A WINTER'S RUN. 279 
inflammation following bleeding, are unfit to be turned out in conse- 
quence of the difficulty which is presented to the return of the blood 
from the head by its low position in grazing. So also those which have 
recently suffered from staggers should not be sent out to grass, for fear of 
the position causing a return of the disease. 
A WINTER'S RUN. 
THERE ARE ONLY TWO Causes that can ever influence an owner in 
turning his horse out to grass during the winter, one being a desire to 
restore his legs or feet to a state of health, and the other the diminution of 
expense. The former is a perfectly valid reason, for experience teaches 
us that the comparative starvation and cold incidental to a winter’s run, 
however they may try the constitution of a horse previously accustomed 
to the stable, are highly beneficial in reducing the effects of inflammation. 
I have frequently known a horse remain all the summer out of doors 
without the slightest benefit to his legs, but after a month’s cold they 
have shown a marked improvement, and by the spring they have been 
wonderfully restored. The hardship of this treatment is very great, and 
to an old horse especially so, but where milder measures are of no avail 
there is a legitimate excuse for trying the experiment, and when the skin 
is gradually prepared for the cold of winter it is not so much felt. When 
it is necessary to turn an animal out after Christmas, there must be a very 
cautious cooling down of the system on the plan which I have described 
at page 275, but continued for a still longer time. Without this the effects 
of cold and wet are so severely felt that although the legs and feet may be 
cured, it is at the expense of a complete breaking up of the constitution. 
The saving of expense in turning a horse out in the winter is absolutely 
nothing, for as he must be kept on hay, it may just as well be given under 
cover. It is quite true that there is generally some little grass to be found 
in January and February, but the exposure to the cold causes a greater 
demand for food to be made on the system, and in practice it is found 
that the same hay must be given whether the horse is out or in. The 
advantage of warmth in saving food is now universally admitted even in 
sheep and cattle, which bear exposure to the weather better than the 
horse, and in him it is so great that he will require one-third more food to 
keep him in good condition when turned out in the winter than he would 
do if kept up in a loose box. Whenever, therefore, this convenience can 
possibly be obtained, it is more economical to feed the horse in it on hay, 
with a little corn if necessary, than to turn him into the fields, where he 
wil require a still larger amount of the same food. 
THE STRAW YARD. 
HE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE STRAW YARD, as a place 
for wintering the horse, will to a certain extent depend upon its manage- 
ment. Generally the proper term for it would be a manure tank, for 
though there is almost always a thin coating of straw on the surface, yet 
the horse’s feet sink through this and reach the wet mass of manure 
which is gradually allowed to decompose beneath it. In point of economy 
there is much to lose by the straw yard, for, as in the case of the winter's 
run, more food is demanded by the system than ina loose box. The only 
excuse for it is to be found in the beneficial effects of cold and wet upon 
the legs, which are restored by the straw yard to the same extent as in 
