looks anxiously round at his flanks.
Causes: The sequel to colic, or continued constipation, or indigestion, or the excessive action of a purgative. Usually it is a sequel of other diseases rather than a primary trouble.
Treatment: Soft food, perhaps starvation for 24 hours. Linseed jelly is good. Rug up warmly and avoid chill; give no exercise.
Staggers,   primarily   an   affection   of the   brain,   is nowadays very rare. It has two forms, mad and sleepy.
Symptoms: In mad staggers the horse is excited; in sleepy, he is drowsy and comatose. The eyes are set and the urine scanty. The horse appears to be mad but is only delirious.
Causes: An overgorged state of the stomach, as when a horse has been freely fed after a long fast.
Treatment: As the cause is indigestion, the cure is to give light soft food and to open the bowels. Large doses of purgative are wanted, as the brain has been affected. Hand rub the belly, and follow the usual careful management.

Influenza.—Symptoms: These vary very much in different seasons, and are sometimes more inflammatory than at others. The general conditions are that for two or three days the horse is weak and out of sorts, sweats easily, is slightly constipated, and has an occasional cough; he goes off his feed, his coat is staring, his urine scanty and the surface of his dung glazed; his mouth hot and dry, and his temperature up to 105 degrees. If made to move he staggers as he walks. Sometimes the disease starts with running at the eyes and swelling of the eyelids.
Treatment: Get the horse into a loose box and send for veterinary advice. In bad cases the horse will die, usually between the sixth and fourteenth days.
Pink eye is a form of influenza. Its name derives from the remarkably pink condition of the skin round the eye (conjunctival membrane).
Nasal Gleet: This is a chronic discharge of one nostril, sometimes continuous but often intermittent. If it comes from both nostrils it is due to severe cold, and is more amenable to treatment than if it comes from one nostril only, when it is due to a blow or other injury.
Treatment: Make the horse inhale steam frequently, and apply the usual rules for management. Nasal Gleet is often very difficult to cure, and veterinary services may be required.
Strangles is a fever affecting the glands (submaxilliary sparotid) causing the formation of an abscess or abscesses. Great care is required in nursing, but the disease leaves no injurious effects.
Symptoms: The horse is off his feed, has a slight cold and is a little feverish. Then the glands under the jaw begin to swell and the horse has difficulty in swallowing.
Treatment: Send at once for a veterinary surgeon.
Rheumatism: Horses, like men, often suffer from Rheumatism.
Cause: Neglect, for the most part—exposure to wet and cold, insufficient diet, etc.
Symptoms: Stiffness unaccountable in any other way. Rheumatism either increases or disappears, or moves to some other spot. In severe cases the parts become hot and swollen.
Treatment: Hot fomentations, care being taken to avoid possibility of chill. Keep the bowels open and improve the stable management. Well-treated horses seldom get it.Glanders and Farcy: These are the same disease affecting different parts of the horse. The cause is usually stabling arrangements (overcrowding, etc.). The disease is contagious.
Symptoms: Fever and the outbreak of ulcers.
Treatment: In advanced stages of the disease, destruction of the animal is advisable; in any case, complete segregation and veterinary aid.

