The Republican., 1895-10-03
ARISTOCRATIC HORSES.
The Diseases Caused by Their Artiftdis
life. y

lidiL ZIG IlpI ISCS III -NCN u "a n
are afflicted more or less with ind ges-
tion. In their natural state ne. per
horse nor man knew indigestion.
Where man has gone he has taken the
horse with him, and the horse as well
as the man has become the victinf of
the diseases which are the penaltiet of
civilization. The milestones of nodern
civilization are marked by the new dis
eases, and, later, their cures, discov-
cred by the modern physician. When
Russia sent la grippe to the western
world the horse got it as well as man,
and it showed the same contagious
tendencies in horse communities as IL
men communities. Not long ago a
horse in California got the brain fever.
The surgeons at hrst thought that
there was something the matter with
his ear
AS he couldn't speak, he couldn't tell
the surgeons that his poor old head felt
as if 1t was about to split open.
SO he did the next best thing. He
shook his head as hard as he could,
and tried to raise havoc with every
thing within reach of his heels. After
he was tied firmly the surgeons found
out the trouble, and in few days
sent him back to his owner feeling
like an old gentleman who had just
had a Turkish bath, no doubt to be-
come source of wonder among all of
his horsey friends as being the first
nag who had ever recovered from
, "wheels in the head"
Probably many horses before him
had had brain fever, but nobody un-
derstood what was the matter with
the beast, and accordingly shot him
after calling in a quacll horse doe
tor. IN the last few years veterinary
medical science has made wonderful
strides. Whenever an VI. d. discovers
a new disease in man the veterinary
straightway discovers a new disease in
horses. In the old days every disease
of the horse was named collie.
The modern horse doesn't get writer's
cramp, but the modern horse does get
racers heart" The racers heart is
the most alistocratic of horsey affec-
tons A race horse always has larger
heart than coach horse or a truck
horse; often he has twice as large d
heart. In racing or trying to beat rec
ord the greatest possible eXertion is re-
quired of the heart, which results in
enlargement Sometime the horse
/ will have his heart enlarged without
being affected; but often the result is
"a valvular disease, which is pretty GER
tain to take him off the track, if not
to kill him. The race horse is hot
house production, anyway. He is like
highly civilized man. Nancy Hanks,
for instance, is a sort of Paderewski
of the horse world. Your finely bred
horse wouldn't be worth his oats as a
| farm horse. 1t must have veterinary
surgeon at his heels every minute, and
| is prepared for a race with all the care
| that violinist uses in tuning his in
strument. Men who have big strings
/ of horses have the entire service of a
veterinary surgeon to supervise the
work of the trainers, who play the
part of trained nurses to the highly
nervous beasts. Such things weren t
necessary two hundred years ago, but
| the horse of to-day has a great many
more nerves than his ancestor, and lie
can also run a great deal faster
Its the horse from the country
! which is suddenly set down in the
midst of city life that sGffers most.
The youth fresh from the quiet of a
country college town, who does twelve
hours OF apprenticeship on a news
paper as his first days experience in
the artificial life OF the city, feels no
worse than the dulAb beast, fresh from
pastures green, which is driven few
miles up Fifth avenue hitched to a
landau. The horse often becomes so
nervous that he does not digest his
evening meal.
Pneumonia, however, is his greatest
enemy. When the wise stableman
goes home for the night he closes all
of the doors and windows, depriving
the stable of all ventilation. This is
hard on. lungs used to fresh country
air. When the horse is taken out he
gets a chill and pneumonia ensues.
When he convalesces he is the
hungriest horse in town. He is fed on
milk punches and eggs, and he de-
velopes such great liking for them
that he will follow the one who feeds
him about the stable, using all of the
horse methods of coaXing at his com
mand. In this. too he is like man.
Once he gets a taste for whisky he
can't get enough of it If he had his
way he would become an inebriate,
but will not allow his horse the same
privilege.
There's a hospital for horses up
town where horses are treated for all
of the diseases in the category and
which has a great table to which
horses are strapped for operations.
wise man who does the doctoring told
the reporter all of the things he is tell
ing you, and many more
This hospital, which is the annex OF
a college, is always Xperimenting on
horses that are past curing except by
experimenting. 1t also manufactures
anti-toxine for the board of health,
and possesses famous No. :, which orig.
inally cost seven dollars No. : has
been at the point of death a dozen
times, but is still alive and covered
with sears where his blood has been
drawn to save the life of his young