26 STABLE MANAGEMENT. 



From the above remarks, it appears horses were fed in 

 olden times pretty much as they are fed now. Indeed 

 with the exception of wheat, barley, and malt, which should 

 only be given in illness, his recommendations leave little 

 to be desired with regard to the food. 



The manner and times of feeding and the food itself 

 having been described, it should not be forgotten that 

 equal attention should be paid to watering at stated periods. 

 And here something may aptly be said on the quality of 

 water best suited to the horse. 



Rain-water is preferable to all others, and where this 

 cannot always be procured and kept fresh in tanks, well 

 or pond-water, softened if hard with a little wheat flour 

 or chalk, may supply its place. From the use of either 

 so treated I have seen no ill effects. Mr. Clark in his 

 treatise on the horse, thinks water of so much importance 

 to the well-being of the animal, that he has devoted a 

 whole chapter of fifteen pages to its consideration, the 

 salient points of which I think well to give : 



"Disease may originate," he says, "from the use of un- 

 wholesome water, and physicians are of the same opinion 

 as regards the human subject ; for where the water is bad, 

 disease prevails most. Horses do not thrive well on pit 

 or well-v/ater, as the water is very hard, and causes the coat 

 to stare and stand on end. If taken immediately after it 

 is newly pumped, spring water is likely to partake of all 

 the metallic or mineral strata through which it passes, and 

 is salutary or noxious according to the nature of those 

 substances. River-water is much the same, but it is softer 

 than water that runs underground and better for use. Well- 

 or pit-water is worse than spring ; being harder ; and the 

 deeper the well the worse the water. Pond-water, under 

 which head may be included all stagnant waters generally 



