32 CHAPTKli 4. 



to purgation or diuresis, the horse may safely be allowed to drink as 

 much as he likes. 



62. Horses to be watered before being /ed- 

 it is a cardinal rule in stable management that horses should be 

 watered before being fed. The contrary practice is exceedingly likely to 

 cause colic, otherwise called gripes. The reason of this is simple enough. 

 Water does not remain in the stomach. It merely passes veiy rapidly 

 through it on its way to the caecum. If the stomach is full, the water is 

 very apt to carry with it from the stomach into the small intestines some 

 portions of the food before it is properly prepared for transmission. Now 

 undigested food, though natural to the stomach, in which it ought to 

 be digested and prepared for transmission to the intestines, acts on the 

 latter as a foreign body and produces irritation. 



63. No objection to watering horses when warm. 



It is a somewhat singular fact that horses may be watered with safety 

 almost immediately after their return from work, even though somewhat 

 heated. Probably the friction from grooming, which takes place about 

 the same time, prevents the occurrence of a chill. Many regiments 

 water their horses on their way home from a field day, if a river or 

 troughs are handy, and it is certain that no mischief results from the 

 practice. Probably in this case the further slight exercise in returning 

 home prevents mischief. 



There is less risk of chill from drinking cold water, when the body is 

 still actively warm, than when the system has begun to flag. If, however, 

 the horse is thoroughly tired and fagged, the water should be made 

 slightly tepid, or a bucket of warm gruel may be given instead. In 

 such cases there may not be sufficient vitality to raise a large quantity of 

 cold water to the temperature of the body ; and hence the animal may 

 become chilled, and his coat will stare, his bowels may become deranged, 

 and further serious consequences may result. 



64. Dirty v. clean water. Hard v. soft water. 



It is very commonh% but erroneously, supposed that horses prefer 

 muddy to clean water. The origin of this idea is the fact that the horse 

 prefers soft to hard water, and will drink indifferent soft in preference to 

 clearer-looking hard water. But he will never drink bad soft in prefer- 

 ence to good soft water, nor will he drink bad hard in preference to good 

 hard v/ater, except in so far as all hard water becomes more or less soft 

 by standing and exposure to the air. Where a number of troughs with a 

 stream running through them have been placed in line, the author has 

 often known his horse, though taken to the last, walk to the first in 

 order to get the cleanest water. 



Water for the horse should always be drawn fresh. If it is too cold, 

 the chill may be taken off by adding a little warm water. The very 

 ordinary practice of refilling the pails after watering and allowing them 



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