162 CARE AND TRAINING OF TROTTERS AND RACERS. 



Chapter XII— Miscellany. 

 "A Trainer at a Veterinary College." 



[Note — I'lider thp above title, T. II. Kindred, a ti-ainer, just 

 beginning a veterinary course, contributed a short but Instructive 

 article to the 1914 Christmas issue of "The Horseman." One ot the 

 interesting features of the article was an enumeration of several 

 methods of trainers' procedure which differs from scientific practice. 

 From the above mentioned article we quote the following salient 

 paragraphs:] 



HE first of the important things 

 I learned was why a horse 

 should not be fed hay before a 

 race. Hay is not digested in the 

 stomach, but passes into the 

 large intestines, where it goes 

 through a process of fermenta- 

 tion. This requires blood and draws it away from 

 the muscles and tissues, lessening the power of en- 

 durance, hence a horse that has eaten hay shortly 

 before a race can not race to his best form. Then, 

 again, a horse full of hay is carrying weight that 

 contains verv little nourishment. When a horse 

 is warmed up the heart and lungs need a larger 

 space to work in and any pressure against the 

 diaphragm causes irritation and results in spasms 

 of diaphragm (thumps), acute indigestion, etc. I 

 found that in the morning a horse should be wa- 

 tered first, then allowed to eat a small amount of 

 hay, and finally grain. If the grain is given first the 

 hay will carry it into the intestines before it is 



