HORSE AILMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 November 1940, Page 9

HORSE AILMENTS

TREATING INDIGESTION. There are several causes which bring about chronic indigestion in horses. Those usually met with are improper food, an improper system of feeding and watering, imperfect chewing of the food by the animal, owing, perhaps, to bad teeth, or to the habit of bolting his food. The appetite is generally capricious and depraved. There is often acidity of the stomach, which is shown by the animal grinding his teeth, or the liking for licking white-washed walls, etc. Sometimes there is a cough, known as a stomach cough. The coat is out of order, being hidebound, lacking its natural gloss and often filled with dandruff. In the stable the horse is inclined to be costive, but a little exercise excites purging. There might also be mild colicy pains soon after being fed. The animal has a tucked-up look generally, or the abdomen might seem swollen, as if distended with gas. In treating this complaint, the first thing to do is to avoid the causes, such as by paying strict attention to the quality and the quantity of the food given. See to the mouth, and if necessary have the teeth regulated by careful rasping, and perhaps cutting away the sharp points, etc. Mix about two ounces of bicarbonate of soda daily in the feed and half a cup of best raw linseed oil, mixed with the daily feed, should be found very satisfactory. A lump of rock salt should be always in the manger, and a little pure superphosphate mixed occasionally with the food is also very good. Beyond these simple remedies, medicines are not of very much use, and it is wiser to pay more attention to dieting with good, wholesome food and green meals, such as lucerne, etc., and to see that the teeth are in good order.