IV] 



FEEDING, EXERCISE AND TRANSPORT 



39 



changed to soft water. Horses have been known 

 to become quite ill on hard water. The best way 

 to soften iuird water is to add a little lime water 

 (calcium hydrate). 



The source of the water supply should always 

 be investigated, as tlie water may come from a 

 poisonous district or possess a great number of 

 disease-producing micro-organisms. 



155. The Theory of Watering. — \^a.\,KT is 

 always required to nourish the system. When 

 water has been in the system for a short while 

 it has performed its function and is passed out 

 by the lungs, kidneys, skin, and by the udder 

 in recently-delivered mares, and by other ex- 

 cretory organs. On a hot day a hard-working 

 liorse passes out three or four times more water 

 through the lungs and skin than through the 

 kidneys. 



Water is necessary to keep down the ab- 

 normal rise of temperature in the body that is 

 produced by work ; hence warm water should 

 not be given to horses. Tlio temperature of the 

 horse is kept down to normal by perspiration ; 

 water is necessary to cause perspiration. The 

 coat, when damp witli perspiration, becomes 

 cooked down by the moisture evaporating. This 

 cools down the internal temperature of the body. 

 As work produces heat, work witliout increased 

 supply of water will upset the horse's system. 

 A heated or over-tired horse can be watered, 

 provided it is not left standing for fifteen minutes 

 or more afterwards. If left standing he is very 

 liable to become foundered. If walked about the 

 liorse is far better for being watered, because he 

 will cool down much more rapidly and his 

 system will become normal in a nuich sliorter 

 time. Water quenches the thirst. 



Water is a valuable factor in aiding excretion 

 of impurities from the system. This is especially 

 necessary in cases of rheumatism, etc. ; hence 

 horses subject to rheumatism must be given 

 plenty of water and lots of .salt to increase the 

 thirst. Water also mechanically aids the in- 

 testines in getting rid of useless residue. 



156. The ideal way of watering is to have a 

 continuous flow of water in front of the horse's 

 manger. A horse will never drink more than 

 a few swallows at a time if this is done, and this 

 will nnv(u" cause any harm. Practice has proved 

 that under this method horses do best. They 

 must, of course, have rock salt before them all 

 the time. Horses that are not used to being 

 watered when hot, and those that are going out 

 on hard work, may be given half a dozen 

 swallows ; water must not be given for one or 

 two hours before fast work, as all the space 

 possible is required for the lungs to work in. 



It is always best to water a horse after hard 

 work ; it cools him down internally and helps 

 him to recuperate his energy more rapidly. 

 Horses, if not allowed water before them, must 

 be watered regularly. Regularity in watering is 



as essential as it is in feeding and exercise, and 

 is the secret of good horsokeeping. 



157. Water passes down tiio gullet (oeso- 

 phagus) into the stomach, which in the horse 

 is extremely small and scarcely absorbs any 

 water at all ; it then passes out through the 

 small intestines, and what is not required passes 

 into the ceecum, which holds 6 to 8 gallons. Most 

 of the water that the horse drinks passes into 

 this intestine. Some of it passes still farther 

 into the large colon, wliicli holds 16 to 18 gallons. 

 Only a little is needed at a time by the absorbing 

 intestines, so that most of the water drunk by 

 a horse at a good drink is stored in the cajcum 

 until required. The caecum lies on the right side 

 of the horse. 



158. Conditioning Horses. — Young horses re- 

 quire very careful attention when first brought 

 to work. Great care must be taken that they 

 do not lose their flesh and bloom, which, if once 

 lost through bad feeding, irregular feeding or 

 irregular work, is only regained with much dif!i- 

 cully. A very steady gradation in the amount 

 of work and in giving hard feed is of the utmost 

 importfince. About one-thinl of an ordinary 

 hard-feed ration is sufficient to start a young 

 horse with. The exercise given him will, of 

 course, be very light for several weeks, depend- 

 ing on his condition and legs. After a few weeks 

 he may be put on half rations, or even a little 

 moi'e, proper notice being taken of the manner 

 in which the food acts upon him, his dung 

 and urine being watched carefully. Heating 

 food, as beans and peas, is not good for young 

 horses, but is good for old horses that require 

 heat to keep up their condition. An old horse 

 requires much more food proportionately to keep 

 in condition. His teeth must always be taken 

 into consideration. 



Blood, power and good looks without con- 

 dition are of little value to a horse that is re- 

 quired to do strenuous work, e.g. the horse on 

 service or the hunter. By condition wo merely 

 mean a body well covered with flesh that is hard, 

 a hard and firm neck, a glossy and silky coat, a 

 bright eye, fresh looks, a good appetite, a good 

 digestion, normal dung and urine, plenty of 

 spirits, no running up light towai'tls the flanks 

 like a greyhound, and capability for doing 

 long and continuous work. {See V. 1(5, 18, 20, 



It should bo remembered that a horse's urine, 

 unlike most animals', is normally cloudy. Con- 

 dition must not be confounded with fatness, 

 which is distinguished by a certain flabbiness 

 and a distended abdomen. In referring To con- 

 dition in ordinary horses we do not refer to the 

 high pitch of condition that is so essential in 

 the racehorse. The racehorse is trained to a 

 high nervous state, with not an ounce of weight 

 on him that could bo dispensed with {sec P. 15&); 

 he is trained to tliis temporary high state by 



