On the conditioning of horses : hippocomia / [Anon].

  • Bracy Clark
Date:
[1823]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the conditioning of horses : hippocomia / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the horse in a perpetual fever; and as they are all taken off when he is most exposed, on going- out, the sudden check given to the perspiration by the elements without, lays the foundation of disease, and occasions inflammation of the lungs, catarrhs, and coughs, that might as well he avoided by more moderate and judicious proceedings, besides the weak- ening effects of such violent perspirations. There is a principle in feeding them that ought not to he overlooked; which is, that good food may be earned too far, till, instead of condition, it produces fever and disease, and destroys the condition it is meant to promote. Green vegetable food fills out the body, and from its weight and watery nature weighs down the abdomen, giving it an unsightly appearance. Some horses, however, can work with this, that more stimulating food would not suit so well. The dry diet braces the system, and draws up the abdomen. This kind of food is longer retained in the large intestines, which occasions the flanks to appear full and rounded, and greatly adds to the beauty of the horse’s make in these parts,—that is, when it is duly administered. Some horses we have noticed have voracious appetites, and devour great abundance of corn, and whatever is set before them, yet always look meagre and out of condition. When this has been the case, we have been led to believe that by too much food, and of too heating a quality, the stomach and intestines have been paralysed, and lost then- powers of forming chyle, or of absorbing it. Turning out to the green pasture will often bring such into condition, and they fall off again in the stable. Horses of small make and fiery temper are, we have thought, more particularly subject to this disease. Water, like the food, should be given often, and not in too large quantities: stinting horses is a dangerous custom; it induces them, where there is an opportunity to take enough at once to break their wind, or otherwise injure themselves. See art. Broken Wind. The skin, to look well and be healthy, should be smooth, supple, and easy upon the muscles, free from knots, and by no means tight about the ribs. The hair clean, bright, and glossy, lying to the skin, and not distorted, or turning away from it, or twisted, dry, or thready. The effect of cold draughts of air on the skin of the horse, in setting up the hair, is well known to the grooms, who cautiously avoid it. Exercise to animals by nature born to be fleet, is particularly necessary; besides the good it does in moving and forwarding all the secretions and excretions. This should be gentle or vigorous, proportioned to the strength and state of the horse, without distressing or too much fatiguing him. A gentle perspiration loosens the scurf, and makes him clean better. The hide soon gets foul, and a groom that has much pride in the appearance of his horse, is almost incessantly currying, brushing, and hand rubbing the coat. It is a customary thing with the dealers in horses, in forming a judgment of the actual state of the horse, and whether his condition will admit of farther advancement, to handle the crest, chine, or upper part of the neck which carries the mane : if this be lax in the hand, and easily pliant, it is presumed the condition may be carried farther; if, on the contrary this part has a stiff tense feel, it is considered that farther improvement is not to be expected. Among the acknowledged indications also of poverty and good condition, is the poor mark in the buttock, that is the channel or depression running down the buttock, at its posterior part; being a depression formed between the muscles. If this channel be very visible and deep, the horse is out of condition ; if obliterated, so as to be hardly visible, he is considered in condition. Blood horses are more easily cleaned than the common coarser kind of horses; their coat is not so thick, nor does it retain the perspiration so much, and the hair is harder, and takes a better polish, which makes an experienced groom always prefer them : they reco- ver their fatigue also more quickly. Too great excitement from the food, and undue fever, may be known by the heat of the mouth, the fulness of the vessels of the eyes, the strength of the pulse, and the diminished appetite; the skin also, and extremities, are found too hot or too cold, languor and weak- ness follow : the remedies are before stated.
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