BULLETINS 



Copies of all Bulletins may be had on application 



NO. 1— WATERING AND BEDDING 



FIRST ISSUED IN 1909 



During the past five months an agent of 

 this Association has visited 157 stables, 

 inckiding ahiiost all the large livery and 

 boarding stables in Boston and the neigh- 

 boring cities and towns. One object of 

 these inspections was to ascertain the prac- 

 tice in regard to watering the horses during 

 the night, after they have eaten their hay, 

 and in regard to bedding them in the day 

 time, as well as at night, especially on 

 Sundays. The agent submits the follow- 

 ing report: — 



THE 



WATERING OF 

 NIGHT 



HORSES AT 



In most cases all the hay which horses 

 in the city receive is fed to them at night. 

 It is therefore especially important that 

 they should be watered during the night. 

 In an inspection of over 150 of the leading 

 livery and boarding stables in Boston and 

 the vicinity, particular attention was paid 

 to this matter. All authorities agree, and 

 experience teaches, that city horses should 

 be watered between 8 P. M. (9 P. M. would 

 be better) and midnight; but it was found 

 that less than half of the stables visited 

 give their horses water after 7 P. M. 



And yet more stablemen volunteered in- 

 formation on this subject than upon any 

 other matter considered in the five months 

 during w^hich the investigations were made. 

 " A horse comes in hungry," was the usual 

 wa\' of putting it, " and he wants his sup- 

 per so much that he will drink but little; 

 and he ought not to drink deeply at that 

 time, even if he wants to. Then he eats 

 a quantity of dry, heating food. He 

 shouldn't have water right after eating; 

 but if he doesn't get a good drink two or 

 three hours later, he will go through the 

 night thirsty, and the heating food will 

 burn out his insides for the lack of tiie 

 water that is needed to give the nourish- 

 ment of the food a chance to do the good it 



ought to be doing." Moreover, a horse not 

 watered at night is very apt to drink too 

 much in the morning. 



This night-watering is not only common 

 humanity in hot weather, but it is almost 

 equally valuable in winter. For appetite 

 comes with the bracing effect of cold 

 weather, and horses eat more than they do 

 in summer. Consequently, if this extra 

 food is to do its part in giving the horse 

 power to resist the cold and the strain of 

 winter work, water must be given at the 

 time when it will do the most good, which 

 is, in most cases, between 8 and 10 P. M., 

 or even later. Nothing does so much 

 toward giving back a return for the food 

 given in the way of extra strength, working 

 endurance and good condition. 



The effect of this night-watering on the 

 blood and general circulation is far-reach- 

 ing. The thirst that follows the digestion 

 of a meal is the call of nature for the water 

 that is needed to help the good of the food 

 to get into the flesh and blood of the ani- 

 mal; and equally important is the part 

 played by the water in sending the waste 

 matter out of the body with the least pos- 

 sible wear and tear on the organs that per- 

 form this indispensable duty. A horse that 

 remains thirsty all night cannot be ex- 

 pected to last so long as one that is watered 

 at the proper time.* 



*At a men's club near Boston, I was once making 

 an address about horses, in the course of which I 

 urged the necessity of night watering. A man in the 

 audience, who proved to be the night watchman in 

 a large stable near by, declared that he knew of a 

 stable where the horses were not watered at night, 

 and would not drink even if they had the opportu- 

 nity. I asked his permission to test the horses in 

 this respect, and we went to the stable at about eleven 

 o'clock. There were twenty horses, and we unfas- 

 tened them, one after another, so that they could 

 go to the watering trough if they so desired. It was 

 a bitterly cold night in midwinter, but of the twenty 

 horses all but one drank, and several drank so much 

 that I feared they would have colic in consequence. 



H. C. M. 



132 



