118 ESSAYS ON HORSE SUBJECTS 



oats and barley, given every evening. This is a 

 very good plan, particularly for sale horses. It 

 is a good rule to follow with hard-worked horses, 

 that if they happen to stand in for a day, a mash 

 should be substituted for their evening meal of 

 grain. With horses that work hard and regu- 

 larly six days in the week, the general custom of 

 giving the mash on Saturday evening is a good 

 one ; but in the case of horses that may be left in 

 for the day at irregular intervals, it is usually 

 the best plan to give simply a mash for the even- 

 ing meal instead of grain. 



Veterinarians meet with a frequently fatal dis- 

 ease called by them azoturia, which in almost all 

 cases is a preventable disease, due to an error in 

 feeding. It usually occurs in horses used to regu- 

 lar work and good feed being kept idle for a 

 few days and getting as much feed as when they 

 are working. It has been found in large stables 

 that with the carrying out of the rule that if a 

 horse does not go out during the day he shall have 

 no grain in the evening, but only a mash, there 

 will be very few, if any, of these cases. 



Indiscretion in watering horses sometimes leads 

 to derangement of the digestive organs. The 

 chief trouble arises from allowing too long in- 

 tervals to elapse in watering. Under normal 

 conditions water may be given as often as it will 

 be taken, and it is rare that a horse will take too 



