58 FARM ANIMALS 



or powdered gentian. It has been observed that 

 a systematic course of feeding and water is a pre- 

 ventive of disease. The importance of systematic 

 feeding may be noticed from the fact that irrational 

 feeding may cause a variety of diseases including 

 abortion, heaves, swelled legs, founder, scratches, 

 sore mouth, urticaria, gastritis, constipation, dysen- 

 tery, azoturia, diabetes, bloody urine and many 

 other diseases. Abortion may be caused by the 

 feeding of rotten food or of material infested with 

 ergot. Founder and azoturia may be caused by 

 excessive feeding at times when little exercise will 

 be taken for the next 24 hours. Diabetes may 

 be caused by excessive feeding of sugar or molasses 

 and bloody urine sometimes results from the ex- 

 cessive use of nitrogenous feeds, especially cowpea, 

 lupine forage, etc. While considerable variety of 

 opinion prevails regarding the manner in which 

 hay, water and grain should be given to horses in 

 order to secure the best results from the feeding 

 stuffs and to prevent digestive troubles, a simple 

 rule to remember and one which will give favorable 

 results is simply to give water at least half an hour 

 before or after feeding. 



The amount of water drunk by horses naturally 

 varies according to the temperature, severity of 

 work, and the ration fed. In one experiment when 

 alfalfa and timothy were compared in this respect 

 it was found that horses eating alfalfa drank 107J 

 pounds of water daily while horses on timothy 

 drank 103f pounds. Horses at rest, however, 

 drank considerably less, so that the average amount 

 daily for horses on alfalfa was 88 pounds and for 

 those on timothy 78 pounds. Therefore the char- 

 acter of the food excercises an appreciable influence 

 on the amount of water required by horses. The 



