62 THE HORSE 



if kept wet; but if it becomes dry, it is far worse than 

 nothing. 



Water to drink in small quantities will not hurt the 

 horse, so long as he keeps moving, unless the water is 

 very cold. But if the horse is to be stabled or to 

 stand still, he should have only a few swallows, if he is 

 heated. If, however, the horse is very thirsty, and 

 really craves water, you can safely give him a quarter of 

 a pail of luke-warm water, and fifteen or twenty min- 

 utes later, half a pail more of the same, and still another 

 half pail in another fifteen minutes. Most horses will 

 drink water that is really warm, nearly as well as they 

 will drink cold water. 



Above all things, give your horse all the water he 

 wants at night after he has eaten his hay. This is 

 important at all seasons, and especially so in hot 

 weather. 



If the horse gets off his feed, as delicate horses often 

 do in hot weather, try him with a small feed of oats, 

 say two quarts, mixed with a little bran, with water 

 enough to moisten it, and a little salt or sugar. Sugar 

 is a great appetizer, and very nourishing. A delicate 

 feeder will also, as a rule, drink oatmeal gruel or 

 barley water, especially if the beverage is slightly 

 salted or sweetened. When horses are too hot to 

 receive their ordinary noon feed of grain, the oatmeal 

 gruel or barley water will take its place. It was cus- 

 tomary to feed fire engine horses in this way on the 

 Fourth of July when alarms were so frequent that the 

 unfortunate animals had no chance to cool off. 



It is not unusual nowadays to see electric fans in city 



