rise again The Symptoms of this disease are holding down his head staring up of his hair coughing staggering behind trembling after water loathing his meat stiff-going and disability to rise when down but the most remarkable of all signs is his belly will cling up to his back and his back will rise up like a Camels The first thing you are to do in the curing this Malady is to rake his Fundament then give him a Clyster finding the Horses belly emptied then take a quart of Malmsey of Sugar half a quartern half an Ounce of Cinamon of Liquorish and Anniseeds of each two spoonfuls beaten into fine powder which being put into the Malmsey warm them over the fire adding thereto some Honey which being molten give it the Horse luke-warm which done walk him up and down an hour if the weather be tolerably warm then let him fast upon the bit two hours being well cloathed and litter'd and when you give him Hay let it be sprinkled with Water and give him his clean sifted Provender by a little at once his drink must be warm Mashes of Malt and Water upon his recovery draw blood from him in the Neck-Vein and moderately exercise him often Feaver I have in a Chapter foregoing treated of several sorts of Feavers however I must not in this place omit speaking something more thereof An Horse that is Feaverish may be known by his suddainly falling ill his heaviness and gauntness of his Belly when it first seizeth him he will quake exceedingly The Cure Take half an Ounce of Diapente one Ounce of Bay-berries half an Ounce of long Pepper beat these together then take half an Ounce of Diascordium and put all these into a Pint and half of strong Beer and making it luke-warm give him it any time of the day to drink but take no blood from him in any case it is death if you do only cloath and litter him warm the Diascordium will cause him to sleep Now after the Drink hath done working and the Horse left off sweating then give him half a Pint of White-Wine and two Ounces of Honey mixt together and made luke-warm then air him and four hours after give him a Cordial made of three pints of stale Beer and a quarter of a Pint of Honey and a quarter of a pound of Butter and a good piece of Houshold bread boyl them a little together and give it him luke-warm and so set him up for that night Next morning fasting give him the Cordial again and at ten of the Clock give him warm Water and Bran at three of the Clock White-Wine and Honey and at night warm Water and Bran. Thus do with airing him sometimes and as you see him mend you may air him oftner at which time take some blood from his Spur-Veins and never question his cure Flux in Horses A Flux proceedeth from cold or from drinking too much after eating too plentifully of Provender for the Water coming thereunto causeth it to swell whereby crudities are bred in the Stomach and so carried down to the Guts and this occasioneth the Flux It proceeds sometimes from too soon travelling after Provender it being not well digested before or from drinking cold Water when he is too hot or from eating Hens-Dung or a Spider Be not over hasty in stopping this Flux unless you perceive he purgeth too much and over violently for then undoubtedly Nature is highly offended and then give him a laxative Clyster which I prescribed before in the Chapters of Clysters and that will carry away from him whatever within offends him a day after give him this Drink made of Bean Flower and Bole-Armoniack Powder of each three Ounces mix them with a quart of Red-Wine give it him Blood-warm and afterwards keep him warm in the Stable giving him Hay and Oats a little at a time Another way Take of wood-Ashes finely searced and of Bole Armoniack made into a fine powder of each a like quantity put them into the water that he is to drink and let him drink thereof morning and evening and this will stay his Flux Glaunders I shall wave what the Ancients have said of the Glanders imagining that it comes from the Latin word Glandulae and say that it is a running Impostume engendred either by cold over much fasting or long thirst or by eating foul meat or else by infection of other Horses It is a Flux or Rheum which sometimes runneth at one Nostril sometimes at both now he that would perfectly cure this disease must consider the matter which issueth from the Horses Nose If the humour be clear and transparent then it is not very dangerous if white it is worse yet with no great difficulty cured If it be yellow it is infectious yet curable and therefore separate him from your sound Horses If that yellow be mixed with red or if the colour of the matter be like Saffron the Horse is in a manner incurable He ought to consider whether the matter hath an evil smell if so it is the sign of an Ulcer if it stink not at all it is a certain sign of death To facilitate his cure you must give him warm Mashes of Malt and Water with purging his head by sneezing you may then give him any of these several drinks First you may take a pottle of Urine an handful of Bay Salt and a good quantity of brown Sugar-Candy then boyl it to a quart after this adde Anniseeds and Liquorish beaten to fine powder and give it him blood-warm to drink Secondly you may take Swines Grease and boyl it in Water then take the fat from the water and mingle it with a little Oyl Olive and a good quantity of Urine and half as much White-Wine when it is luke-warm give him a quart thereof to drink Thirdly take a quart of Ale an Ounce and half of grated bread the Yolks of two Egges of Ginger Saffron Cloves Cinamon Nutmegs Cardamomum Lavender Galingal and Honey of these an indifferent quantity mix these together strain it and give it him to drink But if the Glaunders be of the worser sort which will be known by the aforesaid Symptoms then take half a pound of Swines Blood adde to it a pound of the juice of Beets with three Ounces of Euphorbium finely beaten and when it hath boyled some time take it off from the fire and put thereto another Ounce of Euphorbium keep this Oyntment and anoint therewith his Nostrils by dipping two very long feathers or little rods therein and so rub them to and fro his Nostrils then walk him abroad and do thus four days together and this by experience hath been found an excellent cure Gargel Murrain Plague and Pestilence Blood-letting is very dangerous in these Pestilential diseases The signs when to know an Horse afflicted with this distemper are Gumming thick at the eyes hanging down of the head staggering as he goeth swelling of his head falling away of his flesh notwithstanding a good appetite
common and yet most dangerous if not timely cured wherefore I shall lay down the best receipts I could meet withal And first phlebotomize your Horse in the Neck-vein and let him bleed so long till you see the blood come very pure then give him of this Drink Take a quart of Ale and put therein Saffron and Turmerick of each half an ounce and the juyce that is wrung out of a great handful of Celandine and being luke-warm give it the Horse to drink keeping him warm three or four days giving him warm water with a little Bran in it Another way to cure him is when you perceive he is troubled with the Jaundice by the sweating at the roots of his Ears and by the yellowness of the Whites of his Eyes then blood let him in in the Neck-veins on both sides of the Neck then take Elder leaves Celandine and Camomile of each an handful cut them small and give them to the Horse in a pint and an half of the best Beer being made luke-warm fasting keep him warm and give him warm water to drink for two or three days So much of the yellow Jaundice a word or two of the black Jaundice It is the opinion of several understanding men that the black Jaundice is a disease incurable but because others are of a contrary opinion I will give you an account of what they prescribe for the Cure thereof First rake his Fundament then give him a Clyster made of Oyl Water Milk and Nitrum then pour into his Nostrils the Decoction of Mallows mingled with sweet Wine and let his meat be Grass or Hay sprinkled with water and a little Nitre and his Provender dried Oats he must rest from labour and be often rubbed I shall say little to it only leave it to your own Experience Inflammations how to ripen as Pustuls and Kernels which grow under the Chawl of an Horse These Pustuls and Kernels proceeding from Inflammations occasioned by colds c. must be dissolved otherwise all remedies will prove insignificant wherefore to bring these Pustuls to suppuration you must take Wheat-bran two handfuls and a quart of Wine or Ale to thicken it with put to it half a pound of Hogs-grease boil these together till the Liquour be quite consumed and so apply it to the place as hot as the Horse can endure it renewing it every day till it be so soft as that it be fit to be opened to let out the corruption then tent it with Flax dipped in this Salve But if the Inflammation be impostumated you may then take of the grounds of a Beer-barrel a Gallon of Smallage Peniroyal Winter Savory Cumfrey Rew and of the Berries and Leaves of the Misseltoe of each two handfuls chop these very small and put them to the Beer grounds and add thereunto Deer or Sheeps Suet tried one pound and three or four handfuls of Rye or Wheat-bran so much as will serve to boil these to a Pouâ—tess then apply it to the place and let it be never so much impostumated it will either break or soften it but if it be very hard it will discuss and divert the humour some other way Kidney Infirmities The Kidneys are frequently afflicted with Inflammations Obstructions Aposthumes and Ulcers and these are occasioned by some great strain by over-riding or over-bearing The usual Symptoms of the distempers in the Kidneys are discerned by his staggering and roling as he goeth his Urine will be thick and blackish if he hath stones they will be shrunk up if none his sheath will be drawn backward The Cure Bathe his Back and Loins with Oyl Wine and Nitrum warmed together and after he is bathed cover him with warm cloths and let him stand in Litter up to the Belly then give him to drink water wherein hath been sodden Dill Fennel Anniseeds Smallage Parsley Spikenard Myrrh and Cassia or as many of these Simples as you can well procure The next morning fasting give him a quart of Ews milk if you cannot get that then half a pint of Sallet oil with the root of Daffadil boiled in wine and let Oats be his Provender If the Horse be troubled with the Stone which you will discover by his often straining to piss but cannot then take an handful of Maiden-hair and steep it all night in a quart of strong Ale and give the Horse to drink every morning till he be perfectly cured this is an infallible Medicine to break in an Horse any stone whatever Loathing of meat in an Horse This is a disease proceeding from the intemperature of his Stomach occasioned by rankness of blood or overmuch travel Dayly experience makes this latter apparent for if an Horse be ridden hard and put up into a Stable hot he will refuse his meat and hence it is that I cannot but condemn baiting at Noons a vulgar ignorant custom because a journey commonly craves haste so that an Horse is not admitted to take so convenient a cooling as is requisite before his meat which breeds many distempers Now to cool him moderately either wash his tongue with Vinegar or give him to drink Oyl and Vinegar mingled with cold water But if the loathing of his meat proceed from the coldness of his Stomach which is only known by the standing up and stovering of the hair then give him Wine and Oil to drink mixed divers mornings together or Wine Oil Sage and Rice boiled together giving him thereof a quart at a time Some again will give him Onions pilled and chopt and Rocket-seed boiled and bruised in Wine others mingle Wine with the blood of a Sow-Pig But to conclude Take this as the best remedy for any general forsaking or an Horse's loathing his meat whether it proceed from hot or cold causes in the Stomach and that is when there are green Blades of Corn especially of Wheat give your Horse a good quantity thereof if it be at such a time as that they cannot be procured then give the Horse sweet Wine and the seeds of Gith mixt with it or else sweet Wine and Garlick well pilled and stampt brewing it a good while together this is a sovereign remedy in maladies of this nature Lask or Bloody Flux The Lask or â—ax is an unnatural loosness in an Horses Body which if not in its due time stayed will bring the Horse to great debilitation and weakness this disease proceedeth from very many causes wherefore I shall pass them over and only inform you that as you must have a care not to stop it too soon so let it not run too long both being of an equal dangerous consequence As long as you find the strength and good estate of your Horse continue you may let him scowre but when once that begins to impair you must put a stop to its farther course which you may do several ways As first take of Bean-flower and Bole Armoniack of each a quartern mix them together with a quart of red Wine give it him luke-warm
silver Hair Dable-Gray or a fair Roan Red or Black these they affirm are most healthful gentle strong and temperate and inclinable to no disease all this any man would believe if there were any such constitution to be found for I think it impossible that the four Elements should be so evenly and equally temper'd in any body but that one must be more powerful than the rest and so consequently the Horses Constitution must incline to that Element which most aboundeth in him But of the temperaments of an Horse I shall speak more particularly when I shall come to give you an account of the frame or composition of an Horse dissecting every part as a necessary introduction to the knowledge and cure of those diseases which infest every particular member But before I shall enter upon that subject which is the main scope of my intention Give me leave to lay you down some new Experiments which may tend much to the benefit of him that is desirous to be perfect in the Art of Riding and Feeding Race Horses CHAP. V. Instructions for the accomplishing a Rider TO incourage you in the noble Art of Riding I have in brief discovered to you what a pleasant and profitable Creature an Horse is to mankind and that you might at no time want a good one I have indeavoured to instruct you how you should so breed them that you should not fail in your expectations or if you did then how to buy a good one both by marks shape and Colour and having obteined your desire let us now consider the office and duty of a Rider Some there are so opinionative that being able to sit a rough unridden Colt a few plunges by holding Monkey like with both hands to the Mane and Pummel clinging with both legs to the side of the Horse as if they would clip him in two which puts the poor beast into so great a disorder that by his violent flinging and flounsing he agitates the poor Beast clear out of wind having made him thus breathless nothing will serve his turn but the appellation of a compleat Horse-man In the first place let me perswade you not only to lay aside vain glory but cholerick impatience for no man let him love the Art never so well can make a compleat Horse-man if he be rash and hasty neither will an Horse learn his precepts if he be not otherwise inclined and therefore if he prove bad his faults and defects must not be imputed so much to his ill nature as his indiscreet Rider Wherefore avoid severity to your young Horse for it is a Maxime laid down by that compleat Horse-man Thomas de Grey Esq He cannot be a good Horse-man who wanteth knowledge how to bring his Horse to perfection by fair sweet and gentle means rather than by correction and severe chastisement however the whip must not always be neglected if he doth amiss if well let him be cherished by stroaking and otherways to incourage him in well doing for an Horse is a creature of great understanding Let your Groom frequently toy and play with him be continually talking to him in some odd phrase or other for this pleaseth a good natur'd Horse let him morning and evening ride him a little way abroad but he must have a care he do not heat him too much he must duly curry curb and dress him wipe pick and cleanse him feed and cherish him keeping him sweet and warm be often imployed about him tampering with his legs and heels frequently taking up his feet rapping him gently on the soles and softly knocking him on the Coffins by this means he will be brought to lift up his foot at first bidding Before you put your Horse to grass if you have rid him a journey take some small quantity of blood from him three or four days before you turn him out but I would not advise you to put him forth till about the tenth of May. If your horse hath been pampered in a warm stable I would have you use him to some hardness before you put him to grass for otherwise he may be subject to take cold and when you take him up from grass let it be about the latter end of August for then the season will be troubled with cold dews and the heart of grass beginneth then to fail but in the taking of him up have a care of heating of him because that fat he got at grass is not firm but somewhat tender two days after you have him in the stable then blood-let him again which will prevent a great many diseases which are occasioned by the Gaul and Spleen Make frequent inspection into your Horses mouth for fear of Barbes Cankers Bigs Blisters and these you may discover by the spots of the Gums Tongue and Mouth and accordingly make speedy applications for their cure And to this end both wash and rub his mouth with Verjuice and Bay-Salt mingled together and all the better if you let some pass down his throat If your Horses eyes look dull and drowsy more than usual you may justly suppose him to be ill and to prevent the growth of his distemper give him the drink of a Diatesseron If you find your Horse halt or favour one foot more than the other let his foot be immediately examined let him take off the shooe and search for Gravel or a Nail if you find none yet perceive the foot warmer than the rest then search the heel and frush if all well there then higher to the pastern joynt in the leg or back sinew having found the fault let the Farrier be instantly acquainted with his malady When you are to take your journey with him let him be water'd in the house giving him an indifferent quantity of good clean Oats then tying him up to the rack curry dress and saddle him leaving his girts loose and do not draw them strait till you are going to mount him then ride him softly for the first three miles that you may prevent crudities and that he may digest his meat the better three miles before you come to your journeys end ride him into some River if any near you up to his belly but not deeper and so let him drink not all at once but by degrees then ride him an indifferent pace to warm his water in his belly which will so refresh him that forgetting his weariness he will fall to his meat with the greater appetite Having brought him to the stable tye him up to the empty rack and litter him up to the belly and be sure that after you have caused him to be well rubbed both belly legs back neck face and head also the breast then upon a cloth let his saddle be clapt on and so let him stand almost an hour As for those Lessons you intend to teach your Horse which are fit for his practice and the purpose for which you intend him as if it be for Hunting Running Travail Hackney or the like then
