WATERING HOUSES. 63 



any good water near which they may pass, even when 

 the horse is bathed in perspiration. 



In Northern India the ecka (a small two- wheeled trap) 

 ponies, which average about 13 hands 1 inch in height 5 

 frequently travel 50 to 60 miles a day over unmetalled 

 roads during the hottest weather, when the noontide heat 

 often exceeds 120 in the shade. Such performances can 

 only be accomplished by watering the ponies every 7 or 

 8 miles : the system pursued being that they get at each 

 bait from 1 to 2ft>s. of suttoo mixed in a couple of quarts 

 of water. This is in accordance with the practice gene- 

 rally adopted by stokers and firemen on board steamers 

 of mixing oatmeal with the water they drink. These men, 

 who are exposed to intense heat, and consequently are 

 obliged to drink very large quantities of water, expe- 

 rience the greatest advantage from this precaution. 



In the stable, I think the best system is to allow a 

 constant supply of water : a practice which is not alone 

 beneficial to " washy " horses that scour easily, to roarers 

 and to broken-winded animals, but also is particularly 

 well calculated to prevent and to cure the pernicious 

 habit of wind-sucking. 



