CAUSES OF INDIGESTION 109 



long abstinence also necessitates care. A horse 

 that has had his stomach empty for a long time, 

 whether fatigued or not, is usually ravenous for 

 his food, and is apt to consume a full allowance 

 of concentrated food too hurriedly to permit di- 

 gestion to go on satisfactorily. The old plan of 

 giving a little thin warm gruel to a fatigued fast- 

 ing horse is a good one, in order to prepare him 

 for his full meal later on. It is not always con- 

 venient to furnish this, however, and the next 

 best plan is to give a couple of quarts of water 

 and a little hay, to get the stomach into working 

 order before the full meal of concentrated food 

 is given, preceded by more water. 



The quantity of food to be allowed a horse is 

 not only an important matter of study from the 

 standpoint of economy, but is a very material 

 one to consider in connection with the question 

 of preventing digestive disorders. The statement 

 can hardly be gainsaid that decidedly the most 

 prolific source of ailments of the digestive tract 

 is overfeeding. Farmers who raise their own feed 

 are possibly the worst offenders in this respect, 

 and particularly in the overfeeding of bulky food, 

 or what is called by some roughage. An enor- 

 mous amount of hay is thus wasted throughout 

 the country, and injury done to many horses. It 

 is really not an exaggeration to state that fully 

 half the amount of hay fed to horses in the rural 