Laryngitis.—Symptoms : Difficulty in swallowing; the mouth is hot, and the horse allows hay to fall from his mouth.
Treatment: Fresh air, warm clothing. Diet on soft food, and feed from a temporary manger placed so as to suit the horse’s head carriage. Feed on grass, carrots, bran or linseed. Hay is inadmissible, and purgatives must not be administered. Warm water fomentations can be given and hot flannel bandages applied on the throat.
If the trouble persists, the larynx can be blistered.1
Bronchitis.—Symptoms: Quickened breathing, and either a slight whistling sound (sibilus) or a rumble (bronchus). Nostrils red and inflamed.
Treatment: As above. A little nitre in the water will help the kidneys to work freely. Foment the chest with warm blankets and hot water.
Congestion of the lungs is often the result of extreme exertion when not in a fit condition.
Symptoms: Increased pulse rate (80 to 120 per minute); ears and legs cold; the horse stands with forelegs wide apart and elbows turned outwards; his nostrils are dilated, and he sweats.
Treatment: As above; also apply hot fomentations to the chest. Whisky is said to be a help in stimulating the circulation (2 oz. in a pint). Mustard or other blister must not be applied to the sides. Light laxative food should be given and a little nitrate of potassium in the water is good. The clothing should be put on loosely.
Pneumonia.—Symptoms: Shivering, coldness of the ears and legs, a staring coat, and the usual signs of inflammation. The horse is uneasy and turns his head frequently round to his chest. His temperature may
be as high as 104 degrees. He stands with his forelegs wide apart and his elbows out. He will not lie down. His head is low, nose protruded and nostrils extended. If there is a cough, it is a sharp one. The breathing is irregular, and the legs, ears, and muzzle cold. If one applies one’s ear to his chest, a humming noise is heard, which later on gives way to a moist rattle.
Treatment : As above. In addition, plaster the whole chest with mustard.
Chronic Cough: This is a very troublesome affection, said to come sometimes from worms in the intestines; it also accompanies broken wind; or it may have its source in indigestion.
Treatment: Good stable management.
Thick Wind: Sometimes produced by violent exercise after watering or on a full stomach.
Symptoms: The breathing is laboured, especially when at work. Unlike ‘broken wind’ the respirations are regular.
Treatment: Can only be palliative. Careful watering and feeding and regular work will mitigate the trouble.
Roaring.—A peculiar noise in breathing, often occurring in both expiration and inspiration.
Cause: Roaring may be due to tumour, or to injury, or it may be caused by a band of lymph across the trachea after severe inflammation, or the origin may be disease of the lungs. The most common cause is paralysis of the muscles.
Treatment: This must depend upon the cause of the obstruction. If we fail to find mechanical impediment, the roaring must be due to paralysis, and treatment is useless. Large horses, especially if they are long in the windpipe, are more pre-disposed to roaring than others. Ponies are seldom affected. Highblowing is sometimes mistaken for roaring. It soon disappears as the speed is increased, whereas the opposite is the case with roaring. Highblowing is merely the horse flapping his nostrils.
Grunting: Horses that grunt when threatened with the stick should be examined for their wind with more than ordinary care. Grunting is often a premise to roaring.
Whistling is a modified form of roaring and comes from much the same causes.
Broken Wind is indicated by a short, weak and constant cough, and an odd double action of the flanks.
Causes and symptoms: Narrow chests, protuberant bellies, gross feeding. Sometimes it comes slowly, commencing with a chronic cough. Sometimes it comes suddenly, after a hard gallop when the horse is unfit. Sometimes it is the sequel to pneumonia.
Treatment: In cases where the trouble is incipient, especially those that are due to indigestion, good management may check the progress of the disease, but in advanced or chronic conditions, it is incurable. It is commonest in underbred horses and in those whose feeding has been carelessly attended to. It is rare amongst racehorses. Permanently affected horses can be ‘tubed’, an operation which eases them a great deal.

A horse in good health stands firmly on both forefeet, the head is alert, the eyes are wide open, and the ears constantly moving. The coat shines, the skin is loose, the pulse is about 40 to the minute, the breathing 15 to the minute, the temperature 100 degrees. The colour of the linings of the eyes ind nostrils is a salmon pink. The bowels move frequently—eight times a day—the droppings being just soft enough to split as they fall and not slimy. The urine is rather thick and light yellow in colour (a horse often mints as he urinates).

DISEASES OF THE THROAT AND LUNGS
These can nearly always be ascribed to preventable causes, such as insufficient ventilation, want of cleanliness, or bad stable management.
Catarrh or cold.—Symptoms: Loss of appetite, dull eye, staring coat, tendency to sweat and to discharge from the nostrils, slight constipation, sore throat.
Treatment: Abundant fresh air, extra clothing, bandages on the legs, carrots, green food, warm mashes, no corn.
It may be necessary to steam the horse’s head frequently, by filling a bucket with boiling water, adding hay to it, and holding the horse’s nostrils over the steam. Purgative medicines are totally inadmissible, but if the horse is constipated, 2 oz. of Epsom Salts with 1/2 an oz. of nitrate of potassium may be given.