the chiefest things you are to apply your self to are to preserve a good mouth to trot freely and comely to amble surely and easily to gallop strongly and swiftly to obey the hand in stopping gently and retiring willingly and to turn on either hand readily and nimbly to all which I must refer you to the works of that ingenious and most accomplisht Gentelman Mr. Markham CHAP. VI. Choice observations for the feeding of Horses for the Race AS for the time of keeping the Race Horse it is not certainly concluded upon by the Masters of this Art for some would have it an half year at least though they have no other ground for it but that if he should run sooner he may indanger the melting of his grease by that violent and too early exercise that thereby ill humours will be too hastily stirred and so consequently bring upon them innumerable diseases and hereupon they conclude that to bring him to it gradually with length of time is most expedient not considering the great charge the owner must infallibly be at and it may be it will eat up the profit of the price Besides they discover much ignorance herein by not considering that if grease should be melted which of all hands is confest very dangerous it may be purged away by wholsome scourings humours too suddainly stir'd and so dispersing themselves to the great detriment of the body may be evacuated by sweat and moderate Airings But if half a year be too long pray what time then is most convenient you will say For this purpose of preparation it is the opinion of the most expert judicious Feeders that seven or eight weeks is time long enough for an old trained Horse And lest any ill humour should lurk within the body of an Horse and so detriment the intended purpose of his swift and free running I would advise you to elect such nourishing simples and not a mish mash of I know not what poisonous ingredients which may bring away any melted grease or ill humour which offends the body without delaying time and by this course you may better and much more forward intents in four days than others in four months for by their deferring time as Mr. Markham observes they nor no man else can certainly tell which way the melted grease and other foul humours will avoid whether into his Ordure and that 's the safest whether into sweat which is hazardous into his limbs which is mischievous or remain and putrefie in his body which is mortally dangerous But when I advise you to scour my intent and meaning is that you should not run into the extreams of some foolish persons who are never at rest but when they are giving their Horses some stop or other which they call a potion or scourings most commonly without cause and always without order thereby so debilitating the poor Creature that though he may be willing yet is rendered incapable of running that course which must be performed with so much strength vigour agility and swiftness From over doing or under doing the Feeder ought to make choice of a mediocrity if he intends to purge let him be sure he have a just occasion for so doing and that is when he is certain that foul humours abound and let the means by which he intends to evacuate them be wholsome simples being confident in what he prescribes that it will rather add to the Horses vigour than diminish from it so with deserved applause he shall succeed in his enterprize If your Horse be over fat or foul or newly taken from grass my advice is that you diet him two months at least before you let him run the Race-match if the wager will permit take a longer time If he be very poor by over riding or some other disorder take what time you can above five weeks but six will serve exercising him well with his feeding But if your Horse be in a mediocrity and good temperament of body a month is time enough to fit and adapt him for his race CHAP. VII Rules for the first and right ordering of the Race-Horse AS I said before when you have match'd your Horse you are to consider the condition and principally regard the estate of body in which the Horse is at the time of his matching which is fat and foul poor and lean or in a golden mean If fat and foul for the first fortnight rise betimes and having tied his bridle to the rack after it is put on him wash't in beer cleanse your stable well and then fall to dressing your Horse which you may do in this manner First curry him well all over then dust him with an Horses tayl or some clean dusting cloth then with your wet hand stroke all his body over not leaving any loose hair to stick upon him having thus done wipe him dry again and be sure to cleanse his sheath stones and tuel his ears eyes and nostrils Then must you make a large body-cloth of thick warm Kersey if it be in the Winter but some lighter stuff as fine Cotten for the Summer and fold or wrap it about the Horses body then girt him with his saddle on the foremost girt pretty strait but the other more remiss or slack Then put on his breast cloth covering both breast and shoulders and let his standing be continually on good store of fresh litter night and day of wheat straw as near as you can Having thus accoutred him draw him out of the stable and back him and walk him a foot pace which is called raking a mile or two but neither amble nor trot him for that will prejudice his celerity or speed If you can find any steep hills gallop him up gently but rack or walk him down softly that he may cool as much the one way as he hath heated himself the other having thus exercised him a pretty space walk your Horse to some River or clear Pond fed by some wholsome Spring and there let him drink what he pleaseth After this gallop him moderately to warm the water in his belly then rack him a pretty space and then show him the water again if he drink gallop him again and thus exercise him still both before and after he hath drank his water When you have caused him to drink what is enough and exercised him sufficiently Then bring him home gently so that he have not a wet hair Being entred the stable provoke him to piss by whistling which you will incline him to by often so doing and this you will find shall add much to the Horses health This being done tye up his head to the rack with his bridle on then with hard wisps with all your might rub down his forelegs and unloosing his breast cloth with a dry course Cloth rub well his head neck and breast and having taken off his Saddle and Body-cloth rub his back and every other part of him then cloath him up in Linnen and over that a good
surfeits or molten grease and foulness by over exercise and the like Fourthly of the signs and symptoms of Diseases which are many nay almost innumerable however take them thus in brief First observe the place of the member grieved and see whether it have its true proportion and is not less or more in quantity if either happen the Horse is diseased next mark the alteration of the quality as whether too moist too dry too cold or too hot Your third sign may be taken from the members non-performance of his duty and lastly by the thicker and thinner Excrements But these directions may seem to some difficult and abstruse wherefore take these plainer instructions which are the thirty years observation of a most ingenious Gentleman and one admired by all the Horse-Doctors in or about this City and thus he layeth down the undeceivable signs of all sorts of internal diseases If an Horse be more than usual slower to labour or duller to the spur If he be shorter winded drawing his breath quick If his ears hang down more than they were wont If his hair do bristle or be more staring If his Flanks be more than usually lank and hollow If he burn betwixt his ears or about his pasterns If travelling his stomach fail him and his mouth dry which used to foam These are infallible signs of inward distemper as to the general now as to signs of particular diseases take these If an Horse hold down his head whereas he was wont to have a chearful look it prognosticates a Feaver Head-ach or Foundring That Horse whose eye were naturally clear and quick and of a suddain look dull and dim and heavy is troubled either with the head-ach or the staggers is seizing him An Horse will frequently discover obstructions in the Liver by often turning his head to the right side and the like by turning it down to his belly make appear that he is troubled with the Bots Worms or Cholick Water running from an Horses mouth is the sign of a wet cough or staggers If foul matter issue from an Horses Nostrils it signifies an Ulcer in the nose or head if it be white it is a sign of the Glanders if black of the mourning of the Chine if yellow the consumption of the Liver if little lumps proceed from his mouth it shows the rottenness of his Lungs The beating of the Flank with shortness of breath is the sign of a Feaver or â—trangle If ought may be felt on both sides the Forehead beating it is a sign of the Staggers Swellings about the ears betoken the Pole-evil under the ear the vives and swelling in the mouth is the sign of the Canker Flaps or Lampass Swelling under the throat and swelling about the root of the Tongâ—â— is in the first a sign of the Glanders in the last a sign of the Strangle but if about the tongue roots there be only knots or kernels it is only a sign of a Cold. If an Horse tremble after drinking cold water during that time he hath a certain fit of an Ague for if any will observe it after the trembling is over he shall find him burn and glow extremely If an Horse piss with much difficulty you may suspect him either foundred or troubled with the Wind-Cholick or Stone if the colour of his urine be yellow it is a sign of the Glanders but if thick and black he is afflicted with pain in the Kidneys If Horses Dung stink much it is the sign of a hot Liver if little then of a cold Liver and if undigested then of a Consumption or some dry Malady If an Horse desire extremely to lie down on his right side he is troubled with a hot Liver if on the left it is the sign of a distemper'd Spleen if he tumble to and fro taking no rest then he is troubled with Worms Bots or Wind-cholick if not able to rise when down it betokens mortal weakness or foundring in the body If an Horse covet much meat and little drink it betokens a cold Liver but if he thirst much and eat little then it denotes a Feaver rotten Lungs an extraordinary heat in the stomach or the dry Yellows If an Horse strike with his foot at his belly it signifies the Cholick or Griping of the Guts but if he fisks with his Tayl when he strikes then it is Bots or Wormâ— If a knotty Ulcer creep along the Veins it is the Farcy if expanding it self only in one place it is a Canker if the Ulcer be hollow and crooked it is a Fistula but if it be a spungy wart and full of blood it is an Anbury If an Horses tongue be swoln and hang out of his mouth it is the Strangle To conclude there are many more signs and symptoms oâ— diseases the discovery whereof I shall leave to your own industry And now I am come to the fifth and last thing which I promised to discourse upon and which must conclude this Treatise viz. The means and several ways used to compleat the cure of every individual disease incident to the afflicting an Horses body observe this first as a Prooemium thereunto CHAP. XVII General yet choice observations in the administration of Physick to Horses THe signs and symptoms of diseases will avail you little if only knowing how to judge of health and sickness you know not also how to apply things proper to every malady and to the intent you may avoid all absurdities herein take these rules First let what ever potion or drench you give your Horse be but luke-warm for it is of a most dangerous and deadly consequence if you scald an Horses stomach Secondly give him his potion easily that you may avoid suffocation Thirdly draw out your Horses tongue a little before you clap the horn into his mouth and then let it slip in again and that will force him to swallow what he hath received Lastly if you will have your physick work well keep your Horse fasting a good while both before and after the reception thereof and use him to moderate exercise for the better operation as walking or trotting him as you shall find him furnished with strength As to the mixing your medicaments take these three observations First if your Horses distemper be hot as a Feaver c. then let your simples be mixed with Oyl Honey or warm water Secondly if the disease hath its rise from cold causes as Coughs Rheums c. then mingle your simples with Wine or good Ale Lastly if your Horse be weak and much debilitated by his distemper then mix your simples with Milk and Egges CHAP. XVIII Of Blood-letting PHlebotomy or Blood-letting is either to prevent diseases and so preserve health or to refrigerate the spirits or else to take away blood where there is too much or else to void and purge gross and foul humours In phlebotomy you are to observe this first to chase or exercise him moderately then let him rest a day before you
draw blood from him and three days after If you find the vein to swell after you have opened it as it will do when wind gets in or when a steam miscarries then take white Pitch black Pitch and Rossin of each a like quantity and boyl them together and lay it on with a flat stick and then flock it let it lye all over the swelling and anoint it with the Oyl of Populeon once doing this commonly effects the cure but if once doth it not then use it oftner till you have discust the swelling If your Horse bleed violently at the nose and you cannot stanch it then take Betony and stamp it in a Morter with salt and put it into the Horses nose or if your Horse be wounded and bleedeth exceedingly the same applied thereunto will immediately stop the flux of blood Observe that April and October are the two principal months for Blood-letting now what may be said more on this subject I shall refer you to the Chirurgical part of this book treating of the cures of external maladies CHAP. XIX Of the Excrements of an Horse THe Excrements of an Horse are of two sorts Dung and Urine If the Dung of your Horse be of the colour or somewhat near of his food he is in a sound condition as for example if an Horse runs at grass his dung will be green if it be bright and neither too hard nor too soft it is an excellent sign of an healthy constitution but if it be fluid and waterish though it be green it betokens the Horse troubled with coldness in his stomach and bowels If the Dung be neither too thick nor too thin yet the greenness intermixt with blackness it signifies the Horse inclined to the Yellows or Staggers If the food of an Horse be straw the colour of his Dung will be a bright yellow and rather thick than thin the grain whereof being long it is a sign of health but if the Dung be reddish and either very dry or as thin as Cow-dung they are infallible signs that the Horse is inwardly diseased if this redness do turn to blackness having lost its scent it betokens the speedy death of the creature If Hay and Provender be the usual food of your Horse if healthy and sound the colour of his dung will be a brownish-yellow moist and of a grain somewhat long but if that brownness turn to redness it is a sign of sickness if to blackness then of death Lastly if your Horse feed altogether on Provender then will his dung be of a pale yellow colour if he be in health but if it look reddish then it signifieth that the Horse hath taken some inward heat and that there is an inflammation in his bowels and stomach Now if it be brown and shiny or greasy and shining it is a sign of molten grease putrefying in the body Thus much of an Horses Dung now of his Urine In the first place if it be of a pale yellow or straw colour smelling strong and not very clear then is your Horse healthy well and lusty but if its colour be very white it is a sign of weakness in the Reins Stone and Obstruction in the Kidneys If the Urine be high coloured like Beer brew'd with over dryed Malt then is that Horses blood inflamed signifying a Feaver or some great surfeit if blood red an heat by over riding whose inflammation is so great that if scowring or some other physical means be not speedily used the Horse will fall irrecoverably into some mortal distemper If the Urine be pale and greenish it is a sign of a Consumption of the seed and debilitation of the back If the Urine be high coloured yet clowdy and blackish it foretells speedy mortality CHAP. XX. Of the several sorts of Feavers in Horses FEavers are usually ingendred either by over much travel or disorderly diet and these Feavers by some are divided into three parts the first are bred in the spirits the second in the humours the third in the firm parts of the body being all set on fire beyond the ordinary course of nature Others divide them into two parts The ordinary which are either bred in the humours or spirits and these are Feavers Quotidian Tertian Quartan Hectick Feavers in Summer fall of the Leaf and Winter The extraordinary are all those which are bred in the firm parts of the body and are pestilential Feavers and the Plague The rise from whence ordinary Feavers proceed I have told you already viz. from excessive Travel or disorderly Diet but the causes of extraordinary Feavers are either corruption of blood or infection of the Air. Now here is to be noted that the Staggers Yellows and Anâ—ecor never seize an Horse but a Pestilential Feaver is their Harbinger or Forerunner and they are like pestilential marks rarely seen but when the disease is too far gone The signs and symptoms of these Feavers as well as most other distempers I have declared already and therefore I shall here let them pass and fall to the cure CHAP. XXI A general Cure for general Feavers AS soon as the Feaver is apparent by the signs aforesaid some will phlebotomize the Horse in the face temples and palate of the mouth restraining him from all food the first day and only giving him by little and little some warm drink giving him good store of Litter having a care he catch no cold and as he begins to mend feed him with boiled Barley well huskt and beaten Others do judge of this to be a better and speedier cure that is as soon as you discern his shaking give him instantly the yolks of five Egges beaten with nine spoon-fuls of Aqua-vitae and having drunk it chafe him well till his shaking be over then put him into a warm place and force him to sweat an hour by laying on him store of cloaths let his food in the mean while be Oats well dryed and sifted and once a day some washed in Ale and let him drink no water but what is warm and this course you must take at the beginning of every fit if you will have your Horse cured of his Feaver A cure for a Quotidian Feaver This distemper taketh an Horse once a day very violently but will not last above seven hours in a day and after his fit will seem to be as perfect in health as before till the time of the usual coming of his fit If his fit change its accustomed time as if it taketh him at nine of the clock one day and at six another the greater hope there is that his Feaver will leave him the sooner As for the cure give him only a sweet mash of Malt and Water Milk-warm walking him moderately in a temperate Air his fit being over rub him down very well especially his back and legs then four or five hours after give him this drink in a horn thrice at least if his fits continue to afflict him A most approved Drink for an
