34 THE HORSE 



the sediment irritates the membrane of the stomach 

 and Intestines and often produces what is called " sand 

 coHc." 



Soft water is much better for horses than hard 

 water, and for this reason a brook, spring, or pond is 

 always to be preferred to a well as a water supply. 



The matter of watering on the road is treated in 

 the chapter entitled " The Art of Driving." 



Every horse doing regular work should receive his 

 grain in at least three separate feeds, and if he is hard- 

 worked and highly grained he should be fed four times 

 a day. This latter is the custom in many work-horse 

 stables in the city, especially among milk dealers. F. 

 M. Ware, a man of great experience, says that all 

 horses should be fed four times a day — the stomach of 

 the horse being, as everybody knows, extremely small in 

 proportion to his size. 



Never give grain to a tired horse. The most experi- 

 enced veterinary surgeon in New England stated 

 recently in a public lecture that giving grain to tired 

 horses produces more colic than all other causes com- 

 bined. Let the tired horse rest and nibble hay for an 

 hour or two before he receives his grain. Nothing 

 looks worse to a man experienced with horses than to 

 see grain ready in the manger before the horse comes 

 in. If the horse is very hot, it is better that he should 

 eat nothing, not even hay, until he is cool, and to give 

 grain to a very hot horse is, as almost everybody 

 knows, extremely likely to founder and ruin him. 



