2 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



of the stall near the horse's fore feet, about four 

 feet from the wall at the manger, and another 

 grate in the centre of the stall, in a line with the 

 gutter at the end of the stall. The question will 

 naturally be asked, why would you make this 

 alteration, which is in just contradistinction to the 

 most approved plans of the present day ? I refer 

 the enquirers in quest of information to the fields 

 and open country. Let them study the horse 

 there, and they will always see it when standing 

 at its ease, (and it will not stand still at all if 

 it is not comfortable), with its hind feet on the 

 highest ground. I am speaking of sound horses, 

 and this fact is quite in keeping with the struc- 

 ture of the horse. If we will but take the 

 trouble to study its anatomy, we shall then find, 

 by placing the horse in that unnatural position 

 with his fore feet on the highest ground, that we 

 throw undue pressure constantly upon the muscles 

 of the belly, causing the colon or large gut to fall 

 upon the ccecum^ thereby preventing to a great 

 extent that freedom of action which is so neces- 

 sary to that organ, to enable all the substances 

 taken in to re-ascend into the ca]put coli^ and to 

 pass on to the rectum. Another great evil arising 

 out of it is the pain it causes the animal by the 

 great strain on the flexor tendon and the back 

 sinews of the legs, no doubt leading to many of 

 the cases of lameness by windgall and rupture of 

 the sheath of the tendons, commonly called broken 

 down. 1 once had a very bad case of break-down, 

 though the animal had not been out of the stable 

 from the Saturday morning until I found it on. 



