72 WARRANTY OF 



lie will not eat dirty straw, and that, if he does eat 

 a little clean straw from his new bed, he does so only 

 either when he finds an un threshed ear, or when, having 

 been too highly fed, he picks up a little to distend his 

 stomach with something rather less nutritious than his 

 accustomed fare. 



Bed-eating is not a disease, and a horse with this 

 habit can be warranted as SOUND. 



And, as it is not attended by any real inconvenience, 

 but is often a proof of good constitution, it is not even a 



VICE. 



Arabs are delighted when they see a horse eat 

 his own dung ; saying that that is a proof that he will 

 not starve. 



More harm is done by letting horses stand too 

 long without food than by putting too much before 

 them ; and although it is true that a ravenous horse 

 does occasionally burst his stomach by excess in eating, 

 as for instance, when he gets loose and finds out the 

 corn-bin, yet such cases occur only when he has been 

 much restricted in his diet, or has been worked for 

 many hours, at a spell, without food. These cases are 

 of very rare occurrence, and would be still more un- 

 common were proper and sufficient food regularly 

 supplied. 



Who has ever heard of a stage-coach horse, unstinted 

 in his food, eating to this excess ; or of a horse at grass 

 bursting himself in this manner ? 