every days Feaver Take a quart of strong Ale and seethe therein half an handful of Wormwood two ounces of long Pepper and Grains two ounces of the best Treacle one ounce of the powder of dryed Rue the third part of the liquor being consumed take it from the fire and strain it then put therein three ounces of the powder of Sugar-Candy when it is luke-warm make your Horse swallow it and there will be no fear that he will miscarry by reason of his present distemper A cure for the Tertian Feaver This disease taketh the Horse one day and forbeareth him the other the one day he shall seem to be very well and the next he shall be really very sick when blood begins to abound that is in the Spring time then this distemper is most rise among Colts and the younger sort of Horses the symptoms are all one with those of the Quotidian As soon as you perceive your Horse to shake take a weed called Stone-crop and so bruise it that you may get from thence four or five spoonfuls of the juice and mingling it with a quart of Ale put it into an Horn and give it your Horse then walk him moderately for an hour afterwards set him up and force him to sweat an hour more then cool him by degrees and let him not by any means drink cold water but let his food be the best dry old Oats you can procure The cure of the Quartan Feaver This Feaver is less violent than the two former yet of longer continuance its time of seizing the Horse is every fourth day as thus if his fit taketh him on Tuesday he will seem well Wednesday and Thursday and be taken again with his fit on Friday the causes and signs are the same with the other and the cure differs very little only you must not in any wise administer that prescribed Physick above thrice and if he recovers not then you must leave his cure to time for its working out The Cure of the Hectick Feaver An Hectick Feaver when it seizeth Horses it commonly bringeth death with it and is the first breeder of a Consumption the humour is hot and dry which runneth between the skin and the flesh occasioned by an idle custom of giving over hot drenches or by using them to drink Beer or Wine The signs or symptoms are want of appetite with a raw tongue almost scalded loose and flaggy flesh with a continual trembling over all his body His cure must be effected thus let his drink be only warm mashes made of Malt and water and let him eat nothing but sweet Hay or green Corn blades but first wash his tongue with Allom Running water Sage and Wood-bine leaves boiled together after this let him have this drink fasting in a morning Take of Aloes one Ounce of Garlick half an Ounce of Licoras and Anniseeds of each a Drachm beaten to powder then put these into a quart of White wine sweetned with Sugar-Candy or Honey and made luke-warm for him to drink Probatum est Of Feavers seizing an Horse either in Summer Autumn or Winter and their Cures It is the opinion of most that Summer Feavers are the worst of all ordinary Feavers especially in the Dog-days The Symptoms of this Feaver are the violent beating of his Arteries and his evacuating seed with his Urine The old way to cure him is to open the great Vein in his hinder Haunch about four Inches below his Fundament but by reason it is not easily found and so by mistake an Artery may be cut instead thereof I hold it much safer to open the Neck-Vein having so done give him a drink three mornings together made of the juice of an handful of Purslane mixt with Gumdragacanth Anniseeds and Damask Rose leaves beaten to powder all put into a quart of strong Ale sweetned either with Honey or Sugar-Candy and after this fail not to keep him warm as you must during the whole continuance of his distemper If your Horse get a Feaver in Autumn blood-let him in the Neck-Vein and in the Palate of his Mouth and then give him this drink following and never doubt of his recovery Take of Germander two Ounces of Gum Dragaâ—anth and dryed Roses of each half an Ounce beat them into fine powder of Oyl-Olive two Ounces and as much Honey put these into a quart of Ale and make them luke-warm after he hath drank it let him be walkt and then set up close and warm A Winter Feaver is of long continuance though not very dangerous the causes and signs are the same with the rest but you must be very circumspect in the cure and in the first place it is required that you purge his head well by sneezing then phlebotomize him in the Neck and Palate of the mouth and about three hours after give him this drink Take three Ounces of Rue half an Ounce of round Pepper of Bay-berries and Smallage seed of each half an Ounce boyl these in White-Wine and let him not drink till it be luke-warm As for his diet keep him fasting a good while before his fit comes and give him to drink nothing but warm Mashes if you find your Horse extreamly weakned by his fits then use this friction following whose virtues will loosen the skin chear up the inward spirits and spread a lively heat through the whole body Take this as the most Soveraign friction I have met withal you must get Oyl de Bay or Dialthea and anoint the Horses body all over therewith holding a pan of Coals near the Ointment to make it sink in rubbing hard against the Hair but as for Winter Feavers there is nothing better than this Take of Damask Roses one Pound of old Oyl a Pint of strong Vinegar a Pint and half of Mint and Rue beaten into powder of each an Ounce and half together with one old dry Nut beat them and mingle them well together and being strained and made luke-warm rub the Horse against the hair all over his body till he begin to sweat then cloath him and let him stand Now because I nominated before in the cure of this distemper that first sneezing should be used for the purging his head let me lay you down here the several way of making an Horse sneeze and the excellent use thereof CHAP. XXII Of several excellent receipts to force sneezing and their admirable Vertues NEezing is wrought sundry ways either by fumes smoaks powders or Oyls which tickling the tender and quick parts of the head enforce sneezing which is an excellent purgation not only separating gross matter but comforting and strengthning the brain You may cause this sneezing either by the stale Urine of a man or that of an Oxe this is excellent against every days Feaver The powder of Gum-Dragacanth Eusens and Damask Roses commixt and blown into the Nostrils of an Horse is an incomparable remedy against Winter or Summer Feavers Garlick stalks broke into little pieces and with Frankincense burnt in
and Phlegmatick matter ingendred by foul feeding The signs are the Horse will refuse his meat will be much addicted to lying down rowling on his belly beating it sometimes with his feet if troubled with the Red Worms his pain will be intollerable so that he will beat his head against the ground Some approve of this as an excellent remedy take the warm guts of a new killed Hen and mixing them with Salt thrust them down the Horses throat this must be done three mornings fasting withholding him from water four hours after or else give him to drink a spoonful of Soap in a Pint of Milk or lastly take of Gentian Aloes and Savin of each half an Ounce and brew them together with Honey and strong Ale But if it be a Mare with foal give nothing internally for fear of killing her Colt only let her blood in the roof of her mouth and make her swallow her own blood which will not only kill the Worms but help most internal Maladies Blood-staling An Horse many times instead of Urine will void pure blood which is occasioned often times by labouring over much and by that means breaking a Vein then will there issue from his Yard pure blood without any other commixture but if the Blood be mingled with Urine then it proceeds from the Kidneys wounded with a ragged Stone therein but Mr. Markham is clearly of the opinion that there is no greater cause of Blood-staling than the taking up of an Horse in the dead of Winter from Grass and without a days respite riding him a long journey The signs are so apparent that we will pass them and fall upon the Cure and in the first place it will be proper to phlebotomize him in the Palate of the mouth or in the Neck and let the blood be sodden with Wheat and with the powder of dryed Pomegranat pills having strained it give him hereof four or five mornings together and in the space of time let him not labour by any means Or take a quart of strong Ale and a red Herring cut it into small peices and let it lye steeping in the Ale then give it the Horse with an Horn and it will stop the inward bleeding of the Horse Otherwise you may take a spoonful of Taragon and steep it in White-Wine and as much Poppy seed beaten as will lye on a Shilling give this fasting in the White-Wine and it is an infallible cure Blowing and Pursiveness in an Horse Many Horses are naturally thick winded by reason of their being Cock-throppled and narrow chawled but most frequently it is so by accident as when he is fat and over-laden with flesh by rankness of blood or by too much foulness in the body and by these means will upon any exercise sweat pant blow and heave at the Flanks To the intent wherefore you may prevent his being broken winded in time apply your self to the cure and let it be in this manner Let him feed moderately on Hay for Horses so diseased are greedy Feeders and let the Hay be always sprinkled with water which will asswage his thirst and very much cool his inflamed blood then give him two Egges steeped twenty four hours in the strongest White-Wine-Vinegar five or six mornings following and let him swallow the Vinegar afterwards then ride him gently an hour after then set him up warm and three hours after give him Hay sprinkled with Water and at night give him Oats wetted in good strong Ale do this ten days keeping him the while to spare diet and let his drink be white Water This Medicine will both purge and scowre from him much flegm and filth at Nose and mouth and if moderately exercised will be both sounder and better in health a long time after Belly-ach This Belly-Ach or Fretting in the Belly proceedeth from eating green Pulse or raw undryed Pease Beans or Oats or when gross humours Inflammations or any sharp matter is gotten between the Pamile and the great Gut The signs are great groaning wallowing striking at his Belly and gnawing on the Rack or Manger The Cure is first to anoint your hand with Sallet Oyl or Butter and then thrusting it into the Horses Fundament pull out as much Dung as you can reach which is called Raking an Horse then give him a Clyster of Water and Salt or a Suppository of Honey and Salt and then let him drink the Powder of Centaury and Worm-wood brewed with a quart of Malmesey But the best remedy in most mens opinion is a Suppository of New Castle-Soap Broken-Windedness This disease may happen by over hasty running a fat Horse presently after his Water or without exercise standing too long in the Stable or foul feeding whereby so many gross humours may be drawn down into the body of an Horse that cleaving to the hollow parts of his Lungs and stopping the Wind-pipes his Wind may have its recourse backwards and not upwards filling the Guts and diminishing his strength The signs of this disease are violent beating of his Flanks drawing his Belly upward great opening of his Nostrils with a swift going to and fro of his Tuel all which are accompanied with a dry Cough This is the worst of all the Distempers of the Lungs and therefore the Cure is the more difficult however take this method having been found an excellent remedy by frequent experience and hath done its work when all others failed Take of Pances Long-Wort Maiden-Hair the Crops of Nettles Carduus Benedictus the Herb Flueâ—in Dragon roots bruised Elicampane roots bruised of Water Hemp Peniroyal Light-Wort and Angelica of each of these a good handful bruise them and lay them all night in two Gallons of Water let it boyl in the morning and when it is luke-warm give the Horse hereof as much as he will drink after this drink give him a good quantity of sodden Wheat use him to this Diet for ten days and then if the season be convenient turn him out to grass Others apply this Medicine they will take his Water for nine days and boyl Liquorish therein mixt with Wine and so give it him to drink I do not deny but this may be a safe and good Medicine but the first for my money Broken Lungs frettized and rotten The Lungs are inclosed by a very thin film and therefore are the more subject to break and being broken if the cure be neglected they will soon impostumate and inflame The signs are when the Horse cougheth his Flanks will beat but the flower they beat the disease is the more dangerous by how much it is of the longer standing or continuance besides he will draw his Wind short groan much and when he coughs he will bring up something which he will champ in his mouth To cure him you must give him two or three Ounces of Hogs grease and three spoonfuls of Diapente brewed in a quart of Barley-Water wherein Currans have been boyled Or you may take of Fenugreek and Linseed of
each half a pound of Gum-Tragacanth of Mastick of Myrrh of Sugar of Fitch Flower of each one Ounce let all these be beaten into fine Powder and then for a whole night infused in a good quantity of warm Water and the next day give him a quart of this Luke-warm putting thereto two Ounces of the Oyl of Roses use him to this ten or a dozen days and let grass be his food for that is best in this condition Cold or Pose the best way to cure it If to be had take one Ounce of the purest and finest paste of Elicampane which hath the strings at the roots taken from it if that cannot be gotten take an Ounce of the Conserve of Elicampane and dissolve it in almost a quart of Sack and so give it in an Horn to an Horse fasting and then ride him half an hour after and after that let him fast two hours do this three or four mornings feeding him as at other ordinary times Consumption This Disease is called the Dry Malady and indeed it is nothing else but an Ulceration of the Lungs proceeding from a sharp corroding humour ingendred by Cold or Surfeit Some would have this Malady to be the Mourning of the Chine but they are mistaken for the Dry Malady or general Consumption never evacuateth any thing at the nose but the Mourning of the Chine ever voideth thereat some filthy matter The signs hereof are Consumption of flesh and strength the Belly will be gaunt and the Back-bone hid he will offer to cough but cannot or if he doth it is but faintly This disease is incurable yet his life may be so prolonged with a competent strength to do a great deal of labour to the intent therefore that he may be serviceable you must purge his head then give him Cole-worts chopt small in his Provender and now and then give him the warm blood of a sucking Pig or the juice of Leeks mixt with Oyl and Wine But the best cure is to purge his body clean with comfortable and gentle Purges and then suffer him to run at grass a Winter and a Summer and he will either dye in that time or be restored to perfect health Colt-Evil It is a disease in the Yard Sheath and Cods of an Horse or Gelding by reason of heat and rankness of seed but to a Gelding it happens by weakness and coldness of Seed The too great abundance of Seed in an Horse causeth a stopping in the Pipe or conveyance of the Yard now a Gelding for want of strength and heat to send it forth his seed stops the passage and so his Yard and Sheath swell very much The best way to cure an Horse is to let him cover a Mare and after this ride him up to the Flanks in running Water against the stream If this will not do swim him against the stream five or six days following and then apply to the part this Plaister Take Bean-Meal and Mallows of each one handful Hogs grease half a Pound chop the Mallows small and so boyl them in a pint of White Wine when boyled put it into a cloth and wrap his Cods up close therein use this often and you will not only take down his swelling or continual erection of his Yard but heal any excoriation by sharpness of Seed If he shed his Seed much then beat Venice Turpentine and Sugar together and give him every morning a good round Ball thereof till you have stayed the running Clysters a general discourse thereof A Clyster or a Purgation is defined to be the emptying of superfluous humours which by their malevolent disposition do cumber and disturb the body now when nature is too weak to throw off these peccant humours then Art must be used either by Purgation Vomit Clyster or Suppository Clysters or Glisters and Suppositories contrary to the administration of other Physick are applied to the Posteriors whose natures are to purge the Guts to cleanse Ulcers to asswage the pains of Belly-ach or Cholick Now Clysters are not all of one nature for some are laxative some are restringent some cleansing some preparatory to other Physick for its better operation and therefore my advice is to all Farriers not to administer any Physick if the Horse be not soluble in body till having first breathed a vein and the next day give him a Clyster Now Clysters are made either of Decoctions or Drugs or Oyls and sometimes by the adding of Salt and the quantity of these is given according to the age strength greatness or corpulency of the Horse as for Example If an Horse be lean small weak and feeble then of a Decoction a quart is enough if on the contrary strong c. three pints of Oil half a pint and of Salt three drachms at most Of Drugs as Sena Cassia Agarick c. you must not exceed the quantity of three ounces at most in one Clyster and of Butter not four ounces and let your Clyster be never more than lukewarm Before he receive it let him be somewhat empty by raking c. and let him retain it half an hour and for the better effecting thereof let his keeper hold his Tail close to his Tuel for the space or time aforesaid the longer it is kept in the more effectual it will be to him observe to draw away the Clyster-pipe by degrees and not all at once Clyster against costiveness which causeth a loathing to meat drooping and languishing Take the fat of Beef-broth one pint and an half of good English Honey half a pint adding thereto of white Salt two drachms mix these well together and administer it blood-warm if it work not in half an hour after you have clapt his Taile close to his Tuel then ride him a little but not so much as to make him sweat then tie him up warm cloathed and littered for five hours in which time he will purge gently after this give him sweet Hay and white Water but let him not drink cold water in two days after This Clyster is most excellent for opening the body for purging offensive humours for removing obstructions and for cleansing the guts Clyster Restringent for an Horse that emptieth himself too much either by debility or Nature too much offended Take of Mellilot two handfuls or rather Pellitory and boil it to a Decoction of this take one pint adding thereto as much Cows milk coming warm from her and put also thereto the yolks of 3 new laid Eggs well beaten and well mixed with the said liquor and so give it your Horse blood-warm Clyster for a fat Horse or one newly taken from Grass Take Mallows three handfuls Marsh-mallow-roots cleansed and bruised and Violet leaves of each two handfuls Flax-seed three spoonfuls so many of the cloves of white Lilly roots as you may easily hold in your hand boil these in fair water from a Gallon to a Quart then strain it and put thereto of Sena one Ounce which most be infused or steeped in
