186 WATERING HORSES 



almost as they like, let them take in the evening 

 fifteen or twenty go-downs, (swallows of water). 

 On the following morning, previous to the groom 

 going out with his horses to exercise, he should 

 speak to the head lad, and tell him that he wants 

 to measure the quantity of water that two horses 

 gluttonously inclined may be disposed to drink. 

 The head lad, therefore, takes care to have a 

 couple of buckets full of water, (with the chill 

 well off), and puts them on the lid of one of the 

 troughs in the yard at about the usual time he 

 knows the horses will be coming to take their 

 water, as when they have walked for a sufficient 

 time to cool after their morning gallop. Now, 

 when the two horses in question come into the 

 yard to take their water out of the buckets, the 

 groom, being by, says to each of the boys that 

 are on the horses, " Mind that each of you be 

 very particular in speaking distinctly in counting 

 out the number of go-downs each of your horses 

 makes in emptying his bucket." Now, with re- 

 gard to the common size of stable buckets, they 

 are generally made to hold, when full to the 

 brim, three gallons and a half; but they are 

 rarely filled to this extent, as, for the convenience 

 of the boys carrying them, they seldom contain 

 more than three gallons. When, therefore, the 



