spoonfuls as much Allom as an Egge of Bean or Rye flower two spoonfuls mix all these together and apply it to the Mellet as far as it goeth letting it lye on five or six days after you have taken it away wash his leg and foot with salt Beef broth then rope his leg with wet Hay ropes two or three days after and he will be very sound and well Morfounded Morfounding is no other than foundring in the body by molten grease of which I have already treated in that section which discourseth only upon the internal diseases which afflict the bodies of Horses however give me leave to give you one excellent Receipt more inferiour to none of the former and that is this as followeth Take an handful of Salt and put it into a pint of fair water give him this to drink then ride him with that moderation that you cause him not to sweat this done as soon as you suspect him foundred will work the cure but if it be of five or six days standing then take a spoonful of the powder of Hellebore and of Saffron one penny worth of Assa foetida and of Soap of Venice of each two dramchs with a small quantity of the seeds of Bays mix these and pound them well together adding thereto a pint of Vinegar give him this to drink blood warm then cloath him well so that he sweat for an hour then cool him by degrees and after that rub him well down and he will be as well as ever Probatum Mules or Kibe heels This Sorrance is a certain dry scab or chap breeding behind on the heels of an Horse and so a little inward even to the Fetlock in long chaps or chinks The causes of these Kibed heels are either corrupted blood negligent keeping or by being bred in wet and marshy grounds The signs are swelling in his legs most especially in the Winter and Spring time going stifly and halting much As to the Cure you must first take away the scabs and make the Kybe raw then with strong Mustard made with Wine-vinegar anoint them all over and do this every night The next morning take half a pound of green Copperas and boil it in a pottle of running water with an handful of Sage and the like quantity of Hysop a quarter of a pound of Alom and as much strong Mustard and with this bathe the sore twice every day Or first wash his Sorrance clean then dry it after that take Linseed Oyl and black Soap of each a like quantity boil them together till they become a Salve and herewith anoint the Mules or Kibes If these Kibes are not of long standing take a little Sope and anoint them daily for three or four days and after that wash them with strong stale Urine and they would be whole But if it be of longer continuance then calcinate Tartar and dissolve it into water then congeal it like Salt and mingle it with Soap like an Ointment with this dress the sore by so doing in two days and two nights you shall perfectly cure the Kibes Pains or Scratches whatsoever Mallender I have before discours'd concerning the Mallender but it was more properly a disease called the Low-worm wherefore I shall particularly in this place insist upon the Mallender This Malady is a kind of a dry Scab growing overthwart the inward bent of the Knee and hath growing thereon stubborn hairs like Swines-bristles which will corrupt and canker the flesh causing him to go stiff till he is warmed by travel or exercise If you intend a Cure you must first pull out these bristly hairs then rub it dry with a cloth after this anoint it with Crown Sope and red Mercury precipitate mixed together dress him herewith five several times intermitting one day betwixt every dressing then anoint it with Sallet-oil and you need do no more Others think this way better First wash the sore clean with warm water then shave off the hair and pick away the scabs after this take a spoonful of Soap and as much Lime mingle them together that it may be like Paste then spread on a clout as much as will cover the Sore and bind it fast on with a List renewing it every day once the space of 4 days at the expiration of which time take away the Plaister and take Oil of Roses warmed and anoint the sore therewith and that will fetch off clearly all the scurf crusty eschar having removed this skurf wash once a day the place with man's Urine strowing the powder of burnt Oister-shells thereon continue thus doing till it be perfectly well The latest way of curing a Mallender is this first with your Scissers clip away the hair that either grows upon or about it then take an hair-cloth or the back of an old Knife and rub the scabs off which will cause a yellow matter to run from it then take a linnen cloth and therewith wipe the part very clean then take a groats-worth of the Oil of Riggrum and mingle it with Stercus humanum then lay on this with a flat stick upon a piece of cloth not woolen and bind it to the sore letting it lie on six days then cleanse it and dress it once more and there needs nothing else to perfect the Cure Lastly some only wash and shave the Mallender and then rub it with Piss and Soap till it be raw then lay to it Nerve-oil Honey and strong Mustard until it be whole Where note that some Horses will have two Mallenders upon one Leg one above the other and sometimes one a little above the bending of the Knee and another a little below the inward bending of the Knee but as to the Cure it is all alike what being good for the one may be applied also to the other Mourning of the Chine This disease called the Mourning of the Chine is also called the moist Malady it is supposed by most expert Farriers that this disease is a foul consumption of the Liver and this consumption proceeds from a cold which afterwards turns to a Poze then to the Glanders and lastly to the Mourning of the Chine The sign is that corrupt matter which runneth from his Nostrils will be darkish colour thin and reddish with little streaks of blood in it The Remedy is thus Take of Auripigmentum two drachms of Tussilage as much made into powder then mix them with Turpentine till they be as thick almost as Dow then make thereof little Cakes and dry them before the fire then take a Chafing-dish of Coals and lay a couple of the Cakes thereon covering them with a Tunnel when the smoke ariseth clap the end of the Tunnel into the Horses Nostril so that the smoke may ascend into his head after you have so done ride him till he sweat do this every morning before watering and he will quickly be cured Or else you may use this Remedy Take clear water and a quart of Hydromel adding thereto three ounces of Sallet-oyl
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
four It proceeds from colds and heats occasioned several ways and the distemper is very troublesome and loathsome however not very difficult to be cured if you will observe this Method First let him blood in the Neck-veins but before you do it keep him fasting most part of the night before having let him bleed freely give him a drink made thus Take of Aristilochia one ounce of Turmerick one ounce of Anniseeds dry one ounce beat the Anniseeds and Turmerick small and grate the roots of Aristolochia put these together with one handful of Rew and one handful of Wormwood and one handful of red Sage one handful of green Fennel or two ounces of the seeds thereof then let all these steep together in three pints of water all night Now before you give him hereof ride him out a mile or two to warm him a little and then give him this water as it stood cold all night then ride him a mile more and after this let him stand six hours on the bit then give him a little Hay and after that warm water and Bran he must not drink but once a day riding him two or three miles after it At the expiration of three days give him the same drink using him as you did before in every circumstance observing so to do every third day till you have exsiccated or dried up those humours which are so offensive to him Staling free If an Horse be troubled with any obstruction whereby he cannot stale free I know no better remedy than this Take half a pint of white Wine and infuse therein all night an handful of Nettle-seeds with one ounce of Ivy-berries beaten to powder the next morning fasting give it him cold then ride him for an hour moderately and after that tie him to the rack three or four hours do this constantly every morning till you perceive him stale freely which will be in a little time for it wonderfully cleanseth the Kidneys of Sand and filth dissolveth the Stone and purgeth Gravel Squinzie or Strangling The Squinzie is a disease both troublesome and dangerous to Horses for it commonly breeds the Canker in the mouth and at the roots of the tongue afflicteth the Stomach with a great deal of tough Phlegm which he is not able with all his endeavours so to cast forth but that he is forced to swallow it down again His breath will be exceeding hot and his mouth fiery red the Canker if he have any you will find by the stench of his breath and these are the usual signs and symptoms of this noisome and destructive Malady The speediest cure is to take one ounce of Anniseeds an ounce of Turmerick beaten to powder half a quartern of Brandy a quarter of a pint of white Wine a pint and an half of Beer put these into a Posnet and only heat them blood-warm and give it him fasting and immediately after he hath taken it run the point of the Cornel-horn into the third Furrow of the roof of his mouth and so bleed him then walk him a mile and set him up be sure you litter him well and keep him warm for he will sweat excessively give him only warm water with Wheat-bran therein the next morning the like and then suddenly after give him half a pint of white Wine and two ounces and an half of Honey then walk him as before The third day in the morning after he hath swallowed his aforesaid Drink give him this Cordial which you may make thus Take three pints of strong Beer somewhat stale a good piece of Houshold-bread and crum it therein four ounces of Butter put these into a skillet together heat them not too much taking them off put in four ounces of Honey stir them together well and give it him fasting luke warm then ride him a mile afterwards set him up and let him be well littered In the time of his Cure ride him twice or thrice a day moderately and it will add very much to the restitution of his former health Star in the Forehead how to make one artificially I have heard of many a cunning Jockey that hath used this trick either to add to the value of his Horse or else suspecting his Horse stoln he used this project of making this artificial Star so to disguize the Horse that the right owner should not know his own goods thus I have been