28 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[chap. 



i.e. the body with all its organs working 

 normally — a very rare state of affairs. Disease 

 is an abnormal state. The horse in its wild state 

 is less liable to disease than the one that is 

 brought into unnatural surroundings ; hence, it 

 is necessary for us to allow the horse to live in 

 as natural a state as possible. Of course, before 

 the horse was domesticated he was the victim of 

 disease, and Nature's law always has been 

 "the survival of the fittest." In zoology we 

 learn that this law exists in every state of animal 

 life. Nature has no pity on the weakling. 



A horse, on account of its love of company, 

 generally keeps better if in a stable with other 

 horses. 



104. The animal body consists of water, 

 nitrogenous matter, carbo-hydrates, fat, and 

 certain acids and mineral matter. These com- 

 pounds are formed from various chemical 

 elements, the commonest of which are oxygen, 

 hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, phos- 

 phorus, sodium, potassium and sulphur ; other 

 less common chemicals found in the animal body 

 are chlorine, silicon, iron, magnesium, iodine, 

 lithium, fluorine, and occasionally copper, man- 

 ganese and lead. Water forms about three- 

 fifths of the entire weight of the animal body. 

 This varies under different conditions and 

 decreases as age increases. The mineral sub- 

 stances, which are formed of salts and acids, 

 consist of about one-twentieth of the weight of 

 the body, and are chiefly found in the bones ; 

 a little is found in the muscles and blood. The 

 water, salts and inorganic acids (as hydrochloric) 

 are known as inorganic substances. The re- 

 mainder are known as organic, and are divided 

 into nitrogenous, which consist of protein, 

 albuminoids and simple nitrogenous bodies ; 

 and non-nitrogenous, which consist of fats, 

 carbo-hydrates and simple organic bodies, as 

 acids, lactic acid being the commonest. 



The most important organic substances are 

 protein, carbo-hydrates and fat. Now, the whole 

 animal system (which includes every living 

 creature in the animal kingdom) is composed of 

 minute cells. These cells vary approximately in 

 size from l-300th to 1-3, 000th of an inch in 

 diameter. The cell consists of protoplasm, a 

 nucleus and a centrosome. Animal matter 

 grows by the continued duplication of cells, i.e. 

 each cell splits into two, and then each of these 

 grows to the original size of the cell before it 

 is split, and so on. The centrosome is the 

 portion of the cell that is responsible for this 

 dividing. The nucleus controls the division and 

 also the supply of food to the cell. The proto- 

 plasm forms the greater part of the cell, and 

 consists of protein (or proteid) and water. Thus 

 we see that protein is the most important sub- 

 stance in the animal body; none of the 

 phenomena of life occurs without its presence. 

 Protein is a very complex material, consisting 



of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, 

 phosphorus, etc. There are several kinds of 

 protein, which vary considerably in their com- 

 position. Plants are made of cells which are 

 very similar to the animal cell. [See Chapter 

 XVII.) 



In order to maintain vital existence in the 

 animal body we must keep the cells alive, and 

 this is done by supplying them with food ; this 

 food is the blood. The blood and lymph collect 

 the good portions of food lying in the intestines, 

 this being done by a process known as osmosis, 

 i.e. the element passing directly through the 

 cells of the intestines into the blood and lymph 

 vessels. This food is carried all over the sys- 

 tem. Impurities are again collected by the 

 blood from the system and deposited in the 

 kidneys, which are filters. Some of the food 

 carried by the blood is left in the liver in the 

 form of glycogen, which is given out again 

 whenever the body requires extra nourishment. 



105. We must now consider what process the 

 food that the horse eats goes through from the 

 time it enters the mouth until the time it lies 

 in the intestines awaiting absorption into the 

 blood. The alimentary canal consists of a long 

 tube of muscles, lined with mucous membrane, 

 extending from the lips to the extremity. It con- 

 sists of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus (gullet), 

 stomach, small intestines, caecum (three feet), 

 large intestine or colon (twelve feet), floating 

 colon (ten feet), and rectum (two feet). The 

 small intestines consist of the duodenum (two 

 feet), jejunum (thirty feet), and ileum (forty 

 feet). Various glands pour juices into this canal 

 that digest the food. These glands are partly 

 large ones, as the salivary glands, liver and 

 pancreas, and partly small ones, as those 

 situated in the walls of the stomach and intes- 

 tines. The large ones secrete ptyalin and other 

 salivary juices, bile, pancreatin, etc., whilst the 

 small ones secrete mucus, hydrochloric acid, 

 pepsin, etc. Food, on being taken into the 

 mouth by the horse (known as prehension), 

 which he does by means of his lips, is passed 

 on by the tongue, and masticated by the teeth. 

 During the process of mastication the fluid from 

 the sub-maxillary glands causes a chemical 

 change to take place in the composition of the 

 food, whilst the fluid from the parotid gland 

 (which is affected in strangles, or mumps) 

 moistens the food. All this is necessary before 

 the food is swallowed. The chief chemical 

 change is the formation of sugars from the 

 starches. Hence the importance of a thorough 

 inspection of the horse's teeth every six months 

 to ensure perfect mastication. {See Chapter IX.) 

 The process of mixing the food with the saliva 

 is known as insalivation. Next comes degluti- 

 tion (swallowing). The gullet is kept oiled by 

 the mucous glands, which allow the food to pass 

 down easily. The food is then mixed with the 



