The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1900-01-25
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CT cannot. understand writes =
western farmer, why 1T is that In the
last five years four of my horses have
become badly affected with "heaves,''
always fed them all they wanted and
in winter they have had a yard to run
in where there was a stack of clover
hay and another of fax straw so they
could not want for food
We fail to see how horses fed
could escape having +heaves- Yet
comparatively few farmers understand
how the disease is brought on. The
fact of the matter is that coarse fod-
ders are practically always at the bot
tom of the trouble, so to speak, and
dusty timothy hay is also common
cause. Average farm horses get far
too much hay and cannot possibly de-
rive any benefit from it, for the surplus
amount that cannot be digested be-
comes a burden and sets up indiges-
ton, eventually a lesion of the pneo-
mogastric nerve, and a reflex con-
sequence emphysema of the lungs.
The disease is incurable when fully
developed, although the severe symp-
toms may be alleviated by common
sense methods of feeding. Bear in
mind that working horse should
have all the hay he can eat three times
a day. Indeed, when working hard he
should be fed hay but once daily ana
after the oats have been eaten and
largely digested- Should the hay be
dusty it is liable to produce heave5
even when fed but once daily. unless 1t
be well shaken up and wetted with
water, or where cases are already pres
ent, with lime water, which is easily
prepared by pouring water upon hot
lime Where the 1ntestines are con-
tinuously distended with undigested
hay they soon lose tone. gas forms.
and the characteristic cough of heaveS
with the accompanying passage OF ia
tus from the bowels are the next sure
signs of the disease.
1t may be confidently asserted that
"heaveS'' need never occur if horses
are carefully fed as we have so often
advised in these columns, viz, feeding
hay and fodder in moderation, always
providing old, sound, sweet, dustless
hay, always giving drinking water be-
fore feeding, never allowing horses to
sat when hot, fatigued or perspiring.
and feeding oats in preference to corn
during times of hard labor In hot
weather. In addition to these precau-
tons every horse should get q bran
mash at least twice week when work
ing and much oftener when idle with
carrots in winter time, as both of these
foods tend to keep the bowels acting
properly and so ward off attacks of in
digestion.
If the following rules are followed
any horse afflicted with heaves Will
in time be fit for light work but will
not entirely recover Keep in clean.
wel1-venti1ated barn, and make 1t i'm
possible for horse to eat bedding. Place
a lump of rock salt in manger. When
Idle feed clean, bright oat straw In
preference to timothy hay. Never feed
clover hay. Wet all food with lime
water Feed grain in small quantities
never using grain under one year old
Never work horse Immediately after q
meal. Arrange feeding hours so horse
will have at least one -FOUR of rest be-
tore going to work. If there is any
tendency to constipation keep bowels
acting freely by giving sloppy bran
mashes and gradually accustom horse
to taking raw 1inseed oil in these
mashes. In bad cases where great i'm
2rovement does not follow above meth
I'D of treatment give one-half ounce OF
Fowler'S Solution of Arsenic morning
and night, and in one week. if neces-
sary increase to three doses daily In
Using arsenic in this or any other dis
ease it must, however, be remembered
suddenly deprived of it, that when
it is decided to quit Its use it must be
done very gradually by 1essening the
dose day by day until the horse can get
along without it. Fluid extract of
lobe1ia may also be given in very small
doses along with the arsenic in aggra-
waited cases.