informed they make this Star with a pair of Cissers they cut away first the hair from that place where they would have their artificial Star to appear then they take a piece of red Brick and rub it on the bare place rubbing it till it come to the roots of the hair then wiping it clean with a linnen rag they make a Plaister of Burgundy-pitch and spread it on a linnen cloth so long and so wide as they intend the Star laying on an hot Iron on the Pitch to soften it ere they lay the plaister to the place intended having laid on the first they apply a second larger than the former letting them stick on till they fall off of their own accord which may be five weeks first now the craft lieth in making the hair grow white in the place of the former hair to effect which they take some Butter but more Honey and having mingled them together they anoint the Star once in three days and for that distance five or six times having so done in somewhat more than a quarter of a year the Star desired will be visibly perspicuous This some averr they have tried and have found it effectual not only as to the forehead of the Horse but they pretend also hereby to make such a mark on any other part of his body Tyring of Horses on the Road what to be done therein It is no novelty for Horses to tyre upon the Road nay good Horses too by reason of some new indisposition of body his Master was not acquainted with But let the causes of your Horse's tyring be what they will thus you ought to do in such a case if you will behave your self like a prudent Traveller Do not force your Horse beyond his ability when you perceive him begin to tyre but make what convenient speed you may to the next Inn where let the Hostler rub him well down cloath him and litter him up to the Belly and in his rubbing him with fresh Straw let him observe to do it against the hair then take a pint of sweet Sack or white Wine and put thereto of Cinnamon Ginger Nutmegs Grains Cloves Anniseeds and Fennel seeds of each one ounce all made into fine powder then take red Sage Rosemary-tops Mints Camomile and wild Thyme of each a like quantity amounting in all to half an handful chop the Herbs very small and put them with the Spices into the Wine boil these together a pretty while then take it from the fire strain it and unbitting your Horse give it him blood-warm to drink then bit him again and
of white Wine boil in it a quartern of Roch-Alom when boiled and cold take thereof and with a Syringe squirt it into his Yard as far as you may and in a short time he will prove very sound Button-Farcy This Malady proceeds from great heats and Corruption of blood whose Symptoms are apparently visible for the Horse will be all over full of Bunches and Knots some little as Pease others big as Nuts For the cure of this Sorrance you must bleed him well on both sides of his Neck then take Housleek beat it and strain it through a fine linnen cloth and put it into his ears then take an ounce of Aristolochia and grate it small the tops of Rew one handful the quantity of an Egg of Hogs-grease beat these three last till they be like a Salve As soon as you have put in the Housleek into each ear alike divide the other in two parts and equally distribute it into each Ear putting some Wool after it to keep it in then stitch up his Ears that he may not shake it out then with the point of your Pen-knife make a little hole in his forehead and after that with your Cornet-horâ— raise the skin from his forehead the breadth of your hand then take a red Dock-root and cut it into three pieces and put them into the hole which will draw our abundance 〈◊〉 corruption which corruption will 〈◊〉 the hair off when the vertue or strength of the roâ—â— is vanisht it will drop out of its own accord then anoint the place with a little fresh Butter then lay a plaister of Burgundy-pitch over it to keep out the wind and the cold after this let him stand on the Trench seven hours in which time you shall observe him to slaver champ and foam as if he were ridden At night give him warm water and Bran what you convey'd into his Ears let it remain two days then take it out and in a little time his knots and bunches will disappear and his hair come again on his forehead Bunches of all sorts Knots Warts and Wens how infallibly to take away in a short space Such Maladies or Sorrances have commonly their original from rankness of bad blood which is engendred of malignant humours and those peccant humours from naughty Diet. The way to cure them is thus first shave away the hair about them then take up those veins which you imagine give these Sorrances sustenance then let him blood in the heels to draw away the humours downwards then wash and bathe him very well with hot Vinegar then take a quart of the Oil of Nuts and Verdigriese powdered two ounces and a quarter of a pint of Ink mix all these well together and apply it cold to the places afflicted rubbing them well therewith if at the first doing these excrescences do not dry up then continue in so doing every fourth day till they disappear Another way is this Take Vinegar and Mutton suet the Gum of the Pine-tree new Wax and Rozin of each a like quantity melt these together putting in your Gum last and so anoint the Sorrances with a feather every day till they be whole but omit not the taking up of such Veins as you verily believe do foment and give nutriment to those Sorrances with shaving away the hair c. Back-swelling a speedy and easie Cure If by any casualty whatsoever the back of your Horse be swelled presently take a little flax the whites of Eggs and Wheat-flower and having beaten them well together lay it to the place aggrieved and it will quickly remove the swelling Blood-spaven Of the Bone-Spaven we have already treated we now come to speak of the Blood or Bog spaven it is also called the Wet or Through-spaven which is much more easie to be cured than the former This Malady groweth on the Hough with a swelling full of blood which the Master-vein continually supplieth it with this great Vein runneth along the inside of the Thigh and so cometh along the inside of the Hough and so down the leg to the Pastern and from thence to the bottom of the foot this causeth the swelling to be greatest in the inside although it be apparent enough in the outside Now the blood being through over much heating too much stirred it engendreth a fluxible humour which being very thin runs downwards towards its Centre but it is stopped in its passage in the Hough where it resideth and by that means swelleth and so becomes a Sorrance called the Blood-spaven For the Cure the most expert follow this course after they have shaved off the hair and taken up the vein they then take Mustard-seed great Mallow-roots and of Ox-dung a like quantity and as much strong Vinegar as will mix them together like a Salve then beating them well together make thereof a soft Plaister and lay it on the Spaven let it morning and evening be changed taking care that it be so bound on as not easily to come off when the Spaven is absolutely removed then lay on that place a Plaister of Pitch very hot and take it not off but let it fall off of its self But certainly the best remedy that can be applied to the blood-spaven is having taken up the Vein letting it bleed as long as it will take two or three handfuls of Linseed and bruise it well in a Mortar then take new Cows-dung and mingle with it then put it into a Frying-pan and heat it well on the fire and so very hot apply it to the Spaven renewing it twice a day till it bring the Spaven into the nature of a Boil or Impostumation and then break it after it hath run two days only lay on a Plaister of Pitch which you must not remove till it fall off of its own accord Barbs or Papps underneath an Horses Tongue These Barbs or Paps which grow in an Horses Mouth underneath the Tongue are no ways detrimental to him as growing there in all Horses naturally till they become inflamed extending themselves and swelling with corrupt blood proceeding from naughty humours and frequently these Paps will become raw and then they will be so troublesome that the Horse will not be able to feed without a great deal of pain and anguish All Farriers agree in one particular Cure though there is an other but with little alteration the first is absolutely to clip them away with a pair of Sheers close to the Jaw and then to wash the Sore either with water and Salt or else with Tartar and strong Vinegar mixt together Or else take a pair of Cissers and clip them away which will appear under his Tongue like two Paps then prick him in the Palate of his mouth with your Fleim that he may bleed the better then wash the places with white Wine Vinegar Bole-armoniack and Bay-salt as much as will suffice and for four days after see that no Hay-dust stick upon the places so clipped and the Cure will be effected
strong housing cloth and over that his Woolen body-Cloth then girting his cloaths about him stop his Surcingle round with big thick and soft wisps and so shall he lye more at ease Having thus cloathed your Horse pick his feet and stop them up with Cow-dung throwing into his rack a small bundle of Hay which he shall tear out as he standeth on his bridle Having stood about an hour on his bridle rub then again his head all over and the nape of his neck with a clear rubber made of hempen cloth then draw his bridle and cleanse very well the Manger and put therein a quart or somewhat more of dry old and well cleansed Oats the best are the heaviest and whitest such as are called Poland or the cut oats Oats which are moist swell the body worms are bred by new Oats the black Oats which though they are tolerably good yet cause full dung which hinders a mans discerning the state of his Horses body If your Horse with a good stomach shall eat this quart of Oats you may give him another well sifted and so let him alone till eleven of the clock Then come to him again and give him another quart well tossed and ree'd then close up your lights and keep him as dark as you can till one of the Clock This keeping of him in the dark will occasion him to lye down and take his rest whereas in the light he would not At one of the Clock come again and rub his head face and neck and give him another quart of Oats ordered as aforesaid and having taken his Dung from him leave him till three in the Winter and four in the Summer At that time come again and having wet the bridle in beer put it on his head and tye him up to the rack then uncloath him and dress him as before expressed After dressing cloath and