CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



nerves, and the lungs, simply because then- 

 work consists of rapid and powerful exertion ; 

 the farm-horse, the animal of long and steady 

 exertion, to gripes, inflammation of the bowels, 

 and stomach-staggers results, as I shall pre- 

 sently shew, of a management unsuited to the 

 character of the labour we require from them. 

 The stomach of the horse is remarkably small 

 smaller in proportion to his size, and the quantity 

 of food he requires, than any other domestic ani- 

 mal Nature intends for him a supply of nutri- 

 tious food, and that at short intervals; wherein he 

 materially differs from the ox, whose capacious 

 stomach will contain food which will not be 

 digested for hours. The post-horse, the hunter, 

 and the carriage-horse, have food of the most 

 nutritious description, and the time during which 

 they are worked is necessarily short, owing to 

 the extreme exertion required ; they return to 

 their food, and although their appetite may for 

 a time be impaired, and their stomach and 

 bowels affected by the general debility of the 

 system, yet they recover their tone as soon as the 

 rest of the frame admits of their taking food. The 

 farmer's horse, on the contrary, has food of a less 

 nourishing nature ; his rack is filled with straw, or 

 at best with clover ; the ploughman rises early, 

 gives him a feed of corn, and leads him to his 

 work, where he continues for seven, eight, and 

 even nine hours, and his whole day's work is com- 

 pleted before he is allowed to eat We do not 

 find the ox, worked under similar circumstances, 

 so affected in the stomach and bowels, simply 

 because his capacious stomach, when filled, re- 

 quires many hours to empty ; while, as we have 

 seen, it is different with the horse. Debilitated 

 and hungry, the horse returns, and his rack is 

 plentifully supplied, and a good feed of corn given 

 him, and he is left to himself : he eats voraciously, 

 half masticates his food, loads his debilitated 

 stomach, and his digestive organs are weakened, 

 and permanently injured. This course is repeated 

 a habit of voracity is acquired ; and at no very 

 remote period the food lodges and obstructs the 

 pyloric orifice the passage from the stomach to 

 the bowels fermentation ensues, gas is evolved, 

 the stomach is distended, he grows sluggish and 

 sleepy, drops his head upon his manger ; or he is 

 delirious, and evinces that the sympathy which 

 exists between the stomach and the brain has 

 excited the latter organ ; he rolls, paws, and is 

 seized with convulsions ; at length he expires, and 

 he has died of stomach-staggers. The half mas- 

 ticated food has irritated the bowels, extra exertion 

 of the muscles has been required to propel the 

 faeces to the rectum, and colic or cramp (spasms) 

 of the bowels has followed ; or a course of con- 

 tinued irritation, or of continued colic, or both, has 

 ended in inflammation of the bowels. I remember 

 a beautiful farm-horse, which, owing to the dis- 

 tance of part of the farm to which he belonged 

 from the buildings, was worked the long hours 

 described, and finished his day's work before his 

 bait. He was constantly subject to attacks of the 

 gripes, which were subdued ; but he died of 

 stomach-staggers. The same stable, then so often 

 subject to diseases, is now, by a change in the 

 system, completely free from them. Another case, 

 however, occurred : a beautiful compact little mare 

 was constantly afflicted by colic ; she eventually 

 died of inflammation of the intestines. 



620 



'There are other parts of the management to 

 which horses employed in agriculture are sub- 

 ject, which induce diseases of the bowels. For 

 instance, a boy returning from work, with heated 

 and sweating horses, to save himself trouble, 

 allows them to drink copiously at some pool or 

 stream he passes. Suddenly one or more of the 

 horses exhibit symptoms of gripes ; they suddenly 

 lie down, roll about, look at their sides, rise up, seem 

 relieved, and again speedily relapse ; the sudden 

 application of the cold water has produced spasms 

 in the bowels, through which it has passed. This 

 is neglected, or perhaps gin or whisky, aided by 

 pepper, is administered as a remedy, and severe 

 and general inflammation of the bowels is the 

 result : this is mistaken for another attack, and 

 again the poison is administered, and the inflam- 

 mation increased, and death follows. The horse 

 of heavy work, too, is longer exposed to the in- 

 clemencies of the weather than the animal of light 

 work. In the former, the rain is allowed to fall 

 upon him for hours, and then to dry upon his 

 back: the sympathy between the skin and the 

 alimentary organs is known to every groom ; 

 obstructed perspiration, and consequent irritability, 

 is conveyed from the one to the other, and disease is 

 the consequence. It is true the latter is also partly 

 exposed to the rain, but for shorter periods, and 

 the wisp and brush are liberally applied when he 

 enters the stable ; a determination of blood takes 

 place to the skin, perspiration is promoted, and 

 disease thus prevented. 



' Of the best means of preventing these diseases 

 in farm-horses we will now treat : we have attrib- 

 uted the peculiar liability to them in farm-horses 

 to mismanagement, with the exception of certain 

 instances of peculiar formation of the animals ; 

 and although the farmer must necessarily work his 

 horses longer hours than the horse of rapid work 

 is capable, there is no necessity for depriving the 

 animal so long of food. No horse should work 

 more than five or six hours without a bait If we 

 examine the history of the stables of large farmers, 

 whose fields necessarily lie at a great distance 

 from the buildings, and where they are worked 

 long in consequence, and compare it with that of 

 small farmers under the contrary circumstances, 

 we shall find a striking difference as respects the 

 health of the animals. The case referred to 

 above strikingly illustrates the truth of this obser- 

 vation. But it may be asked How is it possible 

 to bait the animals so far from home ? The diffi- 

 culty seems to be in procuring food upon the spot ; 

 for if this is not done, the precaution will be 

 neglected, and at anyrate the land will be occupied 

 by it This, however, may be remedied. In the 

 case, for instance, of a field intended for turnips, 

 which has to be worked during the spring, a part 

 of it, half an acre, or in proportion to the size of 

 the field, may be sown with winter-tares, a few of 

 which may be mown off, and given to the animals 

 green, without carrying them from the field, inter- 

 fering with any crop, or wasting any time in carry- 

 ing the horses to a distance. If the field be 

 intended for summer-fallow, the spring tare will 

 answer, and which may be used in the same man- 

 ner, instead of allowing the poor animals greedily 

 and indiscriminately to crop the leaves of 

 hedges at every turning, from the impulse of I 

 ger. There is another easy way of baiting, whic 

 some carters adopt, and which might be applie 



