Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-08-06

A6RICULTuRE, dc.
LAME HORSES.

LAME HOhSEo
Ii your horse is lame, then realize the
fact as quickly as possible, and attend to
1t. Locate the lameness where 1t mani
testify is, or where it is most likely to be,
even if there is hopelessness about 1t !
and allow no friend or surgeon TO Halter
you with the suggestion that the trouble
is temporary. trivial, confined to some
comparatively unimportant point, and, in
your horse at least, is not what ii would
be in every other horse about you. 1t the
lameness is forward" you may, in nine
cases out of ten, inter that the trouble is
in the foot, unless you can discover some
manifest enlargement OF the bones or
sinews. Shoulders are seldom lame. Ii
is the foot which is most exposed; it is
the foot which is most affected by the sc-
ton of the shoulder and leg above it; so
that many wise observers have insisted
upon it that any foot will stand, it rightly
managed by the muscles which move it :;
and it is the foot whose diseases are most
difficult to cure. There is no lameness SO
perplexing, annoying and discouraging
1t puts an end very eflectually TO horse ;
fast work, and eurolls his name among
the slow movers on the farm or IN the
family carriage. Rest, cold water, Miles
tar-ointment (to stimulate the growth
around the coroneD. u cool, brick floor,
with perhaps blister or two, will almost
always relieve the eaIly stages OF the dis
ease, and give the horse comfort aud abll-
ity 10 discharge well the service of quiet
lite. But laminitls and navlcular disease
do not surrender SO easily, and are
troublesome as the govt when they find
their way into the luxurious horse-circles,
those circles in which they are most
usually found.
So too, OF ripg-bone and SPAWN. More
conspicuous than diseases OF the foot they,
are more easily managed. would never
resign promising young horse on ac-
count OF the appearance OF those diseas-
es and | would never neglect them I'M
Ill they were past relief. once removed
from the pasterns OF likely two year old
by a couple OF blisterings, what | was
told in mild phrase were spreads, but
what. had they been let alone, would have
been nugbones in all their deiormitv and
so effeclually did remove them, that, at
four years Old the enlargements were not
visible, except on most careful lnspec-
ton. Two vi the best horses | ever bred
two of the best that anybody ever bred,
became diseased in their hooks at four
years old, and were threatened with in.
durable lameness. They were too good
TO be wasted. | could not bear the
thought OF their being crippes for life.
They were fired and blistered as soon as
the spawn manifested itself; were given
a years run at grass and in the winter
yard; and have done constant work on
the road from this without the slightest
appearance of stiffness in their Joints. |
do not think their speed. even (and they
both have a great deal of IT'D has been
reduced particle. am aware that the
loss OF six months or year in the work
ing time oil a horse is Il serious matter for
most men who use horses. But, to such
as work them simply for what they can
earn, this remedy is cheaper than the ul
innate loss OF the animal altogether; and
to those who are breeding and preparing
them for the market, it must be econo-
my to take hold OF these detects in season
and treat them promptly and summarily.
Hardly a local disease can be named
which will not yield to this summary pro
cess, and rest. Ii there is check to be
put to cribbing. for instance, that most
mysterious ana unaccountable of all dis
eased habit which is often acquired and
which l have seen inherited 1T Is by in
stantiy removing every object which can
be seized with the teeth and regulating
the food. So, too, of swelling legs.
scratches. corns, false quarter. thrush, and
other dithculties which arise from neg
lecting either the general condition of the
horse, or from iDjudicious use. lion. Geo.
b. LOrfn0 in :. Perfecf U0rse -