saddle him as you did in the morning and leading him forth provoke him to piss and dung then mount him and ride him as you did before but not to the hills rather chusing some even and plain ground at least-wise make choice of that which is most level Having chosen your ground ride him as before galloping him both before and after his watering and then raking him gently up and down and so return home with him and whatsoever you did after his mornings airing do the like after his evenings airing About nine of the Clock give him your last visit for that night and first rub down his legs well with hard wisps then with a clean Cloth rub his head face and chaps with the nape of his neck and fore parts and so gradually his whole body then give him a quart of Oats well sifted in a throughly cleansed Manger putting a small bundle of Hay in his rack and tossing up his litter that he may lye soft leave him to his rest The next morning before Sun-rising and so every morning for a fortnight do as you have done this first morning omitting nothing that was done the whole day If this you observe to do you shall so harden his flesh and dissipate or consume his foulness that the next fortnight you may adventure to heat him so it be gently and with moderation And herein you are to consider that two heats in a week is sufficient for any Horse whatsoever Where note that if your match is to be run on a Thursday the fittest heating days are Thursdays and Tuesdays ever let the one be on the same day and the other two days before but let the former be the sharper heat and let not your heats be in rainy and foul weather for it is unwholsome and therefore rather defer your day Lastly let not your heats be late in the Evening for it is unpleasant to the Horse and of a dangerous consequence but let it be early in the morning about Sun-rising So much for the first fortnights observation let us now consider what must be done for the second CHAP. VIII Observations for the second fortnights keeping THere is not more to be done as to cleansing the stable cloathing dressing saddling airing watering than was in the first fortnight but now we must alter his diet and with his Oats give him bread and by the way let me show you how to make it Take one part of Wheat and three of Beans and mixing them together grind them to pure meal then searce and bolt it through an indifferent fine range and knead it up with good store of barm or Yest but with very little water be sure you labour it well in the trough and then cover it warm and let it lye some while to swell then knead it over again and make it up into good big loaves and so let them soak well in the Oven and see that they be well baked Do not give your Horse any of this bread whilst it is new for it is very apt to surfeit wherefore use it not till it be three or four days old before you use a loaf chip it well and then cutting several pieces thereof to the quantity of the Oats you intend to give him mingle the bread therewith Between eleven and twelve give him of this bread and oats the same quantity you gave him in the morning and then do not visit him till one of the Clock at which time you shall feed him as in the forenoon if you intend not to heat him the day following if you intend to heat him then give him neither bread nor hay but only a quart of sweet Oats dressing cloathing saddling airing and watering him as before shewed and let him have his constant meals of this bread and oats de die in diem with the usual Ceremonies as aforesaid and now and then in a morning break a new laid raw egge into his mouth washing it after with a little strong Ale Now make him acquainted with the starting Posts rake up your Horse gently to the first post and let him smell to it then rake him to the last and there let him do the like that he may take notice of the beginning and ending of his Course Now start your Horse roundly and sharply at three quarters speed and according to his strength wind and alacrity run him the whole course through but by no means do not strain him and when you find him a little yield then ease him a little so that what he doth may be done freely and with pleasure this will make him take delight in his pains taking and so enable him the better to perform what is to be expected from him Having thus coursed your Horse gallop him moderately to recover his wind and chear his spirits and then rake him home to his stall where having scraped off his sweat and rub'd him well all over give him this scouring which you had before already prepared An excellent Scouring Take a pint of very rich Sack that which is commonly called sweet and put thereunto above an
a Chafingdish and held under the Horses nose and this will cure his head ach For any obstructions or cold in his head there is nothing better than a rag anointed with Oyl de Bay and therewith rub his Nostrils as high as you may For the Glanders anoint two feathers with Oyl de Bay Euphorbium and white Ellebore and thrust these into the Horses Nostrils For any Cephalick distemper but especially the Staggers Cold Glanders or Strangle take the powder of White Pepper and blow it into his Nostrils or squirt into them Aristolochia mixt with Wine and you will find a suddain amendment But the best fume of all is made of Olibanum Storax and Benjamin being bruised together and burned under the nose of the Horse CHAP. XXIII Of the Gargil Plague or Murrain in an Horse THis Disease hath its original from several causes sometimes from Surfeits sometimes from evil Planetary influence not only corrupting Plants but several sorts of creatures Of such an infectious nature it is that it will not only spread through a Studd a Shire but through an whole Kingdome The signs of this disease are lowring and hanging down the head and in a small time after this first observation you will find a swelling under his Ear-roots or Tongue which swelling will be hard and spread over one side of his face his Mouth and whites of his Eyes will be yellow and will have a very stinking breath As an Antidote or Preservative take a pint of Muscadine and dissolve therein two Ounces of the best Treacle and give it them To cure the deseased take a good quantity of stale Urine and mix therein a good deal of Hens-Dung stirring it till it be all dissolved take a pint hereof at a time and in an horn give it your Horse luke-warm CHAP. XXIV A Diacatholicon or Vniversal Medicine for all Distempers If at any time according to the former signs and symptoms you find your Horse not well open his Neck-Vein taking from him a good quantity of blood then fasting give him three mornings together half an Ounce of Diapente well brewed in a pint of Muscadine which Diapente you shall make after this manner Take Gentian Aristolochia Bay-berries Myrrh and the shavings of Ivory of each a like quantity beat them into very fine powder and searce it I say having given him of this powder then ride him abroad an hour and then give him what he will eat at Noon give him a sweet Mash and at night with a course Rubber rub him well all over â—specially his Head and Nape of his Neck this you must do three or four days together and you will find a suddain reparation of health Here followeth â—n Alphabetical â—ccount both as to the names character causes signs and cures of the most common and dangerous diseases which belong to Horses Avives Avives is a French appellation for this disease and is corruptly called by English Farriers the Fives or Vives It s growth is under the ears descending downwards towards the Throat with inflammation and swelling this disease is dangerous and often mortal for this swelling will stop his wind and choak him if not timely prevented The causes of this distemper are great heats and rankness of blood The cure you may effect this one way which is worth all the rest I have read of Take a penny worth of fine Pepper beaten to fine powder a spoonful of Swines grease the juice of an handful of Rue two spoonfuls of Vinegar mix them well together and put it equally into both the Horses Ears and tye them up with two strings shaking the Ear so that the Medicine may sink downward this done let him blood in the Neck-Vein and Temple-Veins and you need not question the cure of your Horse Anticor The nature of this disease agreeth with its name for by reason of immoderate riding or too hard feeding without exercise the Horses blood becometh corrupted and inflamed taking up its residence in and about the heart and having not speedy vent is the cause of suddain death You may know this disease by this sign just against the heart there will be a swelling in the middle of the breast before the swelling doth appear the signs will be these he will groan very much when laid down hanging down his head he will refuse to eat Immediately upon the appearance of the swelling open both the Plate-Veins or take away a good quantity of blood from both sides of his Neck having done this give him a Drink of Diapente with Ale putting thereto an Ounce of brown Sugar-Candy and half an Ounce of London Treacle which will expel the grief from his heart after this anoint the swelling with Hogs grease Bores Grease and Basilicon of each three Ounces incorporate these well together and rub the swelling every day therewith till it come to suppuration or softness then by opening it let out the matter then wash your sore with Coperas water which you shall make thus take two quarts of fair Water and adde thereto half a pound of green Copperas with an handful of Salt and put these into a Posnet with a spoonful of Honey and a branch of Rosemary boyl these together till one half of the liquor be consumed a little before you take it off the fire put to it the quantity of a Wall-nut of Allum then let it cool and preserve it for your use Having washt the sore clean with this water then apply thereunto this Oyntment put into a clean Skillet of Rossin the quantity of a Wallnut being molten add thereto the like quantity of Wax and when that is melted put thereunto half a Pound of Hogs grease tryed and that being melted put in a spoonful of English Honey and when these are melted and well stirred together put thereunto half a pound of ordinary Turpentine this being dissolved take it from the fire then adde of Verdegrease finely pulverized one Ounce and so stir them all together then set it on the fire and let it simper but if it boyl it is utterly spoiled then strain it and when cold preserve it for your use This Ointment is of excellent Vertue to cure old Ulcers Fistulas but more especially any green wound Bots or Worms in Horses It is the opinion of the most judicious that there are three sorts of Worms which breed in the Bowels of an Horse First Bots being short Worms with great red heads and long small white tails next Truncheons which are short and thick being all of a bigness and the last are as big as a mans finger and six inches long and are only called Worms Mr. Markham by experience hath found out a fourth sort which are of a middle size and are red and fiery with thick short sharp heads and are of all others most dangerous for sometimes they will get up to his very throat and choak him sometimes eat through his very Stomach and kill him These Worms do proceed from a raw gross
