38 



again say it should be finely ground before being fed. Dry feed 

 is preferred by some, wet by others. Some claim that cut hay is 

 better than whole, while others consider a mixture of cut hay and 

 grain (cut feed) preferable to hay and grain fed separately. The 

 settlement of these questions must necessarily depend upon a 

 variety of circumstances, such as kind of food, peculiarities of 

 the individual, time allowed for eating, effects of cooking, etc. 

 To cut hay or grind grain for a horse with sound teeth and strong 

 digestive organs, and who has plenty of time for eating, is to 

 incur an unnecessary expense that is of little or no benefit to the 

 animal. The thorough mastication of food is natural for horses, 

 and essential for perfect insalivation and digestion. The average 

 daily secretion of saliva in the horse, according to Colin, is eighty- 

 four pounds. The gland is stimulated to secrete by the act of 

 mastication, especially so if the food is dry. If the hay is finely 

 cut or the grain ground so that it may be swallowed after little 

 mastication, we do not get the action of the saliva on the food or 

 the digestive organs that nature intended. That the presence of 

 saliva is essential to perfect gastric digestion is proved by the fact 

 that flatulence develops soon after eating, if the salivary glands 

 are destroyed, so that no saliva passes into the stomach with the 

 food. 



We also notice the influence of imperfect mastication on the pro- 

 duction of indigestion and colic in horses that " bolt" their feed. 

 Where the teeth have become badly worn, in old horses, or where 

 there is disease of them or other organs that prevents thorough 

 mastication, it is advantageous to cut the hay and crush or grind 

 the grain. If not done, much of the food passes into the stomach 

 and through the intestines whole. It is not digested, therefore 

 does the animal no good. It is practically wasted. More than 

 this, in passing through the intestines in large quantities it gives 

 rise to considerable irritation, and is liable to undergo fermenta- 

 tion. On this account, attacks of flatulent and spasmodic colic 

 are common among horses with irregular or diseased teeth. If a 

 horse acquires the habit of "bolting" the grain when ground, it 

 may be prevented by spreading it in a thin layer over the bottom 

 of the manger, or by mixing it in the manger with six or eight 

 smooth stones the size of the fist. 



Contrary to popular opinion, cooked grains, particularly oats, 

 are more difficult to digest than uncooked ones. By cooking I 

 refer to boiling. Smith says : " EUenberger and Hofmeister are 

 of the opinion that starch conversion in the stomach of the horse 

 occurs not only through the saliva swallowed, but by the develop- 

 ment of a ferment from the food. They found that oats could 



