154 WATER. 



It is natural to suppose that these diflferent kinds of water would 

 produce somewhat differing effects upon the animal frame : and 

 such is the case. Hard water, freshly drawn from the well, 

 will frequently roughen the coat of the horse unaccustomed to 

 it, or cause griping pains, or materially lessen the animal's 

 power of exertion. The racing and the hunting-groom are 

 perfectly aware of this ; and instinct or experience has made 

 even the horse conscious of it, for he will never drink hard 

 water if he has access to soft, and he will leave the most trans- 

 parent and the purest water of the well for a river, although 

 the stream may be turbid, and even for the muddiest pool. 

 Some trainers, indeed, have so much fear of hard or strange 

 water, that they carry with them to the different courses the 

 water which the animal has been accustomed to drink, and that 

 which they know agrees with it. 



The temperature of the water is of far more consequence than 

 its hardness. It will rarely harm if taken from the pond or 

 the running stream; but its coldness, when recently drawn from 

 the well, has often proved injurious; it has produced colic, 

 spasms, and even death. 



There is often considerable prejudice against the horse being 

 fairly supplied with water. It is supposed to chill him, to 

 injure his wind, or to incapacitate him for hard work. It cer- 

 tainly would do so, if, immediately after drinking his fill, he 

 were galloped hard ; but not if he were suffered to quench his 

 thirst more frequently when at rest in the stable. The horse 

 that has free access to water, will not drink so much in the 

 course of the day as another, who, in order to cool his parched 

 mouth, swallows as fast as he can, and knows not when to 

 stop. 