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
of Turpentine and Fenugreek of each a quarter of an ounce of Suet one ounce of Oyl an ounce of Wax three ounces and three quarters of an ounce of Myrrh melt and mix them altogether and Plaister-wise lay it to the place grieved till it be whole The neather Attaint or over-reach on the midst and in the hollow of the Pastern joint is a little Bladder full of jelly like to a wind-gall this is not very apparent to the eye but may easily be felt and will make an Horse halt exceedingly Cure this malady thus take a small Cord and rowl him somewhat strait from the Knee to the neather joint and then in the Pastern between the Hoof and the joynt with a Fleim strike him in the midst of the Swelling and so let out the corruption then take the white of an Egg and beat it with a little Salt and then dipping Flax therein lay it unto the swelling then unrowl his leg and renew this Salve twice a day till it be fully cured There is yet another Attaint or over-reach and that is upon the Heel caused by an Horses striking the Toe of his hinder shoe into the Heel just upon the setting on of the Hoof this if not timely looked after will indanger the loss of the Hoof. If you intend to cure him you must cut away hair skin hoof and flesh till without hollowness you have made the sore caven then take Beer and Salt and therewith wash it well then take Flax dipt in the white of an Egg mingled with a little Bole-armoniack and bind it to the sore renew this once a day for four or five days and the cure will be effected Burning with Shot or otherwise If your Horse be shot after you have drawn the Bullet take Varnish and Water and beat them well together then pour away the water from the varnish and with a feather anoint the place burned This following Ointment is good for any burning what-ever Take a stone of Quick lime well burned which you shall understand by the lightness ther of and dissolve it in fair water when the Lime is settled to the bottom strain the clearest of this water through a fine linnen cloth then add thereunto as much Oil of Hemp-seed as there is water beat these well together and you will have a most pretious Ointment for all burning whatsoever Brittle-hoof This proceedeth from two several causes first naturally or hereditary when the Mare or Stallion was troubled with the like infirmity or secondly accidentally by reason of a Surfeit that fell down into the feet which caused a dryness in the hoofs or else by some former founder or heating in his feet The Cure must be in this manner after with a Rape or Drawing-iron you have thinned the Coffin of his hoof and have pared his Soles finely then apply to the Coffin and Soles this following charge Take Rie or Wheat-bran Oxen or Cows-dung an indifferent quantity then take sheeps-suet and Hogs-grease tried Tar and Turpentine of each half a pound let the Sheeps-suet be minced very small and melt it on the fire add thereunto some Hogs grease and when they are melted put in your Ox or Cows-dung stirring them well together then gradually put in your bran continually stirring them lastly put in your Tarr and Turpentine when you have so incorporated these together as that they are become like a paste then take it from the fire and preserve it for your use With this dress him every day for twenty days or more together not letting him touch water with his feet and his hoofs will be restored to their former toughness and firmness Bone-spaven This Bone or Dry Spaven is as big as a Wall-nut growing under the inside of the hoof hard under the joint near to the Master-vein it is but tender at first but if it be neglected it will be an hard Crust nay as hard as any bone and sticketh to the Bone as close as the bark of an Oak to the body and causeth lameness in the Horse The Cure is very hard and difficult however I will prescribe you the best remedies I can procure In the first place take Vnguentum Apostolorum and of white Mercury of each a like quantity mix them well together and after you have cast your Horse make a slit the length of the Spaven but be careful you touch not the Master-vein having opened it and laid the Spaven bare with a sharp instrument scale the Spaven a little then make a plegant of lint as big as the Spaven then spreading Salve thereon lay it upon the Spaven then with dry lint defend all other parts especially the Master-vein from the Corrosive then lay a Plaister of Pitch Rozen Turpentine and Hogs-grease round about his hoof and so let him rest four and twenty hours then open it again and if you find the Corrosive hath not eaten enough apply a fresh one and that will be enough and then take of Turpentine of Deers-suet and of Wax of each a like quantity melt and mix these well together and being warmed dress therewith the sore place in four days time you shall find the Spaven come clear away and then with the same Salve heal up the wound You may also apply to the Sorrance after the aforesaid Corrosives a Plaister of strong Aegyptiacum till it hath fretted off the â—lesh upon the Crust so bare as possibly may be and so you may the better attempt the taking away of the said Crust or by rubbing it with a Rolling-pin anointed with Petroleum till the Crust be converted into a softer substance or into such thin corruption as may be easily drawn away Now if you find a swelling in the Spaven place to prevent it from running into a Spaven shave away the hair about the swelling then take natural Balsam and anoint the place therewith two or three days then repress the humours by taking three ounces of the Oil of Roses Bole-armoniack one ounce Wheat-flower half an ounce and the white of one Egg make all these into a body and having first anointed the part with Balsam every day lay on this charge Back-swankt or for a strain in the Kidneys Take a skin just as it comes from the back of the sheep both hot and fat then take a Groats worth of Turpentine and as much of Nerve-oil and mingling them together anoint the inside of the sheep-skin all over and clap it on the back of the Horse where the grief lies which commonly is in the Navil place of the back-bone having thus laid it on make a Crupper to goe under his tail to keep it on and a breast-plate before and fasten them together thus let it lie upon him for a month till his back be knit and strengthned Burning of an Horse by a Mare This frequently happens by the great heat and foulness of a Mare and may be called the Horse-pox which is known by mattering of the Yard within For its cure take a pint
sufficient Spongia Marina and powder of Risagallo are of like power and vertue but that the last is too great a fretter But by reason there is such choice of medicines of this nature to avoid prolixity I shall only propose this last as the best Take white or black Heleborus Ink quick Sulphur Orpiment Lithargy Vitriol unslak'd Lime Roch Alom Galls Soot or the Ashes of Avellan of each half an ounce and they will expeditiously consume all manner of dead flesh Eye of an Horse hurt with a blow The causes and signs of this Sorrance are perspicuous enough wherefore we shall only insist on the Cure and as to that you must first bathe the part in warm water next shave off all the hair about the swelling then take the tops of Wormwood Pellitory and Branca Vrsina of each half an handful chop the Herbs very small and then beat them to an Ointment with old Boar's Grease quantum sufficit then put to it of live Honey and Wheat-flower of each one spoonful and of Linseed oyl three spoonfuls boil these very well continually stirring them when boiled enough strain it into a Gally-pot well stopped and keep it for your use when you have occasion to make use thereof only anoint the place grieved therewith Eye-film Pin and Web. These distempers are commonly engendred by distillation of bad humours from the head to the eyes by a stripe or some Hay-dust getting therein the signs are visible The Cure must be thus effected Take Camphire Sal Armoniacum or Sugar Candy any of these pulverized very fine and blown into the eye are most soveraign for these diseases in the Eyes of the Horse If a Film or Pearl grow without a Pin or Web then take the tops of red Nettles and having stampt them well put them into a clean linnen cloth the Nettles being in the rag dip them into Beer slightly then wring forth the juice of the said Nettles into some clean Vessel which done put thereto a little Salt made into fine powder the Salt being dissolved conveigh but one drop at a time into the grieved Eye morning and evening and this will totally remove the Film If it be a Pin and Web that afflicts the Eye of the Horse then take Cuttle-bone Tartar Salt-gem of each the like quantity and make them all into fine powder and mix them and with a quill blow of some of this powder into the Eye of the Horse twice or thrice a day and you will find it a speedy remedy If it be an Haw in the Horse's Eye I would not advise you to take it away as Smiths usually do from the outside of the Eye but from that part which lieth next of all to the Eye and this way will better preserve the sight of the Eye as also the Wash which is the ornament thereof for if that be taken away the Horse will appear blear-eyed so soon as you have cut away the Haw wash the Eye with white Wine and the juice of Celandine mingled together of each a like quantity for this not only healeth the Sorrance but keepeth the Eye from ranckling Eye-Canker If a Canker happen to be in your Horses Eye as it is a thing very usual then take your true ground-Ivy and stamp it well in a Mortar and if it be very dry then moisten it with a little white rose-Rose-water or the water of Eye-bright distilled and so strain it into a clean Glass and therewith wash anoint and tent the Sorrance and it will speedily cure it this is also very good for Blood-shotten Eyes If any Wart or spungy Excretion grow near