the liquor three hours standing over the hot embers then add thereto half a pint of Sallet-Oyl give your Horse this blood-warm four days before the full and change of the Moon Clyster for any desperate sickness Take of Oyls of Dill and Camomile of Violets and of Cassia half an ounce of each and of brown Sugar-candy powdered three ounces of Mallow leaves half an handful boil the Mallows first to a Decoction in fair water then strain it and put therein all the aforesaid ingredients This Clyster is a sovereign help against all Feavers the Pestilence all languishing Distempers or Surfeits and will corroborate and strengthen in a very short time Clyster for the Plague or Pestilence Take half an Ounce of the pulp of Coloquintida the seeds and skins exempted three quarters of an ounce of Dragantium of Centaury and Wormwood of each half an handful a quarter of an ounce of Castoreum boil all these in three quarts of water to a quart then strain it and dissolve into it three ounces of the broth of Gerologundinum and of white Salt three drachms of Sallet-oil half a pint and so administer it being blood-warm Clyster lenitive against Convulsions Cramps Costiveness Surfeit or Foundring Take four ounces of Butter or half a pint of Sallet-oil and put it to the Decoction of Mallows and give it him Clyster-wise blood-warm it is a great Cooler of the body and doth infinitely asswage pain Clyster for the Cholick Take salt water or new made brine a quart dissolve therein a pretty quantity of Soap and so blood-warm administer This Clyster is not only good against the Cholick Griping of the Guts but any other distemper Dropsie This disease is known by an universal swelling of all the body in general but especially the legs through the abundance of water lying between the skin and the flesh the Belly will swell like to a Mares with Foal a swelling also betwixt the great Bag and the Kell this disease is farther known by shortness of breath loss of natural colour want of appetite and a continual christ This disease which is an evil habit of the body is engendered by surfeits and unreasonable labour and is cured by taking two handfuls of Wormwood and boil it in Ale or Beer a quart or better and give it the Horse to drink luke-warm morning and evening at noon let him drink his own water But the best and most approved remedy is to take a Gallon of strong Ale and settling it over the fire scum off the froth which ariseth then take a handful of Wormwood with the stalks and put them therein and let it boil to a quart then take it off and strain it well then dissolve into it three ounces of the best Treacle and put in also an ounce and a half of long Pepper and Grains beaten to a fine powder then brew them together till it be luke-warm and so give it him to drink the next day let him blood in the Neck-vein and anoint his Fore-legs with Traine Oil then turn him into good grass and do not doubt his recovery Drenches general for all Diseases in Horses If for colds take half an ounce of the powder called Diapente the way how to make it I have already discovered in a Chapter foregoing and brew it with a pint of Sack if for sickness at heart brew it in Muskadine and give it the Horse fasting in the morning give him this to drink as soon as ever you see him begin to droop and so continue doing for three or four mornings Another Drench you may make by taking two handfuls of Celandine root and leaves chop them and bruise them then take of Rue red Sage and Mint as much of Aloes half an ounce boil these in a pottle of Ale to a quart and give it the Horse luke-warm Or take four ounces of Diapente and mix it with four ounces of Honey clarified and keep it close in a Glass then take a pint of sweet Wine and put half an ounce thereof into it and it is an excellent Drench Take of Liquorish an ounce of Anniseeds Cumminseeds and Elecampane roots of each half an ounce of Turmerick and Bays of each a quarter of an ounce of long Pepper and Fenugreek of each two drachms beat these small and sierce them and put five spoonfuls into a quart of Ale warmed with a little Butter or Oyl The powder of Brimstone mixt with sweet Wine is a very good Drench The root of the Sea-onion the roots of Poplar mingled with common Salt given in water preserveth health a long time Garlick and Housleek beaten together in a Mortar and then boiled in Ale from a pottle to a quart and mixt with Liquorish Anniseeds and Sugar-candy with a pretty quantity of Sallet oil is an incomparable Drench for any internal maladies proceeding from hot causes Of Drenches and their uses let this suffice Diseases commonly infesting the Spleen The Spleen is the receptacle of Melancholy and the dregs of blood there is no part of the body more subject to diseases than this is for through its Sponginess it is inclined to suck in all manner of filth and communicate it to the whole body The diseases of the Spleen usually afflict Horses in the Summer most proceeding from the greedy eating of green food The signs of these Maladies are Heaviness Dulness pain on the left side hard swellings short breath much groaning The speediest way to cure him is to make him sweat then take the leaves of Tamarisk bruised a good quantity of Cumminseed beaten to powder and boil them in a quart of white wine and so give it him luke-warm This last is not the least nor a despicable remedy Take Cumminseed and Honey of each six ounces of Lacerpitium as much as a Bean of Vinegar a pint and put all these in three quarts of water and let it stand so all night in the morning give him a quart to drink having fasted all the night Diseases of the Gall. If the Liver be troubled with many diseases so is the Gall which is a long slender little greenish Bladder fixed underneath the Liver which receiveth all the Cholerick bitter moisture which would otherwise not only be offensive to the Liver but likewise the whole body Now if the passage of this necessary Vessel be stopped there will certainly follow many diseases as the Lax Bloody-flux Yellows and the like Or if the way whereby such Choler should issue forth of the Bladder of the Gall down into the Guts and Excrements is closed up and so aboundeth with too much Choler hence proceedeth Suffocation heat thirst and a disposition to rage and fury and for certain in any beast there is not a more dangerous disease than the overflowing of the Gall. The Symptoms of these Maladies are yellowness of the skin yellow Jaundice with costiveness of body The Cure is to boil good store of Saffron in Milk or Ale Saffron and Anniseeds mixt together But I am of the opinion
that Celandine roots and leaves chopt bruised and boiled in beer and given the Horse luke-warm to drink is more sovereign But notwithstanding our prescriptions for these maladies some do confidently affirm that an Horse hath no Gall at all but that filthy and corrupt matter is wasted and spent either by sweat exercise or turns into diseases Diseases incident to the Liver The diseases of the Liver are many and do proceed from many causes as when it it too hot and too dry two moist or too cold or by intemperate riding evil food corrupt humours or overflowing of the Gall. If his distemper proceed from any hot cause then these are the apparent signs he will be lean and loath his meat his thirst will be great and he will be very laxative Now the general heads from whence a disease in the Liver doth proceed are Inflammation Impostumation or Ulceration If his distemper proced from a cold cause it must be by an Ulcer which proceedeth from a cold cause and the Symptoms to know it by are continual coldness of his Body great feebleness and faintness and the reason is because the ulcerated matter diffuseth ill vapours through the whole body So soon as you discover this distemper by the Symptoms aforesaid let him blood immediately in both sides of the Neck and the next day let him blood in both the Spur-veins and then give him this Drink Take Hâ—ssop Cowslip leaves Liver-wort Lungwort and Harts-tongue of each an handful then take Gentiana Aristolochia rotunda Enula campana dried and long Pepper of each the like quantity so as when they be pâ—unded and sierced you may have of each a spoonful chap the herbs and then mingle them with a spoonful of live Honey then boil all these ingredients in a quart of Ale till one half be consumed then strain it and give it him blood-warm if he refuse to eat by reason this drink hath made him drie then give him a warm Mash let him rest three days betwixt every Drench Ears Impostumated This disease hath its rise from several causes either by a blow about the ears or poll or else by being galled thereabout with a new Halter sometimes it proceedeth from a cold other whiles by bad and peccant humour The Signs of this distemper are burning glowing and swelling about the part and he will not endure to be touched thereabouts For the Cure Take Linseed and make it into a fine powder and Wheat flower of each half a Pint ordinary Honey a pint tried Hogs-grease one pound mix these well together and warm them on a fire keeping them stirring continually then take of this Ointment and spread it on a linnen cloth or leather the breadth of the swelling and so apply it warm renewing it once in twenty four hours till it comes to suppuration and so break then having cleansed the part heal it thus Take Mel Rosarum Sallet oil and ordinary Turpentine of each two ounces having incorporated them well together make a bigging for the Horse to keep on the medicine and tent it to the bottom with this Ointment applying likewise a Plaister of the same to the place aggrieved renewing it daily till the sore be well Frenzie This Frenzie or madness in an Horse is fourfold first when some naughty and corrupted blood doth strike only one part of the Panicle of the Brain and you shall know this by his turnning round like a Beast troubled with the Sturdy The second is when a poisonous blood infecteth the middle part of the Brain then will the Horse be mad leaping against any thing and running his head against a wall Thirdly he is said to be mad when blood filleth his stomachical Veins Lastly he is then frantick indeed when the poyson of the blood not only infecteth the Brain and Heart but the Panicles also which you may know by his biting of every thing comes near him by gnawing the Manger and lastly by tearing his own skin in pieces The speediest cure is to let him blood in most of the lower parts of the body to draw down the blood from cumbring his head The Veins most proper to be opened for this dangerous Distemper are the Shackle-veins the Spur-veins the Plat-veins and the Thigh-veins taking very much blood from them after this give him this drink take the root of wild Cucumber if not that a handful of Rew or Mints and an handful of black Hellebore and boil them in strong red Wine and give it in an horn luke-warm The Cure which Mr. Markham hath by long experience found most safe speedy and expedient is either to make him swallow down hard Hens-dung or else give him to drink the root of Virga Pastoris stamped in water As for his ordering during the Cure his Stable must be quiet but not close and his food only warm Mashes of Malt and Water of this but a little at a time for the slenderer his Diet the better it is Falling Evil. This Falling Evil is the same which in men is called the Falling sickness it deprives the beast of all sense whatsoever It proceeds from gross and cold flegm gathered together in the fore part of the head betwixt the Panicle and the Brain which being by any hot vapour disperst through the whole Body it doth instantly cause the Falling the signs of this Distemper are so apparent they need no farther description than this that all his body will quake and quiver foam at the mouth and when you think him past recovery he will start up and fall to his meat To effect the Cure let him blood in the Neck-Vein five days after bleed him in the Temple-Veins and in his Eye-Veins then anoint his body all over with a comfortable Friction then bath his head and ears with Oyl de Bay liquid Pitch and Tar mixt together dropping some thereof into his Ears make him a Cap of Canvas quilted with Wool to keep his head warm and force him to sneeze Now because this is a disease that doth not frequently invade the bodies of English Horses only the Spanish French and Italian Horses I think what already is written of this Malady may suffice Foundring in the Body This Distemper of all Surfeits is most dangerous and most incident to Horses which dayly travel It proceedeth from suffering the Horse to drink too much in his travail being very hot whereby the Grease being suddainly cooled it doth clap about and suffocate the internal parts with such a loathsome fulness that without a speedy purgation death will speedily and inevitably follow And this disease may proceed from another cause viz. suddain washing of Horses in the Winter time when they are both fat and hot by travail where are cold Vapour of the Water striking into the body of the Horse benums the inward and vital parts making the blood to lose its office whereby he loseth his strength in such manner that he can neither go nor bow his joynts and being laid he is unable to
to his meat For the Cure take of Diapente the bigness of an Hasel-nut as much Dialfara as much London Treacle as much Mithridate as much Saffron an handful of Worm-wood an handful of Red-Sage Rhubarb as much as an Hasel-nut and two Cloves of Garlick boyl all these together in a quart of Beer till it come to a pint and half then give it him luke-warm fasting and keep him very warm and the next thing you give him must be a warm Mash of ground Malt it must be his sweating that principally effects the Cure Head-ach Is a pain that cometh from some inward cause as some cholerick humour gathered together in the Panicles of the Brain or from some extream heat or cold or from outward causes either by a blow or some noysome savour The signs are hanging down of his head dropping of his Urine dimness of sight swoln with waterish eyes The best way to cure him is to make him sneeze by fumigation then let him blood in the Palate of the mouth and keep him fasting fourteen hours afterwards then spurt into his Nostrils Wine wherein hath been sodden Euphorbium and Frankincense after this seed him and keep his head warm Others advise to let him blood three mornings together after walk him a while then cloath him then cover his Temples over with a Plaister of Pitch let his meat be little and his Stable dark Hungry Evil or greedy Worm The hungry Evil is an unnatural and over hasty greediness in an Horse to devour his meat faster than he can chew it and is only known by his greedy snatching at his meat as if he would devour a piece of the Manger The Cure is to give him to drink Milk and Wheat meal mingled together a quart at a time and to feed him with Provender a little and a little at a time till he forsake it Horse Hide-bâ—und Hide-bound is so called because the skin cleaveth so fast to his ribs that with your fingers you cannot pull one from the other It proceedeth sometimes from Poverty sometimes from Surfeit and lastly from a corrupt dryness of the blood which wanting its natural course forceth the skin to shrink up The signs are besides what is already spoken gauntness of Belly and the Ridg-bone of his back standing up if this be not speedily remedied Manginess will suddainly insue The Cure of this disease is diversly laid down some will have the Horse let blood in the Spur-Veins and then give him this drink Take of Strong Ale a quart and put thereto three Ounces of Sallet Oyl of Cummin one Ounce of Anniseeds two Ounces of Liquorish two Ounces beaten all to fine powder and given him luke-warm in an Horn to drink having drunk it off let one chafe his back from his Huckle-bone upward for an hour or more then let him stand warm with good store of Litter about him then fold about his body a thick Blanket soaked in Water and this will make him sweat thus do for a week and you will loosen his skin Others prescribe blood-letting in the first place then let him drink 4 mornings together a quart of new Milk with two spoonfuls of Honey one Spoonful of course Treacle let his food be sodden Barley or warm Grains and his Drink hot Mashes But the best remedy I can find and that experimentally is first to let him blood in the Neck-Vein then give him this drink Take two handfuls of Celandine if in Summer the Leaves if in Winter Stalks and Roots and chop them small then take an handful of Wormwood and an handful of Rue and chop them also put all these into three quarts of strong Ale and boyl them till it come to a quart then take it from the fire and dissolve therein three Ounces of the best Treacle and being luke-warm give it the Horse to drink then for a weeks space once a day rub all the Horses body over with Oyl and Beer against the hair and feed him with warm Mashes of Malt and Water and let his Provender be Barley sodden till it be ready to break Horses lean and unsound how to fatten them in a Fortnight If your Horse be so poor and diseased that you are out of all hopes of his life then take Anniseeds Cumminseeds Fenugreek Carthamus Enula-Campana Flower of Brimstone brown Sugar-Candy of each of these two Ounces beaten and searced to a very fine powder then take an Ounce of the Juice of Liquorish and dissolve it in an half pint of White-Wine then take three Ounces of the syrrop of Colts-foot of Sallet-Oyl and Life-Honey of each half a pint then mix these with the former powders and with as much Wheat Flower as will bind them all together then work them into a stiff Paste and make thereof Balls as big as Pullets Eggs and so keep them close in a Gally pot when you would use them take one and anoint it with Oyl or Butter and give it the Horse in the nature of a Pill then ride him a little after it then feed and water him as at other times giving him this Pill for a whole fortnight together but if his fatning answer not your expectation then make a second Ball after this manner Take of Wheat-meal what may suffice of Anniseeds two ounces of Cummin-seeds six drachms of Carthamus one drachm and an half of Fenugreek-seeds one ounce two drachms of Brimstone one ounce and an half of Sallet-oil one pint two ounces of Honey one pound and an half of white Wine four pints the hard Simples being pu'verized and finely sierced you must make all these into a Paste and having kneaded it well make it into Balls bigger than a Turkeys Egg and then every morning and evening when you water your Horse dissolve into his cold water one of these Balls by lathering it and so let him drink thereof The Horse at first will it may be be very unwilling to drink thereof if so let him thirst till he drink it for at last he will be forced to take but having throughly tasted thereof he will refuse all waters for this only this is a most excellent Medicine which not only scowreth fatneth but likewise cleanseth the body from all manner of ill humours Jaundice The Jaundice or the Yellows proceeds from the overflowing of the Gall and Spleen of this Malady there are two sorts if Choler overflow by reason of the Gall then it is the yellow Jaundice because of the outward appearance of the Distemper as Eyes Skin Mouth inside of the Lips c. are dried and coloured Yellow if Melancholy abound by reason of the sickness of the Spleen the outward parts appear black and therefore it is called the Black Jaundice Where note that whilst the matter is yellow so long the Horse's body is in a very probable way of recovery but when the yellow is mastered and converted into blackness it is an evident sâ—gn of mortality Of all the diseases in an Horse's body this is most
but be sure to keep him warm and expose him to no labour for some small time Or secondly you may take an handful of an herb called Shepherds-purse and boil it in a quart of strong Ale then take the seeds of Woodroof stampt and when the Ale is luke-warm put them thereinto and give it the Horse to drink Let his drink in this mean while be warmed mingled with Bean-flower but give him not his full draught at a time and when you give him any let it be but once in eighteen hours Others and not unadvisedly take the powder of one Nutmeg half an ounce of Cinamon and as much of the rind of a Pomegranat and mixing these with a pint of red Wine give it the Horse luke-warm to drink But if this Disease happen to a sucking Foal as it is frequently seen by reason of the fluidness of his Diet then give him a pint of Verjuice which curdling the Milk will thicken his excrement and is I can experimentally assure a speedy Remedy Now as to the Bloody Flux it is undoubtedly occasioned by some sharp humour excoriating the Guts or from some exulceration thereof The signs of this distemper are very apparent therefore I shall not need to describe them wherefore I shall only prescribe the Cure and that may be effected several ways as by dissolving four ounces of the Conserve of Sloes in a pint of red Wine and so with your Horn give it him to drink but the most approved Remedy in this take half an handful of Shepherds-purse and as much Tanners Bark taken out of the Fat and dried a little Cinnamon boil these in three pints of red Wine to a quart and then straining the liquor give it your Horse lukewarm to drink Molten Grease If an Horse be Grease-molten or foundred in the Body then open the Neck-vein and draw away the corrupt and inflamed blood then take a pint of white Wine half the quantity of Sallet-oil of Rhubarb two drachms and the like of Aloes half an ounce of Sena three drachms of Agarick half an ounce of Bay berries two drachms of Saffron of Duck and Cordial powder two drachms pulverize what is to be pulverized and having mixt them well together add thereunto four ounces of life Honey give him this blood-warm let him fast four hours before he take it and as many after let him have no Oats that day nor any other drink than sweet Mashes and be sure to keep him very warm Mourning of the Chine This Distemper by the experience of such who have frequently opened Horses is found to be a Corruption or Consumption of the Liver this Consumption proceeding from a cold which is afterwards converted into a Pose that into the Glanders and lastly into the Mourning of the Chine To avoid prolixity or the variety of Cures which every man according to his own fancy thinketh best I shall give you two which instar omnium are lookt upon by the most Expert the best Remedy for this Malady Take of the Bark of an Elder-tree growing by the water side as much as will fill an ordinary Pipkin add thereunto as much running water as the Vessel will hold and boil this liquor half away then fill it up again and continue so doing thrice after the consumption of the water and take it off the fire and add thereunto a