Feeding. 39 



through, otherwise it could not be sustained in 

 strength. Considering the small amount of nutri- 

 ment contained in the common food of the horse, 

 hence the force of the proverb, and the stupidity 

 of those grooms who neglect to feed the horse 

 often and at regular intervals. In this we also 

 see the wise and far-seeing handiwork of the 

 Creator, for the horse, unlike the ox, has no 

 gall-bladder, to let at intervals a quantity of 

 bile into the stomach to aid its digestion, but the 

 bile is carried through the liver direct to the 

 duodenum or first gut, so that it is always supplied 

 with the necessary bile to promote a rapid diges- 

 tion. Ko horse ought to be fed less than four 

 times each day. Long practice has proven that 

 6 o'clock in the morning, 11 o'clock forenoon, 4 

 o'clock afternoon, and 7 o'clock in the evening 

 are the best times to feed the horse, and no horse 

 ought to have violent exercise directly after 

 feeding. Indeed, it is a safe maxim to always 

 go the first and last mile of a journey slow. The 

 horse should always have water before his food ; 

 if you give it water after his food, it being drunk 

 rapidly, will carry the food through the stomach 

 in an undigested state, and be . likely to cause 

 obstruction of the bowels, the food not being 

 deprived of its acids, which would be carried into 

 the blood to support life. There are many stud- 

 grooms who will neither water nor feed their 

 horse before going out for a day's hunting ; 

 others Avill give a little corn and no water, and 

 think the horse can go twelve or fourteen miles 

 to cover, and perhaps gallop thirty or forty miles 



