PASTURING. 



157 



taincil Iialf a meal. It is for slight lameness only that horses 

 slionld be turned out ; and the pasture should be such as to 

 afford suSicieut nutriment, without giving the horse more ex- 

 ercise than is good for the disease. 



The legs of fast-working horses often become turned, shape- 

 ^^^^^^^^^^* less, tottering, bent at the knee, and 

 " " '^^ straight at the pasterns. These 



^ always improve at 

 — pasture, as, indeed, 

 they do in the sta- 

 ble, or loose-box, 



=j^^,~i^ when the horse is 

 thrown out of work. 

 Grazing exercise 

 does not appear to 

 PASTURING. be unfavorable to 



their restoration ; but when the knees are very much bent, the 

 horse is unfit for turning out ; he cannot graze ; when his head 

 is down, he is ready to fall upon his nose, and it costs him 

 much effort to maintain his balance. 



The position of the head in the act of grazing is unfavor- 

 able to the return of blood from the brain, from the eyes,, from 

 all parts of the head. Horses that have had staggers, or bad 

 eyes, those that have recently lost a jugular vein, and those 

 that have any disease about the head — strangles, for instance- 

 should not be sent to pasture. The disease becomes worse, or, 

 if gone, is apt to return. Even healthy horses are liable to 

 attacks on the brain, when turned to grass, particularly when 

 the weather is hot, and the herbage abundant. 



Horses that have been for more than a year in the stable, 