third of the Oil of Oats or the like quantity of sweet Butter or Hogs-grease and being warmed again take a quart thereof and give it the Horse to drink one hornful at his Mouth and the other at that Nostril which evacuateth the matter Let your Horse be fasting when you administer to him this Drink and you will find it not only an excellent Cure for this malady but also for all others proceeding from any cold whatsoever Let his meat be boil'd Barley and his drink warm Mashes but if the season will permit his best food will be to turn him to Grass but that which I shall particularly commend to your observation and practice is Take two drachms of Auripigmentum and of Tussilage as much pulverized then mix them into a kind of paste with Turpentine and make little cakes thereof drying them before the fire then take of these cakes as much as you shall think sufficient and put thereof into a Chafing-dish of coals and covering it with a Tunnel when it smoaketh put the end of the Tunnel into his Nostril that the fume may ascend into his Head then ride him till he sweat thus do before you water your Horse every morning till you find his Nostrils leave running and that those Kernels or hard lumps at the root of his tongue be dissolved Night-Mare This is a distemper which very much afflicteth Horses as well as Mankind seizing both so violently that the breath will be so stopt that it will cause a struggling and a striving so that an excessive sweat and faintness will follow It comes only in the Night and it proceeds from Crudities and ill digestion whose ill vapours do not only disturb the head but likewise all the sensitive parts The signs are coming to your Horse in the morning you shall find him all of a sweat one drop driving the other panting and sweating principally in his Flanks Neck and roots of the Ears The Cure is Mornings and Evenings both before and after Water to give him a good moderate exercise and having brought him into the Stable rub him well down giving him Oats mixed with an handful of Hemp-seed Now by the way take notice that there are other distempers which proceed from the same cause as doth the Night-Mare viz. the Falling-Evil Planet-Struck and Palsey and these may seem to have different natures and dispositions whereas they are all the same having one rise or original which is only cold Phlegm or thick humours ingendered about the Brain and benumming the Senses and so weakning the Members that they cause sometimes the Horse to fall down and then it is the Falling-Sickness sometimes they seize and weaken one Member only and then this Malady is named Planet-Struck sometimes it spoileth some particular member by some strange contraction and then it is called the Palsey and lastly when the humour oppresseth the Stomach lying heavy at the Heart stopping his Breath and making him Sweat then it hath the appellation of the Night-Mare As all these Distempers proceed from one cause so I shall prescribe but one Medicine Take three spoonfuls of Tar and of Butter the like quantity beat them well together with the powder of Liquorish Anniseeds and Sugar-Candy till it be like a Paste then make these into three balls putting to each ball three cloves of Garlick then take your Horse fasting and give them him and let him fast four hours after Over-gorged Horse The signs of an Horse over-gorged are swelling and slavering so full as if the skin were ready to burst as soon as you have discovered his distemper take a quarter of a pound of
Castle-Soap scraping it thin and putting it in two Ounces of Dialphera bray them in a Mortar together and make them up into balls as big as an Egge and lay them by till you have occasion to use them one of these balls you must dissolve into a pint and half of strong Beer scalding hot and give it him luke-warm one of these balls will effect the cure for it will soon cause him to empty himselâ— by Urine and scouring Purgations their nature and manner of Administration There are five several ways by which an Horse may be purged First by Pills and they are principally for the head drawing down all peccant humours from thence into the body and carrying them off with the Excrements Secondly Potions which do cleanse the Stomach Belly and Guts throwing off all ill humours which are there offensive Thirdly Clysters and they are of several sorts some to bind some to loosen some to heal Ulcers and others to mitigate the sharpness of peccant humours Fourthly Suppositories which are more mild and gentle than your Clysters are and may be administred when they cannot Now it is very requisite that the expert Farrier know how to make choice of his Ingredients and when gotten how to compound them and lastly for what diseases or maladies they are most applicably proper and that you may not be ignorant of the nature of some Simples know that Colliquintida Scammony and Elebore are strong Manna Cassia and Prunes are more gentle those which hold a mediocrity in their operation are Rhubarb Agarick Aloes and Sena Now there is a fifth way of purgation and that is by Grass that which will scowr most is a new mown Meadow for that will not only rake his guts but keep him from gathering flesh and therefore it will not be prudence to suffer him to run there above twelve or thirteen days and then away with him to some other Grass untouched by thy Sithe and in a little time he will belly and recover flesh But as for Purgations in the Stable you must heedfully follow their precepts who have travailed far in this Art and Mystery and first of all the Seasons of the year must be duly considered For if you are to give your Horse in Winter a purge you must first prepare him by breathing a Vein keeping him in a day or two from feeding on any meats that are hard of concoction as Hay or Straw To this intent therefore let his meat be for three or four days before Wheat or Rye Bran prepared Beans Pease or Oats well sifted and let him take his purgation fasting If you will purge away his ill humours engendred by surfeits filth and slime then take a pint of White-Wine or a quart of strong Ale and put herein as much of the powder of the best Mechoacan as will lye on a shilling at four times having given him this luke-warm trot him out a Mile or more and having stood upon the Trench till noon give him a warm Mash Whether in Summer or Winter if you perceive your Horse surfeited full of colds or generally indisposed first phlebotomizing him give him a purge in this manner Take two Ounces of Aloes Succotrina pulverized and with sweet butter make it up into Pills give them to him over night having fasted the day before and the next morning give him a sweet Mash which will make the Pills work the more kindly and so let him fast till towards the Evening and in that time they will clear his body wonderfully some Horses are of so strong a constitution they will not purge till the second day and therefore be careful in the mean time how you order him When you think he hath done purging give him a sweet Mash then Oats and Bran and for all night Hay sprinkled with Water If you will purge the body of an Horse newly taken from Grass first rake him and then give him this Clyster Take of Mallows three handfuls Marsh-Mallow roots cleansed and bruised and Violet leaves of each two handfuls Flax seed three spoonfuls so many of the Cloves of white Lilly roots as you may easily hold in your hand boyl all these from a Gallon to a Wine quart then strain it and put thereto of Sena one Ounce infusing it in the liquor three hours over the Embers and put thereunto an half pint of Saliet-Oyl which being blood-warm administer Clyster-wise The next day after give him this drink Take a quart of the strongest Ale wort a quarter of a pint of ordinary Honey two Ounces of London Treacle mix and brew all together very well There are several other sorts of purgations which for brevity sake I shall omit referring you to the ingenious indeavours of Mr. Thomas Grey in his Expert Farrier Piss how to make an Horse vent his Vrine that is troubled with obstructions or otherwise You must first draw out his Yard and bathe it well with White-Wine and left it should be stopped with dirt pick it and scowr it well then put a little Oyl of Camomile into his Yard with a little Wax Candle and a bruised Clove of Garlick if that will not effect your purpose then take this course to force him to stale viz. Take two handfuls of Parsley of Coriander one handful stamp them well and put them into a quart of Wine wherein was dissolved an Ounce of Cake Soap and give it him to drink luke-warm but some of none of the least skilled in what appertains to an Horse give only White-Wine Cake Soap and Butter well mingled together making him drink it luke-warm But Mr. Markham by his own experience finds nothing for this distemper more soveraign than to take a quart of strong Ale and put it into a pottle pot then take as many keen Radish roots clean washt being slit through and bruised as will fill up the pot then stopping the pot very close so that it cannot admit of Air let it stand so four and twenty hours then strain the roots and Ale very hard into a clean vessel and give it the Horse in a morning fasting then ride him but not violently and having done this several times your Horse will be so freed from those stoppages or obstructions that he shall piss very freely Pissing of Blood This disease happens several ways either by the Stone or exposing an Horse to a leap beyond his ability or by over hard riding I need not describe the signs since they will be very visible to the eye we are then only to take cognizance of the Cure which is thus performed Take of Blood-wort and Shepheards Purse of each three Ounces stamp them well and boyl them in fair water and when strained and the liquor blood-warm give it the Horse to drink follow this course five several mornings together Or thus having cleansed his Sheath and Yard from all manner of filth with broken Beer and Butter then let him blood in the Neck and Mouth then having steeped green Onions in water
in a vessel closely stopped eighteen hours take of the liquor one pint and adde thereunto a pint of White-Wine then tumble them together till they appear slimy and so give it him to drink this given him eight mornings together will not only stop his flux of blood but reduce his Urine to its pristine colour Pursiveness how cured There are some Horses naturally troubled with this distemper as being Cock-throppled that is to say the Wind-pipe is over long and so thereby becoming crooked his wind is obstructed and vents it not but with great difficulty but as this infirmity is natural so I judge it incurable and therefore we shall only treat of that pursiveness which cometh accidentally and that is when the Thropple is too much filled with fat or over strained upon his water which often happens by the watering course as they call it of an over confident Ignoramus or it happens sometimes by much Galloping on a full Stomach and lastly it comes by Colds and Glanders You need no symptoms they are so apparent but as for the remedy take of new Milk one pint of Sallet-Oyl half as much give him this blood-warm and then thrust down his throat two new laid Egges let his Hay be sprinkled with Water and his Oats washt in Ale and by doing this four or five mornings you will find an amendment If you find this doth not answer expectation for the best of Remedies cannot plead Infallibility then take of Barley two gallons steep it in Water two days and shift the Water every day then take it clean from the water wherein it was first steeped and boyl it in three gallons and an half till it burst adding thereto of Anniseeds Liquorish and Raisins of the Sun of each a pound but let the Raisins be stoned so let it boyl one hour then take it from the fire and strain it every dry then put to the liquor one pint of Honey and of Sugar-Candy powdered six Ounces then put your liquor into a clean Earthen bottle keeping it closely stopped and four mornings together give your Horse thereof to drink blood-warm not much above a pint at a time lay the Barley before him and if he will eat he may if not put some thereof into a bag and perfume his head therewith this Medicine hath been approved of by the most experienced Farriers in England Rot in Horses It is one thing for an Horse to be said he is rotten and another thing to say he hath the Rot for to be internally rotten is incurable but to have the Rot is to be afflicted with the Dropsie or some other disease of near a kin This disease happens to Horses frequently very young as when Colts feed in Marshy and wet grounds or when but newly backt and over-ridden their blood becomes inflamed thence comes putrefaction and corruption thence Pustuls ingender in the Liver which produce either Dropsie Feltrick or Rot. The most remarkable signs of this distemper is after a journey a swelling and burning in his legs and having prest the part with your fingers there will remain a dint or pit he will pant much lift and beat in the Flanks with a swelling under his belly c. The method of the cure must be first to bleed him under the Tail then take of Mares Milk or Red Cows Milk two quarts then take a lump of Arement and then if you can get the sweat of a young black Horse and mingle the Arement with the Sweat and Milk mix these well together and divide it into three parts giving him one thereof each morning but let him not drink after it in eight hours if the Season will afford them give him after this the green blades of Rye if not Barley steeped in new Milk But after this if you feel him cold in the Pasterns and Joynts and that he ever and anon stumbleth as you lead him look upon him as lost and irrecoverable Strangury or Strangullion The bladder of an Horse according to the opinion of the skilful is troubled with three very dangerous distempers viz. the Strangury Pain-piss and Stone The Strangury or Strangullion is when the Horse hath great inclination to stale and yet cannot void his Urine unless it be by drops It commonly proceeds either from sharpness of the Urine occasioned by over much travail or else by exulceration of the Bladder or finally some Aposthume in the Liver and Kidneys which breaking and the matter falling into the Bladder the sharpness thereof causeth a continual desire to piss without ability For his Cure bathe the Horses hinder loins with warm water then take bread and Bay-berries and tempering them with May Butter convey down his throat two balls thereof for three mornings together or take a quart of new Milk and a quartern of Sugar and brewing them well together give the Horse to drink thereof five mornings together Otherwise make a strong Decoction by boyling your first quantity of Water to half a pint three times over with keen Onions clean pilled and Parsley then take a quart thereof and put thereunto a spoonful and half of London Treacle and as much of the powder of Egge-shells finely searced and give thereof to the Horse to drink several mornings Lastly take this incomparable receipt which hath been by divers tryed with great success You must get Saxafrage Nettle-roots Parsley-roots Fennel-roots Sperage-roots of Dodder of each one handful bruise all these Ingredients together and boyl them on a gentle fire with White-Wine until a third part be consumed then put to it of Salt one handful of Sallet Oyl and the lard of Goats of each three Ounces of Honey half a pound when all these are boyled strain and wring them very hard and of this liquor give your Horse one pint every morning tasting blood-warm But if in the standing or boyling it become thick dissolve it again with White-Wine and after the first boyling it must be only warmed Shedding of the Seed This shedding of the seed is no more than what among men is called the Running of the Reins the general cause from whence this infirmity doth arise is from either the abundance and rankness of the seed or from the weakness of the seminal vessels which are not capable of retaining the seed till it is arrived to its proper thickness but there is yet one more probable cause than what is already alledged and that is by over much covering Mares or by some great strain in leaping There are some that take this way to cure him by riding the Horse up to the belly in cold water so that his Stones may be covered therewith bathing his fundament with Water and Oyl then covering him warm give him every day to drink Red-Wine and Hogs-Dung but if you will be better advised and that by long experience take my counsel get a quart of Red-Wine and put therein a little Acatium the juice of Plantain and a little Mastick and give it him to drink after
this bathe all his back with Red-Wine and Oyl of Roses mixt together or take Venice Turpentine washt clean and beat it well with half so much Sugar and then make round balls as big as Wall-nuts and give the Horse of these restringent pills five every morning till you have stopt the flux of his seed Sudden Sickness what to be done therein As soon as ever you perceive your Horse not well according to the signs aforementioned bleed him presently in both sides of the Neck to the quantity of two quarts and after that make this Drink for him Take of sweet Sack one quart and burn it with Grains Cloves and Cinnamon of each a like quantity having beaten them gross add to them three ounces of Sugar and when it is burned put thereunto half a pint of Sallet-oil and two ounces of London-Treacle warm all these and being well brewed together give it your Horse luke-warm to drink then ride him gently till you perceive he begins to sweat and so set him up well littered and cloathed making him to fast five hours or more somewhat after he is well rub'd down give him clean Wheat-straw with clean dry Oats some Wheat and Pease mixed therewith and let his Drink be a warm Mash Stavers or Staggers Though the names of this disease do seem to differ yet their natures are all one consisting of a dizziness in the head and near a kin to the Frenzie when it seizeth the Brain Several are the causes of this dangerous Distemper the common rise or original hereof is evil digestion and corrupted humours whose poisonous vapours do not only distract the head but distemper the whole body The Symptoms are very evident for his sight will so fail him that he will not be able to see a Post before him but run against it besides slavering at the mouth and running at the eyes with filth and matter often lying down and beating his head against the ground The Cure is to take the seeds of Cresses Poppy Smallage Parsley Dill take also Pepper and Saffron of each two drachms make them all into fine powder and put unto them of Barley-water two quarts as it cometh boiling from the fire and let it infuse therein 3 hours and then strain it and give him a quart thereof in the morning fasting then walk him an hour or more and set him up warm giving him Hay sprinkled with water and let him not drink cold water five or six days after but instead thereof give him a sweet Mash Sleeping Evil. This is a very strange disease in an Horse and is of the nature of a Lethargy infesting the bodies of Mankind and as the person thus afflicted will sleep continually having lost his memory quite so will the Horse get into a Corner and hang down his head to the very ground The Cure is somewhat difficult however thus you must do if you intend it First let him blood on both sides the Neck in the morning fasting also take some blood from the third stair in his mouth then take of Camomile and Mother-wort of each three handfuls cut small boil these in two quarts of running water half an hour and then give the Horse a pint once in two days fasting and give him the rest the third day fasting and four or five hours after give warm water and a Mash of ground Malt put into scalding hot water after it comes off the fire keep him warm all the time of his cure and you will do well to fume his head as you do in the Staggers Surfeits of all sorts Though in the Title I seem to treat generally of Surfeits yet I shall speak in particular and first of that inward dry Surfeit which causeth the Cods to swell either continually or betwixt whiles to the intent therefore that you may arrive at the Cure mind these following Instructions You must first purge your Horse after this manner Take an ounce of fine Aloes which glitters for that is the best then pulverize it or beat it to powder then take three ounces of fresh Butter mix these two well together and add thereunto so much Wheat-bran as is sufficient to make it into a Paste and make thereof five or six Balls then convey one of them as far into his mouth as you may that he may the better swallow it giving him an hornful of strong Ale to wash it down then give him a second a third a fourth and the fifth still interlining them with an hornful of Beer or Ale to wash them down after this ride him out for an hour gently then set him up warm keep him fasting six hours after he hath taken his Pills giving him some Hay at night and not before with warm water to drink and the like the next day But the third day after his purgation is over give him cold water and immediately after it two ounces of Honey and half a pint of white Wine a little warmed for that will make him stale clearing his Bladder and procuring an appetite then air him gently for an hour and an half doing thus morning and evening till he be well But if what you have given him do neither sharpen his stomach nor purge him then take three pints of stale Beer three ounces of course houshold bread mixing them together and setting them over the fire being well boil'd take it off and put therein a quarter of a pound of Honey and three ounces of fresh Butter give him these blood-warm and ride him moderately a mile afterwards then set him up warm and let him stand upon the Trench about two hours after it then give him a Mash of sodden Oats till they burst with warm water and Wheat-bran therein this in twice or thrice giving will procure him a stomach and render him laxative withal Now if his Cods be swell'd occasioned by this Surfeit as soon as his Purge hath done working take the charge of Sope and Brandy and with a stick dabb it on his Cods or other swelling proceeding from the same cause as it comes boiling from the fire do this but once and four days after ride him into a River against the stream so deep that he is ready to swim for near a quarter of an hour thus using him once or twice a day till you find his swelling abate If it be a dry Surfeit give the Purge first and afterwards the Cordial made of white Wine and Honey but if he run at Nostrils give him a Drink made of Anniseeds Turmerick Brandy Vinegar and Beer and three days after let him have the Purge in like manner do if his Grease be melted This aforementioned Purge and Cordial are not only good against any dry Surfeit but also for melted Grease set and dried in the body and legs swelled or when an Horse is Gaunt Gut-foundred and costive There is another sort of Surfeit which is moist hot and running that from the Body falls into either fore-legs hind-legs or sometimes into all
