Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1894 — HORSES IN HOT WEATHER. [ARTICLE]

HORSES IN HOT WEATHER.

Good Care Better than Spasmodic Dosing With Drugs. Baltimore Sun. With the mercury hovering about the nineties, horse owners and drivers should consider means to protect the comfort and health of their four-footed servants. Dr. Robert Ward, State veterinarian, gives some simple rules for treating horses overcome by the heat and for preventing them from being affected by the scorching rays of the sun. “When a horse is overcome,” Dr. Ward said yesterday, “get it into a shady spot, throw cold, water on its head and elevate the head so that the horse can breathe easily. Give slowly a half-ounce doze of aromatic spirits of ammonia in a pint bottle of water. Repeat the remedy in art hour if the horse does not recover. Rub the body and legs to get up a circulation of blood oi? the surface. Keep back the bystanders that the horse may get air. This is just as necessary as for a human being. The treatment is the same as might beTdllbwed fbr a~ mani, and is much better than dosing the animal with many drugs. “I have seen many horses die from sunstroke simply because some persons kept giving them medicind when simple treatment would havq relieved them. The main thing is to give nature a chance to-assert herself and to combat the depressing effects of the prostrated powers. After treatment there should be care in diet and prevention of exposure to the sun.

“As precautionary measures, the feed of horses in hot weather should be changed from hard grain to a more easily digestible diet of bran mashes. Give half an ounce or a tablespoonful of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in water morning and night. This is a remedy which if it cost $5 a pound instead of 5 cents would probably be thought more' of and used more. It destroys the life of the lower organic being found in the system by its deoxdizing powers. Besides, —it arrests fermentation along with its action on microscopic fungi by correcting the fermentative substance in the blood. It is useful in low febrile and malignant diseases and is also largely used for a local application to skin and mouth sores in summer. “Look after the horse’s collar and harness. Often the collar is too tight and impedes the return circulation of the blood from the head. The side or overdraw check rein should be dispensed with entirely in hot weather. “A wet sponge covered on top and put between the horse’s ears is useful. Frequent wettings of the sponge produces an evaporation which by cooling the head lessens the risk of sunstroke. Occasional sponging with cool water under the collar and washing out the mouth with water are refreshing to a horse. This plan was tried with success by the City Passenger Railway Company when horses were used on its car lines. “When a horse is not working it should have cool and comfortable quarters. Roof ventilation of stables should always be maintained when possible. The light ammoniacal vapor charging the stable air cannot force its way through windows against the heavier air pressure outside the building.”