to the Eye of the Horse which usually proceeds from a condensed flegm that descendeth to the Eyes will in a little time much prejudice them Take Roch Allom and burn it and then add to it as much white Coperas unburnt grind them together into very fine powder then lay a little of this powder on the top of the Wart but be cautious that none fall into the Eye for it will corrode exceedingly Let the Wart be thus dressed every day once and in a very little time it will so eat away the root of the Wart that it shall never come more Eyes Lunatick or Moon-blind The only reason I can gather why an Horse is called Moon-blind is that at certain times of the Moon he will see well at other times a little and sometimes not at all and therefore this Malady is called Lunatick or Moon-blind This kind of blindness is held the worst of all other you may know by the colour of his Eyes when he seeth and when he doth not when he doth see his Eyes will appear dim and yellowish but when he is blind then will his eyes look red and fiery This distemper comes sometimes hereditary either from his Sire or Dam sometimes again from ill humours descending from the head and taking up their abode in and about the Eyes and this usually happens by exposing the poor Creature to more labour than nature could perform The Cure must be by taking Pitch Rozin and Mastick of each a like quantity melt them together and having beforehand provided two Plaisters of Leather the breadth of an half Crown-piece spread the medicine hot upon these two Plaisters and apply them to his Temples letting them stick thereon till they fall off of their own accord then rowel him on the face just under his Eyes with a small French Rowel the breadth of three pence at most and let it be turned every day once the space of fourteen days then take forth the Rowel and heal up the orifice with the green Ointment I prescribed in treating of drawing a Stub or Thorn By the way take notice That if your Horse be weak sighted when ever you draw blood from him the less you take the better it is for his sight Eye broken and beaten out by some stripe or unlucky stroke As soon as this unhappy accident hath befaln your Horse that his Eye is absolutely broken and beaten out by some unhappy stroke Take Alom and first burn it in a fire-pan then put it on the hot coals and let it burn there till all the moisture be consumed so that it becometh as light as a feather as white as snow and so brittle that it will break with the least touch then take of this powder and mix it with live Honey and stir them well together so that you reduce them to an ointment then take a feather and dip it herein and morning and evening put thereof into his Eye then lay your hand upon the Eye-place a pretty while that the Unguent may not issue out of the hole by so doing in few daies the hurt will be cured though it be impossible for the Eye to be restored Eyes troubled with any sores an incomparable Water for them Take the Stone called Lapis Calaminaris and heat it red hot in the fire then quench it in half a pint of white Wine so doing
Corrupt blood rank feeding or over-heating do cause this Maunge in the Tail yet not always for sometimes it is occasioned by Truncheon-worms in the Fundament which are bred there in the Spring which will cause them frequently to rub their Tails in this case you need do no more than anoint your hand with Butter or Soap and pull out the Worms and the cure is effected But if you find the Tail grow bare by reason of shedding the Hair which is occasioned by some small worms which grow at the root thereof or otherwise by some small fretting Scab then anoint his Tail throughout with Soap and after wash it with strong Lye this will both cleanse him from the Scab and kill the Worms Sometimes there will grow a Canker in the Tail which by degrees will eat not only the flesh but seize on the bone so that it shall drop joint by joint against this Malady you must take this course Take of green Copperas and Alom of each two pound of white Copperas half a pound boil these in five quarts of running water in a strong earthen pot till one half be consumed then with a little of this water luke-warm wash his Tail every day once with a little Flax bound to a stick and it will quickly be well Interfering Interfering or Enterfering signify both one and the same thing this infirmity comes sometimes naturally the pace being very strait or sometimes by broad shooing so that in his going he heweth one leg against the other whence come hard scabs and very mattery sore causing the Horse to halt down-right The Cure is thus Take of May-butter or fresh Grease and mingle it with Nerve-oil and Turpentine fry these in a pan and then add Cow-dung and apply it Plaister-wise You need not trouble your self about the cure hereof if your prudence and discretion would look after his shooing so that he might go so wide as not to touch However if you will play the Horse-courser you may take a sharp and knotted Cord and draw it from his Dock between his legs to the Girths and so ride him Joints grieved with any Ach Numness Weakness or Swelling whatsoever which proceedeth from a cold Cause The causes of this Ach Numness and Swelling are either a strain or a cold taken by violent exercise labour or immoderate riding The Signs or Symptoms are so visible to the Eye they need no description The Cure is Take Aqua vitae and warm it on the fire then take it and bathe the part grieved and rub it very well holding before it a broad flat hot Iron which will cause the spirit to sink in the better then take a ragg or piece of Flax and dip it in the Aqua vitae then take Pepper and having beaten it well fierce it in a fine fierce and lay it on the rag or flax and bind it to the grieved member then swathe it well with a Linnen Rowler do thus once a day and this will soon recover him There are others who take Acopum and mingle it with sweet Sack and therewith rub and chafe the grieved joint this is an excellent Medicine though not altogether so good as the former Increase of an Hoof lost or torn by some accident If your Horse hath lost his Hoof or if it be any ways impaired then take the Oil of Hemp-seed of Wax of Venice Turpentine Rozin Pitch Bay-seeds dried and powdred of each half a pound Roch-alom two ounces incorporate these well together and let them seeth over a soft fire having thus boiled some little space take it off and strain it through an hair cloth thus you may preserve it till you have occasion to make use thereof Once or twice a day take of this Unguent and anoint the Hoofs of your Horse and this will make them grow exceedingly and so sound as that hereafter they will not prove brittle Knots or Knobs how to remove If you perceive that your Horse hath growing on any part of his body any unnatural Knot or Knob which by Artists are called Excretions caused by putrified blood or by wounds not well healed which Excretions are not only perspicuous to the Eye but plainly felt by the hand I say in such a case you must endeavour to remove them with all expedition which may be done thus Take an Incision-Knife and scarifie those Excretions then lay thereon Coloquintida burned and sifted having eaten away this Knob or Knot then heal it up with some drying Medicines as Honey Lime or Bole armoniack Or take the strongest sort of Aegyptiacum and with Cotton lay it thereon and in four or five times doing it will utterly destroy or eat away the Excretion Kernels under an Horses throat how to discuss suddenly safely and with little Expence In the first place you must take a lighted Candle and therewith sear the Kernels then take Butter it matters not whether fresh or salt and lay a piece thereof on a red cloth and rub it well in therewith and in less than fourteen dayes the Knots will vanish and if the Nose run by reason of them it will stop as soon as they are gone During the Cure if it be in Winter he must be kept warm in the Stable otherwise he may run at grass but neglect not to anoint his Knobs or Kernels once a day at least Or you may take Soap and mingle it with Brandy-wine and having a red hot Iron in readiness hold it somewhat near the part as you apply the Soap and Brandy-wine to make it sink in the better this Medicine will suddenly bring them down or break them Now if your aforesaid Knobs be of a long standing and be extremely hard then in this manner you must work the Cure Take an ounce and an half of the Oil of Turpentine and joyn thereto the like quantity of strong Beer put these into a glass and so shake them that they be well mingled together with this bathe the Knob clapping it in well with your hand and using an hot Iron to make it sink in the more four days after apply the charge of Soap and Brandy-wine Five or six days after you may ride him whither you please Knees broken of a long standing perfectly cured If your Horse have old broken Knees much swelled and hard and have been a good while healed up only take the Oil of Worms and anoint the places grieved for this is a great mollifier of any hard and bony part if this answer not your expectation then may you use the aforesaid Remedy which I prescribed for hard Knobs of a long continuance Legs that are swelled how to cure As to the swelling of an Horse's Legs you must consider whether it be before or behind if in his forelegs then the cause hereof was some over violent labour by reason he was fat and the Grease which was melted fell down in his forelegs which had it staid within and not fallen outwardly would have ingendered an Anticor or some other