are to understand that if a Graveling be not well stopt to keep down the flesh it will rise higher than the hoof it will cost you much more labour in bolstring and abating that ill-grown carnosity Some of our late Farriers are of opinion that this following receipt is an excellent remedy for any Gravelling viz. First you must so pare the hoof that the sore may be visible then take an ounce of Virgin-wax and a quarter of an ounce of Rozin and as much of Deer-suet and half an ounce of Boars-grease and beat them all very well in a Mortar and after that melt them together over the fire that done dip good store of Flax therein and so stop up the sore close and hard after this you may travel your Horse whither you please Now to the intent that your own experience may pick one out of many which may surpass all others let me add this one more Take of Virgin-wax one ounce Rozin and Deer-suet of each two ounces Boars-grease half an ounce and of Housleek one head incorporate all these together in a Mortar then melt them over a gentle fire and so apply it hot to the Sorrance stopping it up with Hurds and so tack on the shooe a very few dressings will effect the Cure Gourged or Gourded Legs This Gourge is a very bad Sorance being an ugly and dangerous swelling in the nether part of the legs proceeding from melting of grease by immoderate labour or from hard beating in dry ways in the Summer time which first causeth Wind-galls which offending the Sinews make them to swell and this is the worst Gourding The signs are a lesser swelling in his Legs when he is upon travel than when he standeth still in the stable this swelling is most usually attended with scabs which commonly run into the Scratches The Cure is to draw him with an hot Iron and handful above the Knee then rope his Legs with soft Hay wet in water that is cold and letting it remain twenty four hours it will allay the swelling I cannot approve of this Cure so well as what Mr. Markham prescribes which is this Take up the Veins beneath the Knee and let him bleed well then knit the Vein both above and below having so done anoint his legs with this Ointment Take of Frankincense Rozin and fresh Grease of each a like quantity and having boiled them well together strain it and use it once a day as you shall have occasion Have especial care in taking up the veins lest you make your Horse go stiff ever after Gelding of Horses or Colts There are three things to be observed in the Gelding of Horses and they are the Age Season of the year and state of the Moon First as to the Age all Colts you may geld at twelve days old or a little sooner which I rather approve of than of fifteen or twenty days old for the sooner a Colt is gelded if his stones are come down the more it will improve his growth shape and courage and though many have obstinately affirmed that a year and a half or two years old is the best time for gelding yet such have been at last forced to confess the contrary by woful experience An Horse you may geld at any age whatsoever with this Proviso that great care be taken in the Cure The Time or Season of the year for Gelding the best I hold to be at Spring and Fall that is to say from the latter end of March till the beginning of October Lastly as to the state of the Moon then is the best time when she is in the decrease and this is not only the opinion of all ancient Farriers but is confirmed by the experience of those of later practice Now as to the general manner of Gelding whether of Foal Colt or Horse it is thus Let the place you chuse to cast him on be Straw or a soft Dunghil not too moist then taking the stone between your foremost finger and your great finger with a fine Incision-knife slit the Cod so that you may only press the stone forth then with a pair of small Nippers very smoth clap the strings of the stone between them very near to the setting on of the stone and press them so hard that there may be no flux of blood then with a thin Cauterizing-iron red hot sear away the stone then take a hard Plaister of Rozin Wax and washt Turpentine well molten together and with your hot Iron melt it on the head of the strings and having sear'd the strings lay a good quantity of this Salve thereon then loose the Nippers and as you did with one stone so do with the other Having thus done fill the two slits of the Cod with white Salt then take Hogs-grease clean rendred and anoint the outside of the Cod as also his Thighs and Belly over and so let him rise If after his gelding you perceive any extraordinary swelling either in his Sheath or Cod then chase him up and down making him once a day to trot for an hour and it will remedy it perfectly Garget in Horse or Beast only I conceive that there is little difference between the Garget and Plague Pestilence or Murrain being all malignant and Pestilential distempers the Infected being infectious to those Horses which stand by them it is present death to open a Vein in this disease You may know this disease by these signs or symptoms He will hang down his head very much gumming thick atter at the eyes as big as the top of a mans finger his pace will be weak and staggering with swelling oftentimes in his head but his body will very much decay on a sudden and yet have a good stomach to his meat For the Cure take this Prescription Take of Diapente Dialphora London-Treacle Mithridate and Saffron of each the quantity of an Hasel-nut an handful of Wormwood as much of red Sage Rhubarb the quantity of an Hasel-nut two Cloves of Garlick boil all these together in two pints of good Beer till it hath consumed one half then give it him to drink luke-warm fasting and keep him very warm the very next thing you give him let it be a warm Mash made of ground malt and let him drink warm water for a week giving him sometimes some bursten Oats and clean sweet Hay it is sweating that must effect the Cure Now forasmuch as Cows also are troubled with this distemper know that about half the quantity of what in this Receipt is prescribed for an Horse is an excellent Remedy for a Cow Probatum A Garget sometimes seizeth the throat of an Ox Cow or Bullock causing a swelling in the sides and often cometh for want of water For the Cure you must cast the beast then cut the skin through on the midst of the swelling fleaing the skin on each side as far as the swelling extendeth then take fine white Wood-Ashes sifted and mix them with mould stale old Piss stir
French for its cure it is thus effected There is an Herb which goeth by three or four names viz. Emanuel All-good Bonus Henricus or good King Henry take of the roots hereof and boil them in water and give him a Drench hereof blood warm in an horn this will remove the Red water and then you may cure the old Ulcer as you are prescribed in the Section of Fistulas Repercussive Medicaments Repercussive Medicines are such as repel or drive back evil and malignant humours Farriers call them Plaisters Defensative these are to be used in great wounds or Ulcers the best Repercussives are Vinegar Salt and Bole Armoniack beaten together and spread round about the Sore or else white Lead and Sallet Oyl beaten together or Red Lead and Sallet Oyl or else Vnguentum Album Camphoratum with a many more your own experience will indagate and discover Ring bone A Ring bone is at first a certain slimy humour and viscous which resorting to the bones of their own nature cold and dry cleave thereunto and become hard gristly nay absolutely bony its scituation is ever upon the Cronet of the hoof The causes hereof are twofold either natural or accidental naturally when either the Mare or Stallion have it from whom the Colt proceedeth and though I never saw a Colt bring a Ring-bone into the World with it yet Mr. Markham avoucheth he hath seen many Foals foaled with Ring bones on the feet wherefore I shall advise you not to breed upon any such Stallion or Mare that either have had or have this Malady Accidentally this happens several ways first by some blow or stroak on the foot or else from some evil humour descending and setling upon the Cronet The Symptoms hereof are apparent to the eye the Cronet of the hoof will be much swoln especially that part which is next adjoining unto the lower part of the Pastern the hair thereabout will grow bristly and stare and the Horse will go lame The Cures are several but I shall prescribe you none here but what have been many times experimented with welcome success First scarifie the skin above the Ring bone with a Lancet then take a great Onion and pick out the Core then take Verdigrease and unfleckt Lime and put them therein then cover up the hole and in hot embers roast it till it be soft then take it and bruise it well and being very hot lay it to the sorrance do thus five days together you will not miss of a cure Another way to cure it First cast your Horse or tye up his contrary leg with a strong rope till you strike five or six holes in the Ring bone at the very edge of it let the holes be equally distant from each other then take Arsnick and upon the top of your Fleim put some thereof into every hole then bind up his foot for a night and a day But that which Esq Grey prescribeth as infallible is this take unfleckt Lime newly taken from the Kill well burned which you may know by its lightness pulverize this Lime and lay it thick upon the place swelled with a linnen cloth bound about it to keep it on then let him stand in cold water an indifferent while then taking him forth unbind the foot and he is certainly cured for the burning of the Lime doth kill the Ring bone even to the very root thereof this is a truth throughly experimented Rats tails how to cure Take green Vitriol half a pound and boil it in a pint of running water with Alom Mustard Sage and Hysop the night before you apply this anoint the sores made raw with strong Mustard the next day wash them with the water afore specified and it is a cure Rowels how to put them in whether French or English If you are to place a Rowel in the breast make it lean to that part of the shoulder which is grieved then take a Lancet and only cut the skin through not cross but down right then put in your finger between the skin and the flesh raising the skin from the flesh round about the Orifice the breadth of a Tester then take a piece of the upper leather of a shooe and cut it round with an hole in the middle then put a Needle and Thread through it then take a quill and put one end into the Orifice of his breast upwards and so blow in the Wind having blown it three or four times run the Needle and Thread once through the Rowel and once through the skin and draw the Rowel into the cut when you have thus placed the Rowel in the cut with the hole of the Rowel right against the hole in the skin of the breast so that it may not move then with your Needle and thread run a stitch or two overthwart the cut to keep in the Rowel when you have thus done anoint it with Butter and so let it stand five or six days this is the best method can be prescribed Saddle bruised or Swellings on the Back You must first take some wet Hay but rotten Litter is better and lay it on the swelling this will make it soft very quickly then with a Lancet let out the putrefied matter and let the cavity be filled with the powder of Rozen then lay on a Plaister of Shoomakers Wax and it is a Cure Swift cut Take a pint of White-Wine and put to it three spoonfuls of Honey stir these and boil them to a Salve then take it from the fire and put to it half so much Turpentine as there was Honey stir these all together with this Salve anoint the Sorrance twice a day and it will heal it quickly Stanching of blood Some ignorant Farriers have let an Horse blood when the sign hath been in that place from whence he hath taken blood by which means there hath followed so great an efflux of blood that by reason it could not be stopped it hath indangered the Horses life Wherefore if any such thing should happen by this ignorance aforesaid or by wounds or any other accident take presently some new Horse dung and temper it with Chalk and Vinegar and lay it to the wound letting it remain there three days or else lay thereunto wild Tansie bruised Sage bruised bruised Hysop or hot Hogs dung but if these fail this will not take of the soft Down of Hare or Conies skin and stop the bleeding place therewith holding it to with your hand first a pretty while if it be to a great wound then spread over it a Plaister of Vinegar and Bole Armoniack incorporated together Slaves very good for the healing all sorts of Sores and Wounds I shall here of some hundred sorts of Salves only insert three or four which I have found the best of any I have tried in above 45 years practice 1. Take of the buds or tenderest tops of Elder-leaves one handful first shred then pound them in a Stone-mortar very well till you bring them to a
or impertinent if I insist upon this Sorrance called the Scratches a Sorrance which ingendreth about the heel and Pastern joint being long scabby and dry chaps or rifts growing overthwart on the hinder legs just from the Fetlock to the end of the Curb now this Sorrance may grow upon all the fore legs but is very unusual the hindmost being the seat of this distemper The Causes are either dry melancholy humours ingendred by outward filth or else by the fumes of Horses dung lying too near him The signs are very visible to the sight and easily to be felt besides the hair will stare divide and curle and the sorrance will be noisome to the scent For the cure hereof any of those Medicines afore prescribed against the Pains or Mules are good for the Scratches yet for the better effecting the sound healing and curing this Malady take what followeth which are more proper for this Sorrance First rub the Sorrance till it bleed and be raw then take Hogs grease and black Soap of each half a pound and boil these together then take of Brimstone Lime and Gunpowder of each three Ounces beat these into fine powder and put therein adding as much Soot as will thicken it incorporate these well together and make a black Ointment and therewith anoint the Sores dayly If the Scratches are held incurable then first bleed him in the Shackle Veins Spur Veins and fore Toe Veins intermitting three days between the bleeding of one Toe and the other having so done make the Sores raw as before then take a quart of old Urine and a quart of strong Brine and put to them eight Ounces of Alom boil these to a quart whilst very hot wash the Sores therewith then take the sperm of Frogs and put it into an Earthen pot in six or seven days it will look like Oil wherein you will see little round things take both one and the other and spread it on a cloth binding it to the Sores do this pretty often and it will cause a cure For ordinary Scratches take a penny worth of Verdigrease a penny worth of Red Lead and the like quantity of Soap mix these together and apply it like a Plaister letting it lye three days and three nights but you must observe to cut the hair close and make the Sore raw Or first shave the hair away and with an Hair cloth rub the Sore till it be raw then wash it well with warm stale Urine then take black Soap Mustard and Vinegar of each an equal quantity mingling therewith some of an Oxe-gall stir these together and when wrought into a body rub the place therewith and bind thereto a cloth so doing once a day till it be whole I shall only recite two Medicines more and I have done which Receipts are the best I have met with in my life time The first is take a quart of white wine Vinegar and put therein two ounces of the strongest Brazeel Tobacco in the rowl opening the leaves and shredding it in small boil these together till you find the Vinegar beginneth to consume then take it off and strain it very well then take a quart of Wine more common Honey and Bay-Salt of each two Spoonfuls of Roch Alom the quantity of a Pullets Egge Red Sage Rue Honey suckle leaves Yarrow Plantain Ribwort and Bramble leaves of each an equal quantity one handful or thereabout boil these in the Wine till one half be consumed then strain these also then set it over the fire again and let it boil a little space then take it off and cool it when you have so done keep it close stopped in a glass for your future use you must wash herewith the Sorrance and then put upon it the powder of burnt Alom This is an excellent remedy for the Scratches neither doth this ensuing come much short thereof About the beginning of the Month of March you shall frequently find the Spawn of Toads in Ditches and standing Pools take hereof draining the Water from the said Spawn after this distil it and keep it in a Glass close stopped and it will be serviceable to you the whole year round when you use it warm it and therewith wash the Sorrance and it will in a very short time cure it Surbating of Horses Those Horses which are most subject to this Malady are such as have either great round feet or such as are flat footed the Coffins whereof being very weak and tender Now Surbating proceedeth from two several causes the first is when the Horse is but newly backt and shod the owner by his indiscretion and impatience immediately rides him a long journey now his feet being but tender and too soon exposed to hard and stony ways the Horse becomes surbated The second cause is when an Horse hath naturally bad feet or that he is ill shod his shooes either lying too flat too narrow too short and too much worn or sometimes by going too long bare foot The signs are the Horse will halt much going creeping and stiff if he got his grief by travail when standing in the stable he will always be removing his feet not knowing where to place them by reason of their great soreness this will cause him to lye down much for his standing will be exceeding painful and if you feel the Coffins of his hoofs you will find them very dry and burn much There are several ways to cure Surbating some take off the Horses shooes and pare him a very little then they see whether the shooes be not long large and hollow enough if they be not so they make them so for otherwise they will never be easie then tack them on again and when they have so done they take Hogs grease and Bran boiled together and being very hot they stop his feet therewith covering the Coffin round about therewith binding all in together with a cloth and a list fastned about the joint renewing it once a day till it be sound observing to let him stand dry and that he drink warm water during the cure If your Horse surbat or solebat by going without shooes then first pare him pretty close towards the Toe then with the point of a Pen-knife cut a little hole through the bottom of the hoof about half an Inch from the Toes end right over the Vein and let the Vein bleed a quarter of a pint then set on his shooes indifferent hollow within the feet then boil Tar Tallow and Turpentine together and pour it into the surbated foot scalding hot and stuff in Wool after it to keep it in once or twice at the farthest so doing will perfectly cure him If he surbate in his journey so that you fear he will not perform it as soon as you perceive it get him to his Inne with what convenient speed you may then take two new laid Egges and having first well picked his fore feet break them raw into the Soles and then stop them up with Oxe or
