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Horses and Cattle

sometimes bishop the teeth of old horses; that is, ❘ lips of the wound, especially if it be a clean cut, scoop them out, to imitate the mark; but this can be known by the absence of the white edge of enamel which always surrounds the real mark, by the shape of the teeth, and other marks of age about the animal.

When a Horse is Unsound.

Any of the following defects constitute unsoundness in a horse: Lameness, of all kinds and degrees. Diseases of any of the internal organs. Cough of all kinds, as long as it exists. Colds or catarrhs, while they last. Roaring; broken wind; thick wind; grease; mange; farcy and glanders; megrims or staggers; founder; convex feet; contracted feet; spavins and ringbones; enlargements of the sinews or ligaments; cataracts and other defects of the eyes, impairing sight.

The following may or may not occasion unsoundness, according to the state or degree in which they exist: Corns, splints, thrushes, bogspavins, throughpins, wind-galls, crib-biting. Curbs are unsoundness unless the horse has worked with them for some months without inconvenience. Cutting, particularly speedy cutting, constitutes unsoundness when it cannot be remedied by care and skill. Quidding, when a confirmed habit, injures the soundness of a horse. Defects, called blemishes, are: Scars, from broken knees; capped hocks, splints, bog-spavins, and throughpins; loss of hair, from blisters or scars; enlargements from blows or cutting; specks or streaks on the corner of the eye.

Vices are: Restiveness, shying, bolting, running away, kicking, rearing, weaving or moving the head from side to side, stringhalt, quidding, slipping the halter.

Wounds in Horses or Cattle.

When horses, cattle, or any of our domestic animals are wounded, the treatment may be very simple, and much the same as in the human race.

It is extremely improper to follow a practice that is common in many parts of the country among farriers, cow-doctors, and even shepherds - that of applying to the wound, or putting into the sore part, common salt, powder of blue vitriol, or tar, or cloths dipped in spirits, as brandy, rum, etc., or turpentine, or any other stimulant articles; for all such very much increase the pain, and, by irritating the sore, may increase the inflammation, even to the length of inducing mortification.

Though the treatment may be varied according to circumstances, yet, in most cases, it may be sufficient to take notice of the following particulars: It will be proper to wash away any foulness or dirt about the part, and to examine particularly its condition.

To stop the Bleeding.

Should any large bloodvessel be cut, and discharging copiously, it will be right to stop it, by some lint or sponge, with moderate compression or bandaging, at the same time, and not taking it off for two or three days. Should the pressure fail of effect, caustic applications, such as the lunar caustic, or even the actual cautery, the point of a thick wire, sufficiently heated, may be tried; or, if a surgeon be at hand, the vessel may be taken up by the crooked needle, with waxed thread, and then tied.

Adhesive Plaster and Sewing.

Where there is no danger of excessive bleeding, and a mere division of the parts, or a deep gash or cut, it will be right to adjust the parts, and keep them together by a strip of any common adhesive piaster; or, when this will not do by itself, the may be closed by one or more stitches, with a moderately coarse needle and thread, which in each stitch may be tied, and the ends left of a proper length, so that they can be afterwards removed, when the parts adhere. It is advised to tie the threads, because sometimes the wounded part swells so much that it is difficult to get them cut and drawn out, without giving pain and doing some mischief.

Bandages.

If the part will allow a roller or bandage to be used, to keep the lips of it together, this may likewise be employed; for, by supporting the sides of the wound, it would lessen any pain which the stitches occasion. With this treatment the wound heals often in a short time, or in a few days, rarely exceeding five or six, and sooner in the young and healthy than in the old and relaxed, and sooner in the quiet and motionless than in the restless and active.

Should the wound be large and inflammation, with the discharge of matter, likely to take place, it may still be proper, by gentle means, to bring the divided parts near to each other, and to retain them in their natural situation by means of a bandage. This should not be made too tight, but merely to support the part. In this way, and by avoiding stimulant applications, the wound will heal more readily than otherwise, and the chance of any blemishes following will be diminished.

Washes of spirits, brandy, and the like, Friar's balsam, spirit of wine and camphor, turpentine, or any other such irritating applications, are highly improper, and sometimes makes a fresh, clean wound (that would readily heal almost of itself) inflame and perhaps mortify, or become a bad sore.

Sores and Bruises.

Over the whole sore, or where the part is bruised or where there is a tendency to suppuration, a poultice should be applied and kept on by suitable bandages. The poultice may be made of any kind of meal, fine bran, bruised linseed, or of mash turnips, carrots, etc. The following has been found useful as a common poultice: "Fine bran, 1 quart; pour on a sufficient quantity of boiling water to make a thin paste; to this add of linseed powder enough to give it a proper consistence."

The poultice may be kept on for a week or ten days, or even longer, if necessary, changing it once or twice a day, and cleaning the wound, when the poultice is removed, by washing it by means of a soft rag or linen cloth, with water not more than blood warm (some sponges are too rough for this purpose); or, where the wound is deep, the water may be injected into it by a syringe, in order to clean it from the bottom.

Ointment.

In the course of a few days, when the wound, by care and proper management with the poultices, begins to put on a healthy appearance, and seems to be clean and of a reddish color, not black or bloody, then there may be applied an ointment made of tallow, linseed oil, beeswax, and hogs' lard, in such proportions as to make it of a consistence somewhat firmer than butter.

The ointment should be spread on some soft clean tow, and when applied to the sore it ought never to be tied hard upon it (which is done too frequently and very improperly), but only fixed by a bandage of a proper length and breadth (for a mere cord is often improper), so close and securely as to keep it from slipping off. This application may be changed once a day, or, when nearly well and discharging but little, once in two days, Green Ointment for Wounds.