[Illustration: ABNORMAL PRESENTATION OF THE FOAL
Delivery is not possible in either of the cases here illustrated. Where such occur assistance must be rendered. See article on obstetrics for treatment.]
Where delivery is attempted with the hind legs foremost, it is regarded as safe, provided the feet come out as they should. If any difficulty is encountered, shove the fetus back, straighten the legs, and then with the renewal of the labor struggles assist the mother by a gentle pull on the hind legs.
Another common presentation is where you feel nothing but the tail, rump and hips. Adjust the fetus for proper delivery by shoving the hind end upwards and towards the front of the womb, then slip the hand down and get hold of the foot of the hind leg and lift upwards and backwards until the legs are brought out into the passage. Now repeat the work for the other leg and the job is done.
It is always a good plan, after difficult parturition, especially when any abnormal discharge appears, to wash out the womb with warm water in which a little carbolic acid or creolin is placed. Use this daily for a few days.
=PALISADE WORM.=--The worms are found in the horse in two periods of existence. The mature worms are usually found attached to the mucous membrane of the intestinal wall of the large intestine, with the head sunk deep for the purpose of sucking blood, which gives them the brown or red color. The immature are found sometimes in the same organs, in a small capsule covering, in small pellets of manure, in cavities or cysts, varying in size from a pin-head to that of a hazel nut, in the walls of the intestines, and also in the arteries and other structures of the body.
When present in the kidneys or in the arteries leading to the kidneys, or in the surrounding tissues, a horse is especially sensitive to pressure over the loins. They have been known to cause paralysis. When found in the brain, an animal, when working, suddenly begins to stagger, the eyes become fixed, and the horse shows many of the symptoms of “blind staggers.” When the large arteries of the abdomen are affected, and this is their favorable location in the circulatory system, the animal is frequently subject to colic, which often results in death. This is also the case when found in great numbers in the intestines.