Cow dung or during the time of his journey if you stop his feet with Cow dung and Vinegar every night he will be well next morning nay if he be not surbated it is good to stop his feet with Cow-dung for it will keep them cool Lastly if your Horses feet be surbated either by travail too near paring or any other accident then take a good lump of course Sugar and with an hot Iron melt it between the shooe and the foot and when it is hardned take Nettles and Bay Salt and stamp them and so stop up the frog of the foot Sinew crampt Cramps are the contracting or drawing together the sinews of any one member the cure is to rub and chafe the member contracted with Vinegar and common Oil and after that wrap it all over with wet Hay rotten Litter or Woollen cloths this is a speedy remedy Strangle The Strangle is not as some have vainly imagined a Quinzie but an inflammation of the throat proceeding from cholerick blood which issueth out of the throat Veins into those parts and this happens by some Cold taken in Winter or after some excessive labour The Sorrance it self is an hard and great swelling between the Horses neather chaps upon the roots of the tongue this if not timely remedied will indanger the choaking of the Horse The signs hereof are hanging out of the tongue lolling it to and fro his mouth the Horses head and eyes will be swoln and his Temples will appear very hollow his breath will be very short by reason of the stopping of the passage of his throat The Cure of this Distemper according to the judgment of the most experienced is to let him blood in the neck Vein after that to bring the swelling to suppuration they make a ripening Plaister after this manner take of Mallows Linseed Rue Smallage and ground Ivy of each a quantity alike boil these together in the grounds of Beer then adde to it some Oil de Bay and a small quantity of Dialthaea taking it off the fire make thereof a plaister and lay it to the place grieved but suffer him not in any case to drink cold Water this Plaister will ripen and break the swelling then lay thereunto Bran steept in Wine renewing it dayly till it be whole But of all Cures there is none experience better approveth of than this As soon as you see the swelling rise between his chaps then take a Wax candle and holding it close to the swelling burn an hole quite through the skin then lay thereunto wet Horse-Litter that will both ripen and break it then only lay a plaister of Shoomakers Wax thereunto and that will both draw and heal it But if it happen to break inwardly so that the corruption issueth through his nose there being no external running of the matter then perfume his head twice or thrice a day by burning under his Nostrils Frankincense or Mastick you may use instead thereof a Cole of fire put into wet Hay causing the smoak thereof to ascend into his head or else blow the powder of Euphorbium with a quill into his Nostrils I shall forbear to insert more variety of remedies since I have insisted on a Malady called the Avives or Vives for whatsoever Medicine is good for the one is also as good for the other Strain in the Pastern joint The Fetlock or Pastern joint is often strained by treading awry on some Stone or Cart-â—ut nay sometimes when the Floor of the Stable is uneven he may get it there The signs hereof will be very apparent for the joint will be swoln and the Horse will halt down-right There are three Cures which I only approve of for their safety and expedition and therefore I shall nominate no other the first is Take three pints of stale Urine and seeth it about a quarter of an hour when you find that the foam doth rise apace then take it from the fire and strain it and adde thereunto an handful of Tansie one handful and an half of Mallows and about three spoonfuls of Honey with nigh half a pound of Sheeps suet then set them on the fire and let them boil together till the herbs become soft being very hot lay this Poultess to the joint and bind it on with a cloth a fourth dressing will perfectly cure the strain The Second is first to take of Dialthaea half a pound the like quantity of Nerve Oil chafe this Oil well in with your hand continuing so to do till you have none of the Ointment left if this should chance to fail your expectations reinforce the cure by taking Nerve Oil black Soap and Pompillion of each an equal quantity and only warm them over the fire and therewith anoint the joint I never knew this Medicine deceive me Now the last is this take a Mastive sucking Whelp which is very fat kill him and take out his guts then take gray snails and black snails as many as will fill the belly and sowing it up roast him at an indifferent soft fire then baste him with Oil of Spike made yellow with Saffron with the Oil of Wax of each two Oils let there be five ounces let the Dog continue at the fire as long as any one drop will fall and preserve the droppings in a Gallipot with this Ointment anoint the joint morning and evening working it in very hot holding a red hot flat Iron to make it sink in Sive-bone in the socket of the hoof or a strain in the Coffin-joint If you are doubtful whereabout the grief lieth take up the foot in your hand and turn it this way and that way and by his shrinking you will soon find it out when you have sound it thus you must cure it First take off his shooe and pare him thin almost to the quick then make a Pultess of these ingredients following and lay it hot to his foot Take a pint of Brine wherein Beef or Pork hath been salted and four ounces of Kitchin-stuff boil these together near half an hour then add thereunto some Wheat-flower and make thereof a Pultess of an indifferent thickness then set on the shooe again put into the sole of the foot a good deal of this Pultess as hot as can be endured then stuff the sole with Towe and splinter it with a flat stick to keep it in thus let it lie two days and two nights then take a linnen cloth that is long enough and spread it all over with this Pultess scalding hot wrapping it about the top of the Hoof the Pastern and up the Leg as far as the swelling goeth and let this lie as long as the other do thus after this manner four or five times and he will not after complain of that grief Stifling and its hurts how cured That Horse is said to be stifled when the stifling bone by some accident or other is thrust out of its place Now you are to understand that the stifling-bone is about two inches in
it into the same form the Bodkin is of and having withdrawn your Bodkin let the Lead in the same hole supply its place then thrust in the Bodkin cross-wise underneath the Lead and put in some more Lead into that place in such sort that it may represent a perfect cross then take Pâ—ck-thread and put it underneath the four corners of the Lead and by drawing it strongly you will contract the hollow skin to a purse having drawn it well together let it rest a day and a night in which time the skin will be so deadned that it will not when loosned return to its former place after this remove the Leaden pins and with your hand close the skin to the forehead in a little time after this you will perceive the hair to fall off but assure your self the next hair which appeareth will be white This I know true likewise by my own experience take a Crab and roast it and being excessive hot bind it to that part of the Horse which you would have white this will infallibly scald away the old hair and the new hair that cometh will be white Secondly how to make a black Star This black Star you are to understand is to be made on a white Horse which will be very remarkable and thus you must do it Take the rust of Iron Galls and Vitriol and pound them in a Mortar with Sallet-oil and herewith anoint the place and it will convert white hair into coal black colour I have been told that this will do as well though I never tried it Take four scruples of the wood of Oleander beaten to powder and one scruple of Ink then with an indifferent quantity of Sheeps-suet work them together and herewith anoint the designed part and this will effect your purpose Thirdly and Lastly how to make an artificial red Star in the forehead of an Horse Take of Aqua Vitae one quartern of Aqua fortis one Ounce and a half and of Silver to the value of one and twenty pence put them into a Glass and shake them well together and therewith anoint the place very well this in an instant will convert what ever the colour of the hair be into a perfect red but this will continue no longer than till the casting of the hair so that if you desire a continuance you must renew it Sit-fast The Sit-fast or Stick-fast is called by the French Mal de la Cron it is an hard horny knob growing in an Horses skin under the Saddle and is dead like a hard piece of Leather It proceedeth from some old Saddle-gall or bruise which not impostumating the skin falleth dead and sticketh to the flesh That you may effect the Cure take the green outward leaves of a Cabbage then take tried Hogs-grease and stamp them together making thereof an Ointment herewith anoint his back very well chafing it in and it would not be amiss to clap on his Saddle and immediately ride him But in my opinion this is the best and speediest Cure first anoint this dead skin with Hogs-grease to supple and mollifie it then pull up this skin and with a sharp Pen-knife cut it away from the sound flesh if after this the cavity appear deep pour every morning and evening into it Butter melted hot and this will eaven the flesh then dry and skin it with the powder of Honey and Lime mingled together Swaying in the Back Swaying in the back is occasioned by great burthens slip or wrench in the lower part of his back below his short Ribs and directly between his Fillets The signs are when the Horse is laid he will rise with much difficulty besides his going will be uneaven swaying sometimes backwards sometimes sidelong The Cure is first to cover the Horses back with a Sheeps-skin newly fleyed off laying the fleshy side on then lay thereon a good warm cloth letting the Sheep-skin lie so long till it begin to corrupt then apply a fresh one continuing so to do twenty days this I have tried but have not found it so successful but that I was forced to use this Remedy which never failed me First draw his back on both sides of the ridge from the pitch of the Buttock unto an handful within the Saddle and so again overthwart let the lines be an inch distance one from the other and let not the strokes be otherwise burnt but only to look yellow having so done lay on this Plaister Take of Pitch half a pound of Tar half a pint of Rozin and Bole-armoniack of each a quarter of a pound beaten into fine powder boil these together stirring them till they are throughly incorporated then being luke-warm daub all the burning therewith very thick after this take flox of the Horse's colour and daub as many on as will stick remove it not but let it fall off spontaneously if the season will permit turn him to grass Spurgalling how remedied Spurgalling to be sure happens no other way than by the indiscretion of a digging Horseman The signs are plain to be seen and felt the Cure is not difficult only take Urine and Salt Water and Salt or warm Vinegar alone or bind unto the Spur-gall the tops of Nettle-leaves and any of these will perfectly cure him Swelling of the Cods This swelling is always accompanied with an inflammation and happens to the Stones of an Horse several ways viz. either by the bite of an Horse or some venomous beast by a blow or by a strain nay it hath been found to have happened after sickness or surfeit with cold being a sign of his recovery if so the usual way of curing it is by taking of Bean-flower Wheat-meal Cummin and Hogs grease of each an equal quantity and therewith Plaister his Cods or Stones Sometimes again this swelling proceedeth from rankness of seed and the Symptom thereof is the great sliminess of his Yard if so then get any Mare and let him first cover her then keep him without Provender and bleed him above the great Vein which is between his lips having so done take three or four hard Eggs and some of his own dung and pound them together making thereof a Plaister with which cover his Cods but be sure that every day you wash them with cold water till the swelling come down But if by accident as by stroke strain c. his Cods and Stones do swell then follow this Rule which the French prescribe Take the roots of wild Cowcumber and Salt and boil them and with the water bathe the Cods after this anoint them with an unguent made of Oil Goats-grease and the white of an Egg or an ointment made of Chalk Potters-earth Ox-dung Cummin-water and Vinegar mingled together after this let him blood in the Flank-veins Selender There is very little discrepancy between the Selender and Malander only that the Selender breedeth on the bending of the bough in the Leg behind whereas the Malander afflicteth the bending of the Leg before the Symptoms of
the one bear an analogy with the signs of the other and to speak the truth there is no difference in the Cure however for variety sake take this one Receipt more Take fresh Butter Bay-salt and Frankincense both pulverized very finely and boil these together then take a stick and tie a rag about it and dip it into this Ointment scalding hot and apply it to the Selender three mornings together after this heal it up and renew the hair by anointing it with Mallows and fresh Butter Surfeited and Grease-molten In the first place my advice is to take blood from the Horse then give him this Purgation Take of Trisora magna and Filonio Persico of each half an ounce Cassia one ounce Syrop of Violets two ounces dissolve these in Mel Rosarum four ounces then put these well mixed together into an Horn and give it him in a morning fasting then ride him gently two or three miles bringing him into the Stable let him stand upon the Trench somewhat better than an hour after this give him a sweet Mash having swallowed that then give him drie Oats clean and well sifted and lastly give him some sweet Hay Be sure to give him no cold water in eight or nine days after that time you may but with this caution when ever you let him drink cold water that you immediately exercise him with moderation so far as not to make him sweat String-halt The String-halt is a Malady that is most incident to Horses of the greatest metal and by some it is called the Mary Hinchcho It is an ill-favoured distemper and frequently happens by an Horses taking sudden cold after a great heat and most commonly happens to the hinder Legs this cold comes by washing him too soon whereby the blood and sinews being stupified the Horse is deprived of the sense and feeling of that member it seizeth The signs are apparent to the eye and very uncomely it appeareth for he snatcheth up his leg much higher than the other twitching it up in such manner as if he trod on needles or that the ground was so hot it scalded his foot The Cure is to take up the middle Vein above the Thigh and underneath the same under which Vein there lieth a string which with a sharp Knife cut away then anoint him with Butter and Salt or anoint him with this Ointment following Take of the Oil of Worms and Oil of Petroleum of the Oil of Nerval of Piece-grease made of the shreds of Shooe-makers Leather and of Oil of Spike of each one ounce of London-Treacle two ounces and of Hogs-grease one pound melt all these together then take it off the fire and stir it till it be cold with this anoint the string-halt once every day then wisp him up with a soft thumb-band of Hay from the Pastern to the top of the hoof do thus eight days together and when you anoint him hold an hot Fire-pan to the grievance that the ointment may sink in the better after this keep him warm and do not ride him in a month after so as to make him sweat this will make him both do well and go well Stripe or blow upon the Eye of an Horse A mischance may so happen that the Eye of an Horse by a rod or whip may sustain very much detriment and I have known the like evil proceeding from Horses playing with each other or fighting There are abundance of Receipts for the Cure of this accidental Malady in an Horse's Eye wherefore to avoid prolixity I shall only nominate some of the best Remedies First let him blood on the Eye-vein then take strong Nettles with a little Beer bruising them strain them and squirt a little of the liquor into his eye twice or thrice together then take the fine powder of Sandevoir and blow some thereof into his Eyes then cloath well his Eye that no cold or air may come at it if there be a necessity that you must ride him then put before his Eye a warm woollen cloth and it will do him not much harm Now if the Horses Eye-brows be very sore then take Soap-water and cold water mixt together and wash the Eye-brows therewith but if you perceive but little amendment by that means then bleed him in the Temple-veins if he rub his Eyes then bleed him in the Veins under his Eyes and wash his Eyes with cold Soap-water The best way I think is to anoint the sore Eye three or four days together with Capon-grease which will mollifie then take live Honey and with a feather wipe the inside of the Eye or joyn the juice of Plantain with your live Honey Lastly if his Eye look red by the stripe or blow then take red Lead and Sallet-oil and having mingled them well together apply it Plaister-wise unto it Swelling of the Neck after Phlebotomy There is a four fold cause of the swelling of an Horse's Neck after breathing a Vein 1. When the Vein is struck through so that some of the blood getting between the flesh and the Vein it there putrefieth and corrupteth and by that means is ingendered an Impostumation 2. It hapneth sometimes by the carelesness of a slovenly Farrier who without looking on his Fleim having not let blood in a pretty while never observed that it was rusty and so striking the Vein therewith the Vein rankleth and this I can assure you is very dangerous 3. This may come by cold suddenly striking into the Orifice 4. And lastly by permitting the Horse too soon after blood-letting to hang down his head to feed or graze this will cause an attraction or resorting of humours to that place which in a very short time will turn to an Impostume You need no other Cure for it but this take Oil of Camomile and warm it then therewith anoint the swelling then lay upon it some Hay wet in water so binding it that it may not easily fall off put fresh wet Hay or Litter every day for six or seven days in which time it will be either discust or brought to suppuration if brought to an head and throughly ripened then with your Lancet lay it open and let out the corruption having cleansed it very well take flax and dip it in Turpentine and Hogs-grease melted together tenting it therewith and by dressing it thus every day it will be whole and perfectly cured Screw This Screw is no more but a puzling name for the Splint and indeed is no more in its nature and qualification only with this difference as to their location the Splint being ever on the inside of the Leg and the screw on the outside which is less dangerous than the other Now by reason that several Horses have been found and known by several to have had at one and the same time and upon the same leg Leg both these Splints diametrically opposite one to the other some have entertained an opinion so absurd and ridiculous that they have thought they have gone through