and wash the sore well therewith after that anoint it with the above specified composition till it be whole Nose running If your Horse be troubled with running at the Nose then take Orpin and Brimstone and put them on a chafing-dish of Coles and so burn them and with the smoak perfume his head and nose this will cause a dissolution of thick and congealed humours either in the head or brain Or for further trial take of Auripigmentum and Tussilago of each two drachms these pulverize and make them into a Paste by the addition of Venice Turpentine well washed make these into flat Cakes about the circumference of a six pence and having dried them take a Chafing-dish of burning Coles and put them thereon and therewith perfume your Horses head every day Over reach or Vpper attaint The Over reach is nothing else but a dolorous swelling of the master sinew or Back sinew of the Shank bone by reason that the Horse doth sometimes over reach or strike that sinew with the toe of his hinder foot causing him by that means to go very lame and halting The signs of this Malady are so apparent they need no remonstrance therefore I shall pass to the cure which is diversly performed First some wash the leg with warm water then shaving off the hair as far as the swelling goeth they scarifie the Sorrance with the point of a very sharp knife causing the blood to issue thence then take of Cantharides and Euphorbium of each half an Ounce and with four Ounces of Soap mingle them together then spread some of this Ointment all over the Sorrance letting him rest at the place where he was drest for about half an hour then tye him up so that he cannot come at the sore with his mouth letting him stand without Litter the next day do after the like manner and the third day anoint the sore with fresh Butter continue so doing seven or eight days then make him a Bath after this manner Take of Mallows three handfuls or more one Rose cake of Sage one handful boil these together in a good quantity of water till such time as the Mallows be soft then put in to them half a pound of butter and half a pint of Sallet Oyl being somewhat more than blood warm wash the Sorrance every day till it be whole Now if the swelling by no Salve will be dissolved take a fine thin hot drawing Iron and draw his leg all downward with the hair in many small strikes from the one end of the swelling to the other and make the strikes very thick together and deep withal then anoint the burning three days with black Soap and so turn him to grass Secondly there are others which prescribe this method for the cure of an Over reach in the heel and that is first cut out with your Incision knife the Over reach so that it may be very plain and having washt it with Beer and Salt lay thereunto a plaister made after this manner Take Oat meal and Butter of each so much as will make a Salve put them in a Mortar and so incorporate them then lay it to the Sorrance continue so doing once a day till the cure be perfected Otherwise search it well to the bottom cleansing it from all manner of Gravel and washing it clean with mans Urine then take an handful and an half of Nettles and an handful and an half of Salt and putting them in a cloth lay them to the sore thus do three mornings together and after that set the shooe on with a Leather under it then pour in some Hogs grease scalding hot and a little after that scalding hot Rozen and lastly but presently after that put to it some Wheat bran and no doubt of a cure Or you may first wash the Sorrance with water and Salt then take two big Onions two spoonfuls of Pepper beaten small of Crown sope the bigness of a Tennis ball beat these together into a Salve and laying it on a linnen cloth having first dryed the foot apply it and remove it not from thence but once in a day and night renewing it in that manner still till it be whole but as it heals do it seldomer Lastly that which I have ever found to be an excellent remedy for any Sinew strain whatsoever is take the whites of six Egges as much Bole Armoniack and Bean flower as by setting it over the fire will become a Salve take of this when it is very hot and Plaisterwise lay it on the Sinew-strain and round about the leg you must not omit so doing till all manner of swelling thereabout be clean taken away Oyl of Oats what the Soveraign vertues are and how to make it As far as I can find that skilful Artist Mr. Markham was the first inventor of this incomparable Oyl and so Thomas de Grey Esq seems to acknowledge when writing in the praise hereof confesseth that he never could meet with it any where else either in England France or Italy and that he would not use any other Oyl if he could come by this in any internal administration whatsoever having found the excellency thereof by his own and other mens painful experiences thus it is made Take two Gallons of Milk and being warm over the fire put thereunto four ounces of burnt Allom which will curdle it like a Posset skim off the Curd and throw it to the Dunghill but strain the Whey through a course cloth into a clean Vessel then take a quarter of a peck of Oats dry and clean husked and put them into the Whey but the Oats must not have been dryed and then set the Whey over the fire boiling the Oats so long till they swell and break then take them off and put the Oats into a Cullender that the Whey may gently drain from them without pressing this done put the Oats into frying pan and hold them over the fire stirring them so long till you see no fume to ascend then suddenly take them off and clap them into an hard Press pressing them there exceedingly what comes from them is the Oil of Oats which you must reserve in a glass very closely stopt It stands with reason that this Oyl should be the most Soveraign of all others for any internal distemper in the body of an Horse since it is extracted and made from the natural and most nourishing food an Horse can eat Take five spoonfuls of this Oyl and put it into a pint of sweet Wine or a quart of strong Ale and give it an Horse to drink pouring in some of the Whey into his Nostrils and it will absolutely cure him of the Glanders It is also the best of all Purgations for it purgeth away all those malignant and venomous humours which are the nourishers of any incurable Farcy whatsoever neither is there any offensive humour within the Fomentors of dangerous distempers which it doth not suddainly dissipate and expel Old Sores speedily and safely
cured Take Rock Allom and burn it in a fire-pan then take as much Bay Salt and burn that too having so done beat them to a very fine powder then take of common Honey and sweet Butter of each a quantity alike and work all these into a body bring it thus into a salve and not by the help of fire When you intend to use it let it be either plaisterwise or Tentwise or both ways according as occasion shall require this will not only heal any sore very perfectly but will also eat away any dead or proud flesh Poll-Evil in the Neck The Poll-evil is so called from its breeding in the Poll behind the Ears it is a great Swelling or apostumated Inflammation and to say the truth let men give it what appellation they please it is more than a Fistula in Grain or formal The Causes of this Pole-evil are several as first from the Horses struggling in a new hard hempen halter or from a blow given behind the ears by reason of which bruise the flesh festering and becoming inflamed this loathsome Sorrance hath its original many times bilious and malignant humours invading that place do cause it The Signs are a tumour with Inflammation where note that the putrefaction is greater within than without and therefore you must timely think of letting out the corruption before it happen to break of it self As to the cure you must lay unto the swoln place whatever is mollifying and will ripen it as for example take Hogs grease and lay thereunto as hot as may be or else take Loam of a Mud wall in which there is no Lime by how much the older it is the better boil hereof what you think sufficient in the strongest White-Wine-Vinegar and let it boil to a Pultess and apply this very hot to the swelling renewing it twice a day till you have brought the swelling to suppuration that it is fit to be laid open then look where it is softest and with a Copper round instrument for that is better than any Iron as big as a mans little finger and sharp at the end and being hot thrust it in two inches beneath the soft place so that the point of your cauterizing instrument may come out at the ripest place by this means the corruption will descend downward at the neather hole which you must keep open for the better issuing of the aforesaid matter to that end tent it with Flax dipt in Hogs grease warm laying thereto a Plaister also of Hogs grease upon the same renew this every day once for five days together at the expiration of which time take half a pound of Turpentine very cleanly washed in several waters which when throughly dryed mingle therewith the Yolks of three Egges and a little Saffron Now take your probe and search the bottom of the wound then make a Tent with a piece of dry Sponge never dipt in water so long as near upon to reach the bottom and so thick as it may fill up the cavity but before you put it in dip it in the afore specified Ointment after this lay on a Plaister of Hogs grease made indifferent warm changing your old Plaister for a fresh till you have perfected the cure Or thus you may do first ripen the swelling then open it and cleanse it well from its matter and corruption then apply Hogs grease to extract the fire your Cauterizing Iron hath left behind it then heal it after this manner Take of Hogs grease the quantity of a Tennis-ball Brimstone beaten into the fine powder with an ounce of Quick-silver very well killed and so mingle these together that you have made them into an Ointment and anoint the swelling herewith having so done take a penny worth of red Tar the reddest is the best of Hogs grease half a pound of green Copperas and Bay Salt of each an handful and pulverize them then boil these exceeding well and as it comes scalding hot off the fire dip therein a clout fastned at the end of a stick and anoint or scald the sore four mornings together for this scalding kills the Fistula so that its future and further progress is absolutely hindered after this you need only but to warm the Tar and apply it to the place and the Cure is consummated Now there are some Farriers which cure the Poll-evil only by first opening the sore with an hot cauterizing Iron then taking red Lead and black Soap mingle them with water till they are thick and so tent the Horse therewith till he be whole But the best Remedy I have met withal as a general Cure for any Pole-evil whatsoever is first shave off the hair from the part that is swoln then lay thereon a Plaister of black Shoomakers-wax spred upon white Alom'd Leather letting it lie thereon till it have broken the Impostume then take better than a pint of strong white Wine-vinegar and when it is about to boil put therein as much Lome of a Mud-wall straws and all as will thicken it into a Poultess applying this to the Sorrance as hot as the Horse can suffer it and by renewing it once a day in a little time the Impostume will be whole Pole-evil in the Head There is little difference between the Pole-evil in the Neck and the Pole-evil in the Head only there is a discrepancy as to their place the Causes and Symptoms of this distemper are much alike As to the Cure of the Pole-evil in the Head take this method As soon as you perceive a swelling take presently half an ounce of the oyl of Turpentine and anoint therewith the part grieved and that it may the better sink in chafe it very well with your hand and so let it alone for four days in which time you will perceive the skin to shrink up seeing the swelling thus begin to abate and come down then take of Burgundy-pitch and black Pitch of each an ounce and an half and with a slice daub or spread it over the swelling in his forehead but first you must melt them in a Pipkin with an ounce of Mastich having so done take flocks and lay them on thick upon the place anointed and so let them lie till they fall off which most usually will be about three weeks now when the Plaister falls off if you see no venom nor swelling remaining you may conclude you have done your work but if the impostumation remain unbroken then lance it and cut out what dead flesh you find therein filling the cavity with Flax to dry up the blood and putrefaction suffering it to remain in that condition seven or eight hours then take it out and lay thereon some of that generally known Receipt for a Canker in the Head dressing it once a day if you make an hole at the edge of the swelling below it will heal much the sooner still when you take off your Plaister mark by looking on the top of the Pole-evil how far the proud flesh reacheth which will
