Special Report on Diseases of the Horse

Part 1

Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Kevin Handy, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY.

A. D. MELVIN, CHIEF OF BUREAU.

* * * * *

SPECIAL REPORT

DISEASES OF THE HORSE.

Drs. PEARSON, MICHENER, LAW, HARBAUGH, TRUMBOWER, LIAUTARD, HOLCOMBE, HUIDEKOPER, MOHLER, EICHHORN, HALL, AND ADAMS.

* * * * *

REVISED EDITION, 1916.

WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1916.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

Washington, March 30, 1916.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note: The italic markup for single italized letters are deleted for easier reading. Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved to the end of the sections.

* * * * *

This edition of the Special Report on Diseases of the Horse has been prepared in compliance with House Concurrent Resolution No. 13, passed February 3, 1916, as follows:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That there be printed and bound in cloth one hundred thousand copies of the Special Report on the Diseases of the Horse, the same to be first revised and brought to date, under the supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture; seventy thousand copies for the use of the House of Representatives and thirty thousand for use of the Senate.

Since the original edition issued by the Department in 1890 several editions have been printed by order of Congress. The work was reprinted in 1896, and revised and reprinted in 1903, 1908, and 1911. In accordance with the foregoing resolution it again has been revised so as to embody the latest practical development of knowledge of the subject.

D. F. HOUSTON,

Secretary.

CONTENTS.

Page.

The examination of a sick horse. By Leonard Pearson 7

Fundamental principles of disease. By Rush Shippen Huidekoper 27

Methods of administering medicines. By Ch. B. Michener 44

Diseases of the digestive organs. By Ch. B. Michener 49

Diseases of the respiratory organs. By W. H. Harbaugh 95

Diseases of the urinary organs. By James Law 134

Part 2

Diseases of the generative organs. By James Law 164

Diseases of the nervous system. By M. R. Trumbower 210

Diseases of the heart, blood vessels, and lymphatics. By M. R. Trumbower 247

Diseases of the eye. By James Law 274

Lameness. By A. Liautard 298

Diseases of the fetlock, ankle, and foot. By A. A. Holcombe 395

Diseases of the skin. By James Law 458

Wounds and their treatment. By Ch. B. Michener 484

Infectious diseases. By Rush Shippen Huidekoper 507

Shoeing. By John W. Adams 583

Index 607

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES.

Page. PLATE I. Inflammation 32

II. Inflammation 32

III. Digestive apparatus 48

IV. Age of horses as indicated by teeth 58

V. Intestinal worms 92

VI. Bots 92

VII. Position of the left lung 112

VIII. Longitudinal section through kidney 136

IX. Microscopic anatomy of kidney 136

X. Microscopic anatomy of kidney 136

XI. Calculi and instrument for removal 152

XII. Normal presentation 192

XIII. Some factors in difficult labor 192

XIV. Instruments used in difficult labor 192

XV. Abnormal presentations 200

Part 3

XVI. Abnormal presentations 200

XVII. Abnormal presentations 200

XVIII. Abnormal presentations 200

XIX. The nervous system 216

XX. Interior of chest, showing position of heart and diaphragm 248

XXI. Circulatory apparatus 248

XXII. Diagrammatic vertical section through horse's eye 277

XXIII. Skeleton of horse 304

XXIV. Superficial layer of muscles 304

XXV. Splint 312

XXVI. Ringbone 312

XXVII. Various types of spavin 312

XXVIII. Bone spavin 312

XXIX. Bone spavin 312

XXX. Dislocation of shoulder and elbow, Bourgelat's apparatus 360

XXXI. The sling in use 360

XXXII. Anatomy of foot 400

XXXIII. Anatomy of foot 400

XXXIV. Anatomy and diseases of foot 400

XXXV. Sound and contracted feet 400

XXXVI. Quarter crack and remedies 432

XXXVII. Foundered feet 432

XXXVIII. The skin and its diseases 458

XXXIX. Mites that infest the horse 480

XL. Glanders 544

XLI. Glanders 544

XLII. Glanders 544

TEXT FIGURES.

