14 



ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



from behind the jaw to its entrance into the chest, by watching a horse 

 swallow a mouthful of hay. At the entrance to the chest it passes 

 through the two first ribs, between the lungs, over the heart, through the 

 midriff Cdiapnragm), and ends at its junction with the stomach, which, 

 except when forced open by the entrance of food, is tightly closed. 



The sto7nach of the horse, a bag-like organ with two openings, one 

 from the gullet and the other to the bowel, is, for the size of the animal, 

 remarkably small. It has, like all the digestive organs, powerful muscular 

 coats for the purpose of kneading and churning the food, and it 

 manufactures a digestive fluid called "gastric juice" in very large 

 quantities. Here the already chewed, saliva-soaked food is thoroughly 

 mixed with the gastric juice and then passed into the bowel, at which 

 stage it is a thick yellowish cream, wirh finely broken up portions of the 

 more woody fodder floating in it. The bowels (intestines) along which 

 it now passes are divided into small and large. The small bowel is, in 

 the horse, about 70 feet long, and, although freely movable in the belly, 

 is suspended from the underside of the backbone by a thin membrane 

 or caul, which envelopes it, and through which its blood-vessels and nerves 

 run. Its inner coat manufactures a special digestive fluid, and about 

 two feet from the stomach the duct from the fiver and pancreas opens 

 into it. 



The pancreas (which is one of the organs popularly known as the 

 " sweetbread ") is situated under the loins in front of the kidneys, and 

 pours into the bowel its particular secretion which, together with the bile, 

 mixes constantly with the partially digested food. 



The liver is a large, flat, roughly square chocolate-coloured organ, two 

 to four inches in thickness and several pounds in weight which lies 

 immediately behind and flat up against the midriff; it is, in fact, squeezed 

 between the latter and the stomach, and from it a small duct passes to 

 the bowel for the passage of bile (gall). The liver secretes bile, which 

 acts as a disinfectant to the bowel ; it also takes a large share in prepar- 

 ing the digested result of the food for use by the muscles, which 

 is its most important duty. During its passage along the small bowel — • 

 which, it must be remembered, is in constant active motion, churning and 

 dissolving the food mixture — rapid absorption of the now fluid nourish- 

 ment commences and continues actively throughout its course. 



From the small bowel the large bowel is reached, and this, about 

 thirty feet long, and of great capacity, occupies the major portion of 

 the belly. At the junction of the large and small bowel is the " water 

 gut" or "blind gut" {cceciun), a cone-shaped bowel capable of containing 

 several gallons, which usually holds a considerable quantity of fluid as 



