138 FOOD. 



activity ; but the exercise must not be violent. Much depends 

 upon the manner in which it is given. To preserve the tem- 

 per, and to promote health, it should be moderate, at least at 

 the beginning and at the termination. The rapid trot, or even 

 the gallop, may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, 

 but the horse should be brought in cool. 



FOOD. 



One half of the diseases of the horse owe their origiu to 

 over-feeding with hay. This applies more particularly to 

 young horses, and to such as are not put to severe work. 

 They are ever placed before a full rack, and, like children 

 gorged with bread and butter, they eat merely for amusement, 

 until at length the stomach gradually becomes preternaturally 

 distended, the appetite increases in a relative proportion, be- 

 comes sooner or later voracious, and finally merges into a mere 

 craving — it being a matter of indifference what the food is, so 

 that the stomach is filled with it. This depravity of appetite 

 is always accompanied by more or less thirst. This naturally 

 enough produces general debility of the entire digestive func- 

 tion, including stomach, bowels, liver, spleen, and pancreas ; 

 worms are produced in thousands, and symptoms present 

 themselves of so many varied hues, that enumeration, far less 

 classification, becomes utterly impossible. 



A horse^s appetite is not to be taken as the criterion by 

 which to determine the quantity of hay which he is to be per- 

 mitted to consume ; for most horses will eat three or four tiraea 

 as much as they ought. Horses have been known to consume 

 thirty pounds weight of hay between a day and a night ; and 

 ten pounds is the most that should have been given during 