distemper which I have endeavoured already to lay down each in their particular order and therefore I shall be the briefer here Purgation for great Surfeits Take a pint of white Wine or instead thereof a quart of new Ale as much of the best powder of Mechoachan as you can take upon a shilling at four times mingle them together and in an Horn give it the Horse luke-warm to drink after this ride your Horse moderately for an hour and then set him up warm upon the Trench six hours fasting then give him a warm Mash and a little after some clean Oats with Bran mingled but give it him a little at a time and let his Hay be wet that night this will cause him to evacuate the slime engendred by surfeit in great flakes upon his dung See more of these Purgations in the letter P in the Alphabet of Internal Diseases Papps underneath an Horses Tongue vide Barbes Pain in Horses Teeth how remedied The Tooth-ach or pain in Horses Teeth is occasioned several ways first by the falling down of gross humours from the head into the Teeth and Gums this Malady most afflicteth Horses of fewest years being very young and clotish the swelling and inflammation of the Gums doth sufficiently declare the nature of the Distemper Secondly an Horse will have the Tooth ach when his upper Jaw-teeth are so over-grown as that they hang over the nether Jaw-teeth cutting and razing the insides of his cheeks with their exceeding sharpness Thirdly and lastly this pain may happen by corruption of blood which shall so weaken and loosen his Teeth that through their tenderness he will not be able to chew his meat The Cure of the first Tooth-ach proceeding from distillation of humours is wrought by rubbing all the outside of the Horses Gums with fine Chalk and strong Vinegar well incorporated together or else having washed the Teeth as aforesaid take powder of Pomegranate-pills and strow thereon then take Rozin Pitch and Mastich and melting them together lay it plaister-wise to the Horses Temples If his Tooth-ach proceed from the second cause viz. the upper Jaw teeth overgrown and so sharp as that they cut the insides of the cheeks then take your Gouge and with a Mallet strike or cut those teeth shorter gradually by little and little turning the hollow side of your Gouge towards the Teeth and so running them along from first to last then file them smooth from all raggedness having thus done take water and salt and wash your Horses mouth very well therewith Now if the Tooth-ach proceed from the last cause that is to say from the loosness of the Teeth then you may do well to let the Horse blood under the Tail next the Rump then with Sage rub his Gums or else which is much better wash very well his mouth with Salt Sage and Honey beaten together this will fasten his Teeth then give him in his provender the tender crops of black Briars Pains The Pains is a certain Ulcerous distemper or Scab growing in the Pastorns of an Horse between the Fetlock and the Heel from whence issueth a fretting waterish humour this happens usually by the Laziness of the Groom or Hostler in not rubbing well the heels of an Horse after a journey in Winter time And there are no Horses so subject to this distemper as those which have long hair on their Fetlocks hence comes that your Frizonds and Flanders Mares which are in such great esteem among the Gentry of England for the Coach are very much often troubled therewith by the least negligence of the Groom for the hair about the Pasterns being always very long the sand and dirt gets into it fretting the skin and flesh and so breedeth the Scab The signs are a palpable Scab with an hot waterish humour glitting from thence which in its passage scaldeth off the hair as it goeth The Cure is having first taken up the Shackle-veins on both sides then take the soft roe of a red Herring Mustard and black Soap beat these and incorporate them together then boil them in Vinegar till they become a Salve and apply it to the sore this is an admirable and speedy Cure Or else you may take a pound of Hogs-grease a penny worth of Verdigrease two ounces of Mustard half a pound of Oyl de Bay a quarter of a pound of Nerve-oil half a pound of Honey half a pound of English Wax one ounce of Arsenick two ounces of red Lead and half a pint of Vinegar boil all these together till you have made an Ointment thereof Having made the sore bare apply this ointment thereunto very hot renewing it once a day till the Cure be compleated That Remedy which I have experienced to be most efficacious is this Take of Turpentine Hogs-grease Honey and black Soap of each a like quantity and having molten them over a slow fire take them off and add to them a small quantity of Bole-armoniack finely pulverized then as you work these together with a stick in your right hand so with your left pour in by little Wheat-flower which you must have in readiness by you to make a composition as thick as an Ointment Having first cleared the sore of its hair and made it raw apply this Salve thereunto spred on a linnen cloth renewing it once a day till you have made a Cure There are yet other some who hold this for an excellent Remedy for the Pains and that is take Pepper Garlick stampt Coleworts and old Hogs-grease of each a like quantity then beat them into a Salve and lay it to the sore changing your Plaister once a day till it be whole Lastly take green Copperas and Roch Alom of each half a pound one handful of Bay-salt boil these in a gallon of running water then take it off and add thereunto a pint of Honey then boil them over again anoint the Sore herewith then rub it with the powder of Glass Mustard and Vinegar commixed then take Cream and the inner rinde of Elder tree pounded to a Salve and skin the sore herewith using it twice a day Powder of Honey and Lime Take a quantity of unsleckt Lime as much as you shall think sufficient and pulverize it very finely then take a convenient quantity of Honey or so much as is requisite to mingle it together and to make it into a thick Paste and afterwards work it into the form of a Loaf then bake it in an Oven then when it is well baked take it forth and when cold beat it into fine powder and so preserve it for your use it dryeth healeth and skinneth all sores whatsoever Quitter bone The Quitter bone is an hard round swelling upon the Cronet of the hoof betwixt the heel and the quarter and groweth most commonly on the inside of the foot it is caused by some hurt the Horse hath sustained in the foot either by a prick in shooing by gravelling which fretteth inwardly and forceth an Ulcer to
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-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
strained and wash well and bathe the place therewith every day twice till it be perfectly cured Venom drank how to cure An Horse may swallow poison divers ways as by drinking Horse-leeches by licking poisonous Spittle off the grass by eating Hens-Dung licking up a Feather and the like you shall know his distemper by these three signs either panting swelling or scouring For the Cure take Sow thistle an herb so called and having dryed it beat it into powder and take three spoonfuls thereof into a pint of Ale and give it the Horse to drink Veins taken up why and for what causes It is the opinion of most skilful Farriers that some Maladies will never be cured but by the taking up of Veins for if not those Veins will so feed the Sorrance that unless the passage of those malignant humours be stopped the cure will never be effected Now as the taking up of Veins hinders the progress of a Sorrance so it prevents the coming of some which if seizing the part would never be cured without it For Example the taking up the Thigh Veins will send packing Spavens Splints Curbs Kibed Heels swelled Legs Scratches Malenders and the like besides it easeth all pains aches strains and stiffness in the limbs Take up the Shackle Veins and it preventeth the Quitter bone Ring bone Swelling in the lower joints Foundrings and the like Wherefore these premises considered they are much to blame who exclaim against the taking up the Veins betraying rather their own ignorance and want of experience than any just fault in the exercise thereof Wolfs teeth The Woolfs teeth are two extraordinary teeth being small and growing in the upper jaws next unto the great grinding teeth which are so painful and troublesome to an Horse that he cannot indure to chaw his meat but is forced either to let it fall out of his mouth or else to retain it in his mouth half chewed The Cure is thus first cause the Horses head to be tied up so high to some beam or rafter and his mouth opened with a cord so wide that you may with much ease see every part thereof then take an instrument made like a Carpenters Gouge and with your left hand set the edge of the tool at the foot of the Wolfs teeth on the out side of the jaw turning the hollow side of the Tool downwards holding your hand steadily so that the tool may neither slip nor swerve from the Teeth aforesaid then having a Mallet in your right hand strike a strong stroke upon the head of the Tool so that thereby you may loosen the Teeth and bend them inward then straining the midst of your Tool upon the Horses neather jaw