STABLE MANAGEMENT 215 



and enough may be added to take off the extreme coldness 

 of the water. In this manner ahiiost any cottage can 

 supply a drink to a tired and thirsty horse after a severe 

 run, when no gruel can be obtained for its refreshment. 



As to the kind of water for permanent use, it should be 

 soft rather than hard, and this so accords with the tastes of 

 the horse that he will drink indifferent soft water in 

 preference to good hard water ; but if the choice is to be 

 made between good and bad soft water, he is sufficiently a 

 connoisseur to prefer the former. Hard water contains a 

 number of mineral salts, some of which may be prejudicial, 

 and when no other supply can be obtained these con- 

 stituents may be somewhat precipitated by boiling. Water 

 drawn from tanks or reservoirs, which are fed by the rain- 

 fall accumulated on roofs, should never be used unless 

 boiled and filtered, especially if the roofs happen to be of 

 thatch. In dry weather birds are certain to sit about on 

 such places, and contaminate them accordingly, and when 

 the first flush of rain occurs much deleterious matter is 

 swept into the receptacles used for conserving the rainfall. 

 The writer has known a very serious outbreak of fever occur 

 in a large racing establishment from this cause, since the 

 water from the roofs had found its way into a well which 

 supplied the water for a particular set of stabling ; and it 

 was the animals there domiciled who alone were stricken 

 with the illness which broke out at the end of a prolonged 

 drought. 



Since horses are susceptible to a change of water, more 

 especially if it is to hard water after being accustomed to 

 drinking soft, they should be closely observed whenever a 

 change of locality takes place. When their charges are 

 engaged in a very important race some very careful trainers 

 bring a sufficient supply from their own stables, if they are 

 not satisfied with what they are likely to obtain in the 

 neighbourhood of the race-course ; and if water was not 

 such a bulky article, perhaps this would be a still commoner 

 practice than it is now. Moreover, water requires to be 

 very pure not to suffer ill-effects from the shaking on a 

 long journey, especially if it has to stand for two or three 



