HUNTERS 197 



taken away as soon as the stable is opened on a 

 hunting morning, and not replaced until the 

 horse has had his gruel on returning. 



It is a Golden Rule always to " Give Water 

 Before Feeding," and " Never Immediately After 

 a Horse has Fed." The reverse of this is 

 a common cause of gripes, and other internal 

 troubles. The reason of this is that a horse has 

 no true stomach like most other animals, ])ut has 

 ninety feet of intestines, the upper part being 

 considerably larger than the lower, and as the 

 digestion chiefly takes place while the food is 

 passing through the large gut, it is common to 

 speak of this as the stomach. When water is 

 swallowed it passes rapidly through this upper 

 portion, and if the gut should be filled at the 

 time with a quantity of half, or totally undigested 

 food, this is washed into the lower gut before it 

 is in a fit state to be received there, and hence 

 trouble ensues. 



Hunters are generally fed with corn three 

 times in the twenty-four hours, but some feeders 

 divide the corn feeds instead into four. With 

 delicate animals this is no doubt the better plan, 

 for it is the nature of the horse to be feeding 

 during the greater part of the twenty-four hours, 

 less food is taken at one time, and the periods of 

 waiting for food are reduced. 



For horses that bolt their oats without suffi- 

 ciently chewing them — as can easily be found 

 out by observing the droppings — the oats should 

 always be crushed, and this plan is preferable 

 for all horses, the drawback being the greatly 

 increased labour required. Oats when crushed 

 should not be kept too long, as they sooner get 

 musty than whole oats. Chopped hay also is 