wrinch the Tooth outward with the hollow side of the said Tool and so thrust it clean out of his head which done serve the other Woolfs tooth on the other side in like manner and fill up the empty holes with Salt finely brayed But this is a long tedious way and I cannot approve of it in my judgment to come near this way I am going to prescribe which I have frequently experimented and that is when you have tied up your Horses head or if you please you may cast him then open his mouth and with a very sharp File file the Woolfs teeth as smooth as is possible and then only wash his mouth with a little Allom water Wild-fire This Wild-fire is a very dangerous Malady and difficultly to be cured before I met with an Italian I made several attempts to cure it but all to no purpose but having made tryal of his Receipt I found it wonderfully successful it is made after this manner Take of living Toads five the blackest and largest can be found four Moles living seven or eight old Shooe soles and about forty heads of Garlick unpilled with their heads and roots remaining then ta kt four pound of the Smoakiest and leanest Martlemas Beef also take five quarts of Oats and two pound of very old Woollen rags with a good quantity of Swallows Dung and half a dozen living Swallows put all these ingredients into a new Earthen pot big enough to contain them having so done lute up the pot so close that no air may enter Now take your pot and carry it into some void place and there make a great fire round about it and keep the fire about it till it be red hot continuing the fire about it after it is red hot for near upon an hour letting the fire to go out of it self letting the pot to stand therein till it be throughly cold then take out what is contained therein and put it into a great Trough so placed where no wind may come covering the trough with a Cloth then stamp it well with a pound of unslaked Lime but let him that stamps it have a care of his eyes and therefore a glass case would tend very much to their preservation having reduced it into fine powder searce it through an hair cloth and so preserve the finest of the powder in a Gallipot for your future use This by my own experience I have found a sovereign remedy against all Wild fires Running Sorrances and Ulcers whatsoever but you must be cautious of applying it to fleshy places where Veins and Sinews be for it will burn them asunder Warts in an Horses Eye I have often seen these Warts or fleshy Excretions growing sometimes upon the Eye and sometimes upon the inside of the Eye lids This distemper is occasioned by a thick flegm falling down into the Eye by keeping an Horse too long in a dark Stable which in continuance of time will bring the Eye of the Horse to a Consumption making it grow little You must take this Sorrance in time by taâ—ing Roch Allom and burn it on a Tile stone 〈◊〉 then put as much white Copperas thereunto unburnt and grind them to powder then lay a little of that powder just upon the Wart do this every day and in a short time the Wart will be conâ—â—ined Wens or other Excretions in the Flesh how to remove A Wen is an hard Excretion rising out of the flesh being somewhat firm externally but internally towards the bottom there lodgeth putrfection The Causes hereof are several but the most usual are some hurt stroke bruise blow or knock of a stone there need no other signs than the apparent swelling As to the Cure if you can tye a thread about it and that will eat it off but if you cannot come to tye any such thing then take your Incision knife and cut it a-cross into four equal quarters to the very bottom but have a care you cut neither Vein nor Sinew then burn off the four quarters with your Cauterizing Iron then heal the place with your afore prescribed healing Salve There are again Warts or Wens which grow about the Saddle skirts growing betwixt two ribs and do always proceed from old bruises The usual way of curing them is dayly to
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
hill drive your Horse before you lest you run the hazard of losing the reputation of a prudent Horseman If your Horse be fiery and full of metal do not fret or be angry with him but win him by patience and fair means but if you find him dull and sluggish quicken him with your Spur with this proviso that having spur'd him much you will when you find conveniency rub his Spur-galls with water and salt Now as as to Horses several Countries produce Horses of different natures as for example as Mr. Markham observeth the Greek or Turkish Horse is of an excellent constitution being swift bold well-headed tall and strong The Arabian Horse is as swift as the wind and very beautiful to the eye The African or Barbary is full of courage swift and nimble and will not with the Turkey Horse either deserve or endure much beating The Friezland Horse is fiery yet not well conditioned but as for your Flemish Horse he is the worst of any I cannot but approve of the Spanish Jennet being very good swift and light of foot but the Neapolitan for all uses is most excellent and beautiful now for great burthens constant labour and long travel the English Horse exceedeth all that have been named hitherto Your Irish Horse is generally well breasted but I never saw any but what had thin and very uncomely buttocks being evil-natured very sullen weak and unfit for much labour those that are tolerably good are very scarce through the whole Country The most experienced Horsemens observations Your Horse being in health feed him with such dry meats as shall not swell his body as Straw which is excellent good to take up the belly of a running Horse Hay Oats sometimes a little Wheat Beans Barley bread made of Beans or Pease neither are Fitches to be despised and in the giving them observe this order first give him some hay then water and lastly his grain or provender When you are upon a journey look first to your Horse before you look to your self seeing that he be well rub'd down well littered with fresh straw and be sure that you feed your Horse betimes for all night that it may the better concoct and that he may the sooner take his rest I would not advise you to give him of Provender a greater quantity than three pints at a time there is nothing that feeds better and fattens more speedily than bread made either of Beans Pease or Fitches well cleansed If you would have your Horse to feed with an extraordinary appetite take Wine and Salt and rub his mouth therewith In a journey whether at baiting or at night coming to your Inn let not your Horse either eat or drink whilst he is hot but first let him be reduced to his proper temperament In the extremity of heat and cold the labour of your Horse must be always moderate Take not after travel the Saddle off your Horses back too suddenly What-ever you do let no Poultry come within your Stable for should your Horse lick up a feather or swallow any of their dung which casually fell into the Hay or Provender it is of a dangerous consequence Make it frequently your business to ride your Horse on stony ground for by so doing you will reap the benefit of hardening his Hoofs which will the better enable him to travel Have a care of letting your Horse stand near any Mud-wall for I have known Horses not a few which have coveted to eat thereof to their very great prejudice and let his bed be made not of Barley-straw for some Horses love to eat thereof which is unwholsome but let it be of Wheat or rather of Oaten Straw for that is soft and if eaten very wholsom It is the opinion of all that to sprinkle water upon the Hay you give your Horse is wholsom and most sovereign to mingle Fenugreek with his Provender the first is good for the wind and the latter for the worms If your Horse happen to be brought very low and much impoverished by too much labour or some great surfeit get Mares-milk and give it him eight days together and you will perceive a very sensible recovery The best hours for watering are between seven and eight in the morning and four and five in the evening You are to take notice that an Horse takes much delight in rubbing and combing and therein he seems to be sensible what is good for himself for it preserves his health and keeps the strength of body and legs In the Canicular or Dog-days you must have a special care that you do not ride your Horse frequently into the water to qualifie or allay his natural or any other contracted heat Be mindful of often picking and cleansing the bottoms of your Horses feet and stuff them well with Oxe or Cow-dung and now and then anoint his hoofs with fresh Grease and Turpentine When you ride forget not to look often to your Saddle and see that it wring or pinch him not and that his shooes be fast on and that there be no Gravel Stub or Nail got into his foot Lastly according to Northern observation use no other walking than your self upon your Horses back that is to say you must ride him gently to his Inn so cooling him by degrees when in the Stable shake Litter under him and see that every part of his body be rubbed till it be drie not omitting his head then unbridle him and give him Hay but slack no girt in two or three hours and when he drinks let it be but little for fear of too hasty cooling his Stomach Some general Observations on a Smithfield-Jockey The Smithfield Jockeys as some sort of Horses are much the better either for the breed or Country from whence they came There are several Jockeys in every Country of England but none so expert as such as were spawned in York shire who have generally such a natural love for their Horses that their inclinations lead them to ride before they can well go this makes them generally more knowing in Horses than others not only as to riding but as to the several humours and constitutions It is proverbially said that Shake a Bridle over a Yorkshire-Tike's grave and he will rise again I dare not justifie the truth hereof but this I may That many of them will not long be without an Horse if they have but money enough to purchase a Bridle as for a Saddle they can make that themselves so little and yet so commodious that they can carry it in their breeches without discovery Further to prove them Horsemen even from their Cradles look into the Inns especially of London and for one Hostler of any other Country you shall find ten either of York-shire or Lancashire and they are naturally very subtle and crafty To give you a particular account of the humours and practices of these Jockeys and their Hostlers would be a task which would take up too much time and would