98 THE ECONOMICS OF FEEDING HORSES 



giving a dose of physic. In nearly all hospital cases 

 save those of lameness, it is advisable to damp the food, 

 and this prevents the horse from picking out the more 

 tasty ingredients of the mixture. 



In diseases affecting the respiratory tract, such as 

 pneumonia and pleurisy, and in the allied conditions, 

 such as influenza, strangles, and catarrhal fever, it is 

 very common to find that the horse will take very little 

 food in the early stages. However, when rested and 

 made comfortable and warm in a good, airy box, the 

 animal will often commence to feed a little, and the bran 

 mash modified as described to tempt the appetite is quite 

 suitable. If the horse will take it, a mixture of crushed 

 oats, bran, and chaff, with a handful of linseed, mixed 

 with boiling water, and allowed to cool very slowly, or 

 cooked in a steamer, is very good. At this stage the 

 buccal mucous membrane is dry, and the glandular 

 secretions are lessened, so that a moist diet supplies these 

 deficiencies, and is less likely to provoke coughing than 

 dry food. 



The various green fodders, as they come in season, are 

 excellent in most cases, being appetizing, laxative, and 

 generally beneficial. Not infrequently a sick horse will eat 

 greenstuff, whilst refusing everything else, and in some 

 cases freshly cut young grass is the most tempting of all. 

 If even the appetite fails entirely, thirst will often be 

 maintained, and properly prepared hay-tea, linseed-tea, 

 thin oatmeal gruel, or milk, can be given. Hay gives up 

 a good deal of nutriment to boiling water, and hay-tea may 

 be aptly compared with the beef-tea used in the sick-room. 

 Sometimes milk is refused at first, but if water is with- 

 held for a few hours the milk is usually taken, and 

 thereafter no difficulty arises. The practice of horning 



