12 HORSES: 



on bread and water ; and that, because of this, and 

 the absence of all the hot, stimulating articles, solid 

 or fluid, indulged in by their owners, their regular 

 and moderate diet of uncooked food, and their superior 

 hygiene in certain essential matters, our horses are 

 saved, in great measure, from becoming fat, sick, 

 mean, wheezy, or dyspeptic, like their masters and 

 mistresses — men, women, and children." 



And yet horses do, after all, fall prey to all these 

 degraded conditions. In spite of the naturalness and 

 w^holesomeness of their diet, as to variety and quality, 

 and in face of the most solicitous and painstaking 

 care, we too often see them the subject of tedious 

 and painful disorders, and of course there is a reason 

 for it. 



NON-VENTILATION. 



One of the principal causes of disease among horses 

 as among human beings is foul air. In large stables 

 this cause operates effectually, for seldom is there 

 any good arrangement for ventilating, least of all, 

 any efficient means for maintaining even an approx- 

 imately pure atmosphere. On the contrary, every 

 precaution is taken, in cold weather, to prevent the 

 entrance of fresh air, without which the vitiated air 

 must remain unchanged, loaded, as it is, with the 

 foul emanations from the urine-soaked floors and 

 from the lungs and bodies of the animals imprisoned 

 therein. Here, as nowhere else, is illustrated that 

 most stupid of all economies, viz. : the " saving of 

 fold air for the sake of its warmth." This is largely 

 due to the overestimate of the necessity of keeping 



