Re: Firing in horses

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:17:53 GMT

I don't want to be a wet blanket, but I think you'd find the James Herriot museum distinctly shall we say disappointing.

Evelyn

Re: Firing in horses

Christopher Tansley — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:53:44 GMT

Have you tried the RCVS library (or anywhere with a back catalogue of vet records). Could try the James Herriot Museum in Thirsk?

Chris

Re: Firing in horses

Niall Taylor — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:44:21 GMT

Sorry Evelyn, I missed your reply - many thanks for that, you've given me plenty to be going on with!

Niall

Re: Firing in horses

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:15:20 GMT

I think you want to spend some happy days in the RCVS historical collection and read the relevant pages in each and every "Textbook of Surgery" , "Farriery" and so on. Either start with the earliest and work forward, or the most recent and work back. No, much more fun, start with Mayhew and Youatt, then read all the others in random order (but take careful note of their dates!)

Suggestions: Relatively recent:Dollar's Veterinary Surgery. Principles and Practice of Veterinary Surgery, W.Williams. The Horse, Youatt. Illustrated Horse Management, Edward Mayhew. Percivall's Hippopathology. Miles' Practical Farriery has nice illustrations.

Going back a bit further: Compendium of the Veterinary Art, J.White. The Modern Farrier, A.Lawson. The Gentleman's Farriery, Bartlet. Compendium of Practical and Experimental Farriery, Taplin. The Fower Chiefest Offices of Horsemanship. Farriery Improv'd, Henry Bracken. Gibson (sorry, forgotten the title for the moment, but these books are all known by their authors' names anyway). New Compendious Treatise of Farriery, John Wood.

Two works in French: La Fosse is the absolute classic. Also Le Nouveau Parfait Maréchal, by Garsault.

Going right back: Markham's Masterpiece. Not sure if the RCVS have this.

Oh, there are several others. You will mostly find a couple of pages devoted to firing in each. If there is an index, don't forget to look under "cautery" as well as under "firing". Some don't have an index: you will have to skim through the whole book. That's no great hardship , but as with a dictionary the danger is that you may get yourself pleasantly sidetracked: the content is often both interesting and entertaining. Various authors have very different views, and often are considerably, shall we say, outspoken about each other.

If you want to look at firing instruments, contact John Broberg MRCVS.

The Brooke or the ILPH or the Donkey Trust can probably tell you about the cautery that goes on in the third world.

It's not so long ago, maybe 15 years, that I was seriously requested to burn a horse for lampas, by some Irish tinkers.

Regards