556 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



DYSPEPSIA 



Every domestic animal suffers in health if he is constant!}^ fed on the 

 same articles, and man himself, perhaps, more than they do. Partridges 

 are relished b}'^ him early in September, but toujours perdrix would disgust 

 the most inveterate lover of that article of food. Dogs are too often made 

 to suffer from being fed on the same meal, flavoured with similar flesh or 

 broth, from one month to another. It is well known that cattle and sheep 

 must change their pasture, or they soon lose condition ; and yet horses 

 are expected to go on eating oats and hay for years together without in- 

 jury to health ; and at the same time they are often exposed to the close 

 air of a confined stable, and to an irregular amount of exercise. We can- 

 not, therefore, wonder that the master is often told that some one or other 

 of his horses is " a little off his feed " ; nor should we be surprised that 

 the constant rej^etition of the panacea for this, " a dose of physic," should 

 at length permanently establish the condition which at first it would 

 always alleviate. It is a source of Avonder that the appetite continues so 

 good as it does, in the majority of horses, which are kept in the stable on 

 the same kind of food, always from July to May, and often through the 

 other months also. The use of a few small bundles of vetches, lucerne, or 

 clover in the spring, is supposed to be quite sufficient to restore tone to the 

 stomach, and undoubtedly they are better than no change at all ; but at 

 other seasons of the year something may be done towards the prevention 

 of dyspepsia, by varying the quality of the hay, and by the use of a few 

 carrots once or twice a week. In many stables, one rick of hay is made to 

 serve throughout the whole or a great part of the year, which is a very bad 

 plan, as a change in this important article of food is as much required as a 

 change of pasture when the animal is at grass. When attention is paid to 

 this circumstance, the appetite will seldom fail in horses of a good constitu- 

 tion, if they are regularly worked ; but without it, resort must occasionally 

 be had to a dose of physic. It is fi'om a neglect of this precaution that so 

 many horses take to eat their litter, in preference to their hay ; but if the 

 same animal was placed in a straw-yard for a month, without hay, and 

 then allowed access to both, there would be little doubt that he would 

 prefer the latter. Some horses are naturally so voracious that they are 

 always obliged to be supplied with less than they desire, and they seldom 

 suffer from loss of appetite ; but delicate feeders require the greatest care 

 in their management. When the stomach suffers in this way, it is always 

 desiraljle to try what a complete change of food will do before resorting to 

 medicine ; and, if it can be obtained, green food of some kind should be 

 chosen, or if not, carrots. In place of hay, sound wheat or barley straw 

 may be cut into chaff, and mixed with the carrots and corn ; and to this a 

 little malt-dust may be added, once or twice a week, so as to alter the 

 flavour. By continually changing the food in this way, the most dyspeptic 

 stomach may often be restored to its proper tone, without doing harm with 

 one hand while the other is doing good, as is too often the case with 

 medicine. The use of the fashionable " horse feeds " of the present day will 

 serve the same purpose ; and if the slight changes I have mentioned do not 

 answer, Thorley's food may be tried with great probability of success. 