Part 4

Page. FIG. 1. Ground surface of a right fore hoof of the "regular" form 590

2. Pair of fore feet of regular form in regular standing position 591

3. Pair of fore feet of base-wide form in toe-wide standing position 591

4. Pair of fore feet of base-narrow form in toe-narrow standing position 592

5. Side view of an acute-angled fore foot, of a regular fore foot, and of a stumpy fore foot 592

6. Side view of foot with the foot-axis broken backward as a result of too long a toe 595

7. Left fore hoof of a regular form, shod with a plain fullered shoe 599

8. Side view of hoof and fullered shoe 599

9. An acute-angled left fore hoof shod with a bar shoe 601

10. A fairly formed right fore ice shoe for a roadster 601

11. Left fore hoof of regular form shod with a rubber pad and "three-quarter" shoe 602

12. A narrow right fore hoof of the base-wide standing position shod with a plain "dropped crease" shoe 602

13. Hoof surface of a right hind shoe to prevent interfering 603

14. Ground surface of shoe shown in fig. 13 603

15. Side view of a fore hoof shod so as to quicken the "breaking over" in a "forger" 604

16. Side view of a short-toed hind hoof of a forger 604

17. A toe-weight shoe to increase the length of stride of fore feet 605

18. Most common form of punched heel-weight shoe to induce high action in fore feet 605

SPECIAL REPORT ON DISEASES OF THE HORSE.

THE EXAMINATION OF A SICK HORSE.

By Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D.

In the examination of a sick horse it is important to have a method or system. If a definite plan of examination is followed one may feel reasonably sure, when the examination is finished, that no important point has been overlooked and that the examiner is in a position to arrive at an opinion that is as accurate as is possible for him. Of course, an experienced eye can see, and a trained hand can feel, slight alterations or variations from the normal that are not perceptible to the unskilled observer. A thorough knowledge of the conditions that exist in health is of the highest importance, because it is only by a knowledge of what is right that one can surely detect a wrong condition. A knowledge of anatomy, or of the structure of the body, and of physiology, or the functions and activities of the body, lie at the bottom of accuracy of diagnosis. It is important to remember that animals of different races or families deport themselves differently under the influence of the same disease or pathological process. The sensitive and highly organized thoroughbred resists cerebral depression more than does the lymphatic draft horse. Hence a degree of fever that does not produce marked dullness in a thoroughbred may cause the most abject dejection in a coarsely bred, heavy draft horse. This and similar facts are of vast importance in the diagnosis of disease and in the recognition of its significance.

The order of examination, as given hereafter, is one that has proved to be comparatively easy of application and sufficiently thorough for the purpose of the readers of this work, and is recommended by several writers.

HISTORY.

It is important to know, first of all, something of the origin and development of the disease; therefore the cause should be looked for. The cause of a disease is important, not only in connection with diagnosis, but also in connection with treatment. The character of feed that the horse has had, the use to which he has been put, and the kind of care he has received should all be closely inquired into. It may be found by this investigation that the horse has been fed on damaged feed, such as brewers' grains or moldy silage, and this may be sufficient to explain the profound depression and weakness that are characteristic of forage poisoning. If it is learned that the horse has been kept in the stable without exercise for several days and upon full rations, and that he became suddenly lame in his back and hind legs, and finally fell to the ground from what appeared to be partial paralysis, this knowledge, taken in connection with a few evident symptoms, will be enough to establish a diagnosis of azoturia (excess of nitrogen in the urine). If it is learned that the horse has been recently shipped in the cars or has been through a dealer's stable, we have knowledge of significance in connection with the causation of a possible febrile disease, which is, under these conditions, likely to prove to be influenza, or edematous pneumonia.

It is also important to know whether the particular horse under examination is the only one in the stable, or on the premises, that is similarly afflicted. If it is found that several horses are afflicted much in the same way, we have evidence of a common cause of disease which may prove to be of an infectious nature.

Continue reading Special Report on Diseases of the Horse free in the Wunder reader →