The parfait mareschal, or Compleat farrier. Which teacheth, I. To know the shapes and goodness, as well as faults and imperfections of horses. II. The signs and causes of their diseases, the means to prevent them, their cure, and the good or bad use of purging and bleeding. III. The way to order and preserve them, when upon travel, to feed, and to dress them. IV. The art of shoeing, according to a new design of shoes, which will recover bad feet, and preserve the good. Together with a treatise, how to raise and bring up a true and beautiful race of horses: as also instructions, whereby to fit all kinds of horses with proper bits, whereof the chief draughts are represented in copper-plates. / Written originally in French by the Sieur de Solleysel Escuyer, sometime one of the overseers of the French Kings Royal Academy of Riding, near to the Hostel de Conde in Paris. And translated from the last Paris impression, by Sir William Hope of Kirkliston Kt. Lieutenat Governour of the Castle of Edinburgh. By whom is also added as a supplement to the first part, a most compendious and excellent collection of horsemanship, taken from the best and most modern writers upon that subject, such as Mr. De la Brow, Pluvinel, and the Great Duke of Newcastle. Part I.

CHAP. XXXV. How to Cauterize or burn the Parts above the Eyes.

ON or about the Twentieth Day of the Moon, draw a Line with a Red-hot Knife, from one Ear to the other, under the Head-stall of the Bridle, to con∣ceal the Mark left by the burning, and draw the Knife backwards and forwards till the Line it makes be of a Cherry-colour, then burn a Star over the Eye-Veins, with∣out piercing the Flesh, for the Scar would never wear out. After the Scab is fall'n off, bathe the Sore with Aqua-Vitae, Morning and Evening, and tho' you neither apply Pitch nor Butter, there will seldom remain any Scar: But if you pierce the Skin, you must bathe the part every Morning and Evening with Aqua-Vitae mixt with Honey.

I have seen Moon-Ey'd Horses cur'd by this way of burning: And the worst that can happen is that you may preserve one Eye by putting out the other. For if both the Eyes be subject to this Infirmity, the visual Spirits of that which is lost, retire to the other and strengthen it: And besides, you may preserve the Eyes for some time, by taking up the two Veins in the Neck, call'd the Jugulars.

All Lunatic and Moon-Ey'd Horses at last grow Blind, unless that Disaster be pre∣vented by the Methods above prescrib'd, or by putting out one Eye, which must be thus perform'd. Thrust a threaded Needle into the worst Eye, making the Point come out in the part opposite to that where it enter'd, and leave the Thread hanging at it seven or eight days, during which time the Eye will continually cast forth Wa∣ter till it grow dry: Then take out the Thread, and by degrees the visual Spirits which pass to the other Eye, will strengthen and preserve it from the like Infirmity,

and the pierc'd Eye will be dry'd up. I have seen a Horse who had an Eye of Ena∣mel or Glass put in the place of one of his Eyes which had been put out ot preserve the other. This is a hereditary Distemper, and therefore great care must be taken to chuse Stallions that have good Eyes: It may be also occasion'd by the Foal's eating Oats with his Dam, when he is but one Year Old, or younger; for by their strain∣ing and endeavouring to chew the Oats, the Veins above and about their Eyes are stretch'd and distended, and consequently draw too much Blood to those Parts, which, by the too great quantity of Nourishment, are heated and render'd obnoxious to De∣fluxions; either to that kind which follows the course of the Moon, or to the other which wasts and destroys the Eye. I have borrow'd this Observation from a Treatise concerning Horses, compos'd by one John Taquet, who expresly affirms, that the loss of the Foals Eyes is not occasion'd by the substance of the Oats, which may be suppos'd to heat 'em, but only by their straining too hard in chewing that hard sort of Food: And to prevent these fatal Consequences he advises those who have Foals to cause their Oats to be ground or stamp'd; by which means, he says, they will grow strong and lusty, without the least danger of Rheums, or any other Infirmity of the Eyes. Since I never found this Remark in any other Author, I thought fit to insert it here; submitting it intirely to the Reader's Judgment.

Some Horses become Moon-Ey'd at the Age of Eight or Ten Years, who were always very sound before, which is an Infirmity entail'd on 'em by their Sire. And besides, when young Horses are overtaken by a great Storm in the Fields, they are oftentimes either render'd Lunatic, or struck Blind with the Thunder and Light∣ning.

Hard work hastens the total Blindness of a Moon-Ey'd Horse; and besides, Heat and extream Cold are equally prejudicial to him. To conclude, This Infirmity usually ends in the loss of one or both Eyes; for the best Remedies are not always successful; and we may justly call that a good Medicine which is found to be effectual on several Occasions, tho' it be not always Infallible.