23 



straw, or fodder. Long or uncut haj should also be fed, even though 

 a certain amount of hay or straw is cut and fed mixed with grain. 



One objection to feeding cut ha}^ mixed with ground or crushed 

 grains, and wetted, must not be overlooked during the hot months. 

 Such food is apt to undergo fermentation if not fed directly after it is 

 mixed, and the mixing-trough even, vinless frequently scalded and 

 cleaned, becomes sour and enough of its scrapings are given with the 

 food to produce flatulent (wind) colic. A small amount of salt should 

 always be mixed with such food. 



Bad hay should never be cut simply because it insures a greater con- 

 sumption of it; bad foods are dear at any price and should never be 

 fed. We have before spoken of the advantage of boiling roots. Not 

 only does this render them less liable to produce digestive disorders, 

 but it also makes them clean. Boiling or steaming grains is to be 

 recommended when the teeth are poor, or when the digestive organs 

 are weak. Of ensilage as a food for horses I have no experience, but 

 am inclined to think that (and tliis opinion is based upon the imper- 

 fect manner in which the crop is often stored) disordered digestion 

 would be more frequent were it extensively fed. 



DISEASES OF THE TEETH. 



Dentition. — This covers the period during which the J'oung horse is 

 cutting his teeth, from birth to the age of five years. With the horse 

 more difliculty is experienced in cutting the second or permanent teeth 

 than with the first or milk teeth. There is a tendency among farmers 

 and many veterinarians to pay too little attention to the teeth of young 

 horses. Percivall relates an instance illustrative of this, that is best 

 told in his own words: 



I was requested to give my opinion concerning a horse, then in his fifth year, 

 who had fed so sparingly for the last fortnight, and so rapidlj- declined in condi- 

 tion in consequence, that his owner, a veterinary surgeon, was under no light 

 apprehensions about his life. He had himself examined his mouth, \A-ithout hav- 

 ing discovered any defect or disease; thougli another veterinary surgeon was of 

 opinion that the difficulty or inability manifested in mastication, and the conse- 

 quent cudding, arose from preternatural bluntness of the surfaces of the molar 

 teeth, which were, in consequence filed, but without beneficial result. It was 

 after this that I saw the horse; and I confess I was, at mj first examination, qiTite 

 as much at a loss to offer any satisfactory interpretation as others had been. 

 While meditating, however, after my insi)ection, on the apparently extraordinarj- 

 nature of the case, it struck me that I had not seen the tusks. I went back into 

 the stable and discovered two little tumors, red and hard, in the situation of the 

 inferior tusks, which, when pressed, gave the animal insufferable pain. I instantly 

 took out my pocket-knife and made crucial incisions through them both, down to 

 the coming teeth, from which moment the horse recovered his appetite and by 

 degrees his wonted condition. 



The mouths of young horses should also bo frequently examined 

 to see if one or more of the milk teeth are not remaining too long, 



