380 THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 



in the brook and the pond bein<T wanned by long exposure to the air, as well as having 

 become soft, the horse drinks freely of it without danger. 



If the horse were watered three times a dny. and especially in summer, he would 

 often be saved from the sad torture of thirst, ai.d Ircm many a disease. Wlioever has 

 observed tiie eagerness with wliich the over-worked hor^c, hot and tired, plunges his 

 muzzle into the pail, and the difficulty of stcppir.'j him until he has drained the last 

 drop, may form some idea of what lie had previtri.sly sufiered, and will not wonder at 

 the violent spasms, and inflammation, and suddeit dti'th, that often result. 



There is a prejudice in the minds of many pers'-n"; again.st the horse being fully 

 supplied with water. They think that it injures bis ^^i'..d. and disables him for quick 

 and hard work. If he is galloped, as he loo often is, inimediaiely after drinking-, his 

 wind may be irreparably injured; but if he were oftentr suffered to satiate his thirst 

 at the intervals of rest, he would be happier and better. It is a fact unsuspected by 

 those who have not carefully observed tlie horse, that if he has frequent access to 

 water, he will not drink so much in the course of the day as another will do, who, to 

 cool his parched mouth, swallows as fast as he can, and knows not when to stop. 



On a journey, a horse should be liberally supplied with water. When he is a little 

 cooled, two or three quarts may be given to him, and after that, his feed. Before he 

 has finished his corn, two or three quarts more may be otiered. He will take no 

 harm if this is repeated three or four times during a long and hot day. 



It is a judicious rule with travellers, that when a horse begins to refuse bis food, 

 he should be pushed no farther that day. It may, however, be worth while to try 

 whether this does not proceed from thirst, as much as from exhaustion, for in many 

 instances his appetite and his spirits will return soon after he has partaken of the 

 refreshing drauglit. 



Management of the Feet. — This is the only division of stable management 

 that remains to be considered, and one sadly neg'.?cted by the carter and groom. 

 The feet should be carefully examined every morning, for the shoes may be loose 

 and the horse would have been stopped in the middle of his work; or the clejiches 

 may be raised, and endanger the vvounding of his legs ; or the shoe may begin 

 to press upon the sole or the heel, and bruises of the sole, or corn, may be the 

 result; and, the horse having stood so long in the stable, every little increase of heat 

 in the foot, or lameness, will be more readilj' detected, and serious disease may often 

 be prevented. 



When the horse comes in at night, and after the harness has been taken off and 

 stowed away, the heels should be we., brushed out. Hand-rubbing will be prefer- 

 able to washing, especially in the agricultural horse, whose heels, covered with long 

 hair, can scarcely be dried again. If the dirt is suffered to accumulate in that long 

 hair, the heels will become sore, and grease will follow; and if the heels are washed, 

 and particularly during the winter, grease will result from the coldness occasioned by 

 the slow evaporation of the moisture. The feet should be stopped — even the feet of 

 the fanner's horse, if he remains in the stable. Very little clay should be used in 

 the stopping, for it will get hard and press upon the sole. Cowdung is the best stop- 

 ping to preserve the feet cool and elastic; but, before the stopping is applied, the 

 picker should be run roimd the whole of the foot, between the shoe and the sole, in 

 order to detect any stone that ma}^ have insinuated itself there, or a wound on any 

 other part of the sole. For the hackney and hunter, stopping is indispensable. After 

 several days' hard work it will afford very great relief to take the shoes off, having 

 put plenty of litter under the horse, or to turn him, if possible, into a loose-box ; and 

 the shoes of every horse, whether hardly worked or not. should be removed or changed 

 once in every tiiree weeks. 



