154 ON THE STABLE. 



The horse has no gall bladder*; but to 

 counterbalance this privation, the gall duct is 

 proportionably larger. As the horse has not al- 

 ways the opportunity of eating at his pleasure, 

 like those animals which graze in a state of na- 

 ture, it frequently occurs, that, after a long fast- 

 ing he eats so voraciously as to overload his sto- 

 mach. On this account, it is necessary to regu- 

 late the quantity of food to be given to him at 

 one time. But, in stables, where horses stand 

 together without any partition between them, 

 this rule cannot be attended to, for the most 

 greedy horse generally eats his own share and 

 part of his neighbour's, and as greater expedition 

 is required to do this, he of course swalIo\^s it 

 without sufficient mastication, in which case it 

 cannot be so easy of digestion. When the sto- 

 mach is thus praeternaturally distended, its 

 functions are greatly impeded, if not totally sus- 



* A celebrated Treatise upon Earriery by I\Ir. Taplin, 

 has passed through eleven editions, with a chapter on t!ie 

 diseases of the gall bladder ! ! ! 



pcnded, 



