Diseases of Stock, Their Cause and Cure.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 229, 15 July 1902, Page 3

Diseases of Stock, Their Cause and Cure.

FOURTH LECTURE BY MR LILICO,

M.R.C.V.S

There was a very largo attendance of farmers and others at St. Augustine’s Hall on Saturday afternoon to hour the fourth lecture by Mr Lilico. Mr J. F. Douglas presided. Prior to the lecture a horse suffering from paralysis of the b iwcls was brought round to the hall grounds. Mr Lilico, watched interestedly by a largo crowd, administered eserine hypodermically to promote the nervous co ver of the bowel. In a case of this sort an ordinary purgative does not act for 24 hours and by this time the horse is probably dead, but in the instance under notice purgation took place in ton minutes, saving the animal from inflammation of the bowels and probable death. The lecture was as follows : Hereditary unsoundness. The subject of heredity is a broad one—too broad, in fact, to enable ms to do it justice within the limit of a single lecture, but at this particular time it is one of especial interest, and I shad touch on one or two salient points in regard thereto. Year after year the intelligent breeders of horses are becoming more and more convinced of the old axiom “ Like begets like,” as is evinced by the great care given to the choice of a sire and the selection of approved dams. Notniany years ago it was quite common when a mare became incurably lame from any cause to breed her, the owner never giving a moment’s thought to the effect on the offspring, being perfectly satisfied if he could realise enough from the youngster as a yearling or two-year-old to reasonably compensate him for his time and trouble. To stand a reiaonable chanca of success, the breeder must _ aim at producing three essential qualifications in bis stock—(l) they must be sound ; (2) they must be of good if not of perfect conformation ; and (3) they must posresa strong individual qualities and characteristics. I will therefore divide my subject into these three heads and consider (1) Influence of heredity in transmitting disease. The line of demarcation betwixt health and disease, as I pointed out in a previous lecture, is a very vague one, and just as vague and unsatisfactory is the definition of unsoundness, but for all practical purposes we can accept the definition laid down that anything which interferes with the animal’s usefulness may be considered an unsoundness. Now. in hereditary diseases (for unsoundness is a disease) the term hereditary is somewhat elastic in its application. I do not say that if a sire or dam is spavined the offspring will be born spavined, but I do most emphatically say that they are born with a tendepey, a predisposition, susceptibility, call it what you will, to throw out a spavin on the slightest cause. And, as is the case with spavin, so it is with ringbones, sidebones, curbs, navicular disease, etc. French writers assert, and bear out their assertions with logical arguments and statistical facts, that the disease known as “ roaring ” was unknown in Normandy until the importation of Danish stallions and yet to-day we find a large percentage of that splendid breed of horses affected with that incurable disease. France and Germany have become alarmed at the amount of unsound horses in their territories and have specially legislated and taken other means to promote the breeding of sound horses. England is encouraging it by offering large premiums to registered stallions to stand in certain districts, where any owner with a sound mare can have the service at a nominal fee. These stallions before being selected are examined by qualified veterinarians. (2) Influence of heredity on conformation. The* connection befcwix hereditary unsoandness and hereditary conformation is very closelv allied, so close in faot, that some writers entirely repudiate the existence of the former and hold that ah forms of unsoundneas that can be traced to a congenital source are due solely to conformation, or rather lack of conformation. Whilst this may appear at the brat glance to be perfectly feasible, yet on closer observation we will find that the theory is not based upon actual facts. Take, for example, navicular disease, which is generally accompanied with a contraction or malformation of the foot, the advocates of ths conformation theory would naturally assume the malformation of the foot to be the cause, whereas it is the result of the disease. I have observed numbers of cases of navicular disease in its incipient stage where the foot was perfectly normal; or, as a further illustration, take a straight round hook, a conformation certainly predisposed to spavin, and

' we sometime* fi ’ *’ ° u perfectly smooth , ’ whereas we m»y *i H a spavin develop i on what we W'luld consider a perfec’'l'v formed hook. There are a number of c njformations which, while they may be faulty and detract from a horse’s ap pearance, yet may be perfectly compaMb'e with a good hois . These we have not rime to dwell on. there ar* also other conformations which, while in one breed ot horses wouM be objectionable, they would rather be a recommend ition in others. For instance, a straight upright shoulder would be objectionable in a saddle horse, but would be rather an advantage in a heivy draught. But all horses ought to have a neat head well put on, a good neck, a deep well ribbed home, and a short back in accordance with the laws of symmetry. The arms ought to be muscular, knees la r ge and well developed to enable them to stand rapid flexion , tho cannon bone ought to be free from bony enlargements, the tendons standing well back, giving a flit appearance to the leg: the pasterns ought not to bo too long to prevent undue strain on the suspensory 1 gamentr, and flexor tendons, nor yet too short, for you then have a stilly action, and, from the extra amount of ooncm>ion, a tendency to develop splints and o 1 her bony enlargements. The feet ought to - be neither too large nor t<o shull, but Be proportionate with the size and weight of the horse. The frog .m l h- els ought not to be contracted, for then you wou’d na'urally suspect some organic disease. Convexity of the sole (“ primmed sole”) would indieito a previ ms attack of laminitis. The horse should never “. toe in ” nor “ toe out, 1 ' fo- in both cases yen would have faulty action, and I have already alluded to the conformation of a hock predisposed to spavin, but there is ano her conformation which is diametrically the opposite. I refer to the “ sickle ” or bent hock, or, to use a “horsey” phrase, a “ curby hock.” From the latter expression it would bi read ly inferred that this bock is predisposed to curb. (3 ) Influence of Heredity on Individual Chirac eristics.— This last division of my subject is by no moans the least, although unfortunately it has not received the amount of attention from the breeder that it desc-ves. When one considers the haphazard manner in which some coles are bred we are surprised to see them deve’ep into such useful and serviceable horses. How often do we see a nervous high strung mare bred to a horse with a similar tempeiamont, and wont cm we expect from such a union ? N t a cool, calmheaded horse by any meins. Nor would we expect from the u don ol the 1 zy lymph-tic temperaments a horse that would stand by u; in a long journey and give us pleasure every time we drove it. I often wish that some breeders wonld read Darwin’s “Origin of Species, 1 ' for they would get a few valuable points regarding the laws of natural selection. We find the h>r e m his wild and untamed state exhibiting a wonderfully instinctive faculty in his choice (f | miting only with mich as are his apposite in temperament. It mipt be remembered that in his dmn-sticaled condition this choice is left to man, and he alone is resp msible if the telec ion has not been a fitting one. Before concluding I wish to refer to a subject which was discussed at the late Agricultural Conference in Dunedin the examination and registration of stallions. That thD is a necessary, and will prove a beneficent, measure most of you. I think, will admit. Undoubtedly it will prove a loss at the start to some owners of stallions, but far better that a single owner or two should suffer a slight decrease in revenue rather than allow those brutes to continue to reproduce their weakness and transmit their unaoundness.