the Horse's Legs and from hence have been vainly intitled the thorough-splint and thence concluding it incurable Now to confute the ignorance of such and for the better information of the Reader 's judgment be pleased to take notice that the Shin bone is hollow and filled with Marrow so that there can nothing grow through it but it must of necessity destroy the Marrow and so by consequence the bone can no longer hold but must presently break in sunder considering that so weak a spongy substance as a Splint shall possess the whole strength of the Leg I hope what is here expressed will convince every knowing person of this gross and ridiculous vulgar Errour Now since the Screw is made appear to be the same with the Splint certainly the Cure must also be the same wherefore I refer you to the foregoing Section of the Splint and its Remedies Shackle-gall The Shackle-gall or Gall in the Pastern on the Heel or upon the Cronet is often seen in those Countries which are Champain as Dorset-shire Wilt-shire c. and where Horses are much used to the Teather or this Malady may happen by the Shackle-lock In this case you must take Verdigriese and Honey of each an equal quantity and boil them together till a moity be consumed at which time or thereabout this composition will look red then take it off the fire and set it a cooling after that take herof and anoint the sore every day twice strowing thereon some flox that are chopt to keep on the Salve continue thus doing till it be whole this Medicine is most sovereign for the Shackle-gall but principally good for the Scratches Suppositories of all sorts with their uses There are certain malignant humours in the body of an Horse which the strength of Nature cannot expel and therefore must be discharged three several ways by Art either by Potion Clyster or Suppository of the two first I have already succinctly discoursed and therefore I shall only treat of the last which is a Suppository and this Suppository is no more than an Handmaid or Preparative to a Clyster for although the nature of a Clyster is to open yet can it not perform its office many times by reason of the hardness of the Excrements by reason of a dry hot and costive constitution and therefore to soften the Guts there ought to be as a forerunner the application of a Suppository before either Potion or Clyster be administred Thus as we have related the Nature and use of Suppositories so in the next place it will be requisite to give you some Receipts in the due forming and composing any Suppository The first and most gentle of all Suppositories is this Take a great Candle of four to the pound and cut it into twain then take the lower or bigger part and anoint it with fresh Butter and so thrust it into his Fundament as soon as you have so convey'd it hold his Tail to his Tuel three quarters of an hour by which time the Candle will be melted after this let loose his Tail and ride him presently I mean trot him up and down till he begin to evacuate thus by exercising him after the administration of the Suppository you will cause it to work the more kindly But if so be your Horses constitution be so weakned and debilitated that you durst not give him any purging Medicament then take of Salt-Nitre three ounces of Honey half a pound of Wheat-flower Anniseeds finely powdered of each two ounces boil these together to a consistency and make it into Suppositories and convey one of them at a time into the body of the Horse as you were before directed giving him the same manner of exercise If you would purge Phlegm this is a most singular and approved way Take a piece of Castle-soap and with your knife shape it into the usual form of a Suppository and apply it according to the former directions Now since I have spoken of the Purgation of Phlegm give me lieve to proceed in my giving instructions by such like means how to correct the malignity or redundancy of the other three humours or Constitutions And first as for Choler use this Suppository take of Saven an indifferent quantity of Stavesaker and Salt of each two ounces Stamp these well together and boil them in so much Honey as may make them of that thickness fit for the composition of Suppositories and at your pleasure apply them as before For Melancholy you may only take an angry red Onion and having pilled and jagged it cross-wise with your knife thrust it into his Fundament using him in the same manner as before prescribed Lastly if your Horse's body be over-heated by superfluity of blood then take a pint of ordinary Honey and boil it so thick as it is fit to be made into Suppositories this will so refrigerate and cool his body that it will reduce it into an orderly temper Observe that in your administration of all Suppositories Clysters or Potions you choose the morning fasting for that work that he drink no cold water but warm Mashes and lastly that your Horse be raked before administration of such like Purgation The Tongue of an Horse hurt how cured It is impossible to describe how many ways the Tongue of an Horse may become hurt and detrimented the usual causes are an Halter or being fiery or head strong by holding a stiff Rein on a Bit. The common cure is to take the juice of Celandine and though the Tongue be cut half way through yet if you wash it therewith ten or eleven days it will perfectly heal it for this Celandine conglutinates after a wonderful manner and will cement the lips of a wound especially in the Tongue very speedily Or you may use this remedy which I was taught by a very ancient French Farrier and one that was highly esteemed for his skill in the Reign of King Charles the first of ever blessed memory it is thus take an ounce of Arman and rost it till it be red hot then take it and pulverize it very finely having so done take six spoonfuls of life Honey of White-Wine one quart take the powder and mix them together then set it over the fire and all the while it is boiling be sure to stir it well then take it off and cool it and wash the Tongue therewith twice a day Theriacum or Unguentum Theriacum how to make it with a character of its Virtues and uses This is an Ointment so soveraign that I know not what is better for any ach in the joints griefs in the Hip Stifling place Legs Shoulders Pastern or any other part of the Leg whereby the Horse is compelled to go lame only you must except the back Sinew strain the way of making this Vnguentum Theriacum is thus Take of Nerve Oil of Oil of Pamphilion and of black Soap of each four Ounces of tried Hogs grease one pound melt these then adde thereunto a groats worth
cloth till you have made it suck in all the moisture from the Wind-gall so that the Wind-gall be completely dry then take of Pitch Rozin and Mastich of each an equal quantity and being very hot daub it all over the Wind-gall clapping good store of flox upon it of the same colour the Horse is of then either let him run to grass or stay at home it is indifferent so that you let the Plaister stay on till it fall off by its own accord and the Cure will be completed By way of caution take this for a safe Rule which if not observed will prove dangerous use neither Arsnick nor Resalgar to a Wind-gall for if you do the Wind-gall may disappear for a time but it will return again neither must you burn much and pray forbear to make any great Incision for any of these will so convert into hardness the soft substance of the Wind-gall that the Horse will become incurably lame White-water how to make it Because in several places of this Book the white Water is made mention of and prescribed to be drunk in physicking when other Waters are forbidden unless a warm Mash or so I thought good in this place to give you an account what it is to say the truth it is nothing else but insipid water made hot in a clean Kettle and being hot enough it is my custom to put therein a quantity of Wheat-bran or Barley-bran will do as well Now the reason why I would have this white Water used in the administration of Physick is upon a triple account first to prevent giving cold water to drink which may prove dangerous next Mashes are not always to be had or not so proper for the Malady and lastly to keep his bodily heat from being disturbed and therefore you must give him this white Water blood-warm Weakness in the Back I have already treated of some sort of weaknesses hapning to an Horses back but what I shall now speak of differs from them all for this weakness is a kind of biting or fretting of the Reins occasioned by the conflux of many malignant humours flowing abundantly to that place depriving the hinder parts of the Horse both of feeling and strength in such grievous manner that the Horse cannot keep his feet but will immediately fall to the ground when they overflow very much they will make resort to the Heart and will so suffocate the same as to procure sudden death or at least death in four hours time The most approved Remedy that I can hear of is to take good store of blood from the Neck-vein after that draw his back with an hot Iron right out on both sides of the Ridge of his back from the pitch of the Buttock unto an handful within the Saddle and then again overthwart and let every line be an inch one from the other but do not let the strokes be deep and no more burnt than that each may look yellow having so done cause him to swim in some deep pond or river then rowel him upon the Haunches near unto the Huckle-bones after this anoint the Sorrance with Hogs-grease and three-leaved grass stamped together you must continue anointing him herewith till his Back be perfectly cured Water-farcion An Horse comes often to be troubled with the Water-farcion by his mere feeding only that is to say in low Marshy watry grounds and by his grazing in places where the grass grows but a little above the surface of the water whereby he cannot but lick up the water as he feedeth and hence comes the swelling that is so often seen about an Horse's chaps and belly The Cure must be wrought thus Take an Iron made into the fashion of a Fleim and heating it red hot strike through the skin and no further upon the swelling but no where else and let those pricks be several from each stroke or prick you shall see issue a great quantity of yellow grey oily water having let it run a while wash it with Chamber-lye and Salt as hot as the Horse can indure it thus wash the water Farcion but four or five times and it will certainly cure it This washing serves for an ordinary swelling but if the swelling be very great as it often happens then take strong stale Urine Salt and Bolearmoniack the quantity of a large Nutmeg and having boiled them together wash the Sorrance therewith The Signs to know this Water-farcy from a Pocky-farcy are these the swelling will be in great bags as big as a two-penny Loaf sometimes under his belly at other times under his jaws and about his chaps Where note the more you work any Horse that is troubled with any sort of Farcy the sooner you shall complete the Cure and the Horse will thrive the better And you need not to fear working your farcied Horse with another but let them neither stand nor feed together There is besides this Water-farcy a Button-farcy and the signs to distinguish it from any other sort are bunches and knots lying in burbles in the skin some as big as Cherry-stones others as big as Hazel-nuts The Cure must be effected after this manner first take good store of blood from both sides the Horses Neck having so done take some Housleek beat it and strain it through a fine linnen cloth and the juice thereof convey into his ears then take an ounce of Aristolochia and beat it small or grate it the tops of Rew one handful Hogs-grease the quantity of an Egg beat these three last into a Salve and after the Housleek dividing these into two equal proportions put the one part into one ear and the other part into the other ear and having put some wool after it to keep in the Medicine stitch up the ears with a needle then with the point of your Incision-knife make a small hole in his forehead and then with your Cornet raise the skin from his forehead the breadth of your hand round about the hole then take a red Dock-root and slice it and put three pieces thereof into the hole which will draw a great deal of putrefaction from it and that very putrefaction or corruption that comes from it will scald the hair away where it runs when the strength of the root is gone it will drop out of it self and when it is dropt out anoint the place with fresh Butter and then clap thereon a Paister of Burgundy-pitch to keep out the wind let him after this stand upon the bit seven or eight hours and then shall you see him foam and champ as if he were ridden let what you put into his ears stay there eight and forty hours taking this course the knobs or knots will fall in a very little time and the hair will come again on the forehead Wens in the Neck I have treated somewhat already of Wens but nothing of Wens in the Neck these Wens are bunches or kernels upon the skin being a superfluous excrescence the inside whereof is
sometimes grisly sometimes spongeous and sometimes yellow like rusty Bacon with some white grains intermixt their magnitude is uncertain sometimes great and sometimes small and are sometimes painful and sometimes not at all They are caused several ways sometimes they proceed from cold or drinking extraordinary cold water but principally they are occasioned by pinching or galling of an Halter or Coller The Cure is thus Take an hot Iron and therewith burn away all superfluous flesh then heal up the sore with the powder of Honey and Lime mixt together this is a very speedy Cure The Remedy that is generally practised is this Take of Mallows Sage and red Nettles of each one handful boil them in running water and put thereunto a little Butter and Honey when you have so boiled the herbs that they become soft take them out and bruise them very well then add thereunto Oil de Bay two ounces and of Hogs-grease two ounces warm these together over a fire and having thoroughly incorporated them together spread it on a piece of Leather about the bigness of the Wen and lay it thereunto as hot as the Horse can endure it every day lay on a fresh Plaister for nine days together if it come not to suppuration in that time lance it from the midst of the Wen downwards so deep that the corruption may be discovered and let out that done heal it up thus Take of Turpentine four ounces and having washt it nine times in fair water mingle therewith the Yolk of an Egg and some English Saffron beaten to powder then take a Tent of Flax and dipping it into this Ointment tent the Sorrance therewith Yellows vide Glanders Yard Mattering The Yard of an Horse will often matter by over spending in the covering Mares and by his own heat it will turn into the Running of the Reins The signs of this distemper are the swelling of his Yard dropping with yellow matter and when he offers to stale it is with great difficulty and pain For the Cure you must first purge him very well then take Roch Allom one ounce and white one pint boil them till the Allom be dissolved then inject this with a Syringe thrust up into the Yard a considerable way this must be done three or four times a day and it will be a cure If his Yard be fur'd and foul so that he pisseth in the Cod take fresh Butter and White-wine-Vinegar and melt it then draw out his Yard doing off the filth with your hand and then wash it clean with the Vinegar and Butter and squirt some thereof into the Yard with a Syringe Probatum CHAP. XXVI How to make an old Horse seem young IF you have an old Horse you have a desire to part withall and would sell him for a good price first put him into good case then next counterfeit the mark in his mouth which you may do thus take a small Iron about the thickness of a Goose quill or not so thick and heating it red hot burn a little black hole in the tops of the two outmost teeth of each side the neather chap before next the Tushes and then with an Awl blade prick it making the shell fine and thin then with a sharp scraping Iron make all his Teeth white and clean having done this take a fine Lancet and above the hollow of the Horses eyes which are shrunk down make a little hole only through the skin and raising it up put in a quill that is very small as a Duck or Ravens quill and then blow the skin full of wind till all the hollowness be filled up then taking out the quill lay your finger on the hole a little while and the wind will stay in by which means to all outward appearance the Horse will seem but six years old at the utmost How to make Hair slick and smooth and though hard and rough before how to make it even and soft If you would speedily make an Horses coat smooth slick soft and shining be sure that you first with good store of cloathing keep the Horse warm at heart for this you must observe that the least internal cold will so operate on the external parts of an Horses body that the hair will stare after a very strange manner next cause him to sweat often for that will raise up the dust and filth which causeth his coat to be both foul and hard Observe when your Horse is in his greatest sweat take an old blade of a sword or Sythe and turning the edge towards the hair scrape or curry away all the white foam sweat or whatsoever filth shall be raised up by so doing in a very little time you will cause his coat to be both smooth and even Or you may effect your desires this way when at any time you shall have occasion to open a Vein preserve some of your Horses blood and therewith rub him all over letting the blood to remain on his coat eight and forty hours then curry and dress him well and this will not only make the hair lye even but shine like Jett How to take off Hair from any part of an Horse Take half a pound of unfleckt Lime and boil it till a fourth part be consumed then put thereunto an Ounce of Orpiment then take hereof and spread it on Leather and lay it to that part of the Horse from whence you would have hair taken this in six hours will take the hair quite away Or you may take Rust and Orpiment and whilst it is scalding hot wash the part therewith and in a very little time the hair will fall away There may be necessary occasions for the use of either of these medicines but I would not advise you to abuse it as some have done and have been justly hanged for their pains that is they have by these means taken out a star in the forehead of an Horse they have stoln or some observable mark about his body and have made hair grow of another colour in the place by which means the right owner knew not his own Horses when he saw them See more of this in the foregoing Sections of making artificial Stars How to hinder an Horse from neighing either at home or abroad Give me leave to tell you that the art of keeping of an Horse from neighing at any time is of excellent use especially when upon service in the Wars you would not be discovered by the Horses neighing or making a noise thus it is done take a woolen cloth and tye it fast in many folds about the midst of your Horses tongue and believe this if not from my experience yet from your own you may as long as the tongue is so tyed so long will the Horse be restrained from neighing or making any extraordinary noise with his voice How to make a tired Jade go forward It is a very usual thing for an Horse of a naughty nature and dull spirit to be soon restiff or so tired