220 THE HORSE 



who gives the first notice of the presence of a leech, as he it 

 is who is in a position to notice the stain of blood in the 

 mouth of the horse of his companion. 



Leeches are more difficult to remove from the nostrils of 

 a horse, as they are troublesome to reach if they are located 

 some distance up ; but fortunately it is not so common for 

 the intruders to locate themselves there as in the mouth, 

 and it is more usual to find them in the nostrils of cattle 

 than of horses. Indeed, the writer has never personally 

 met with a case of a horse having a leech in its nostril, and 

 therefore he never had an opportunity of testing a native 

 plan for extracting them. This is to keep the animal for a 

 considerable time without water, and then to place a saucer- 

 ful close to its nose but not allowing it actually to touch 

 it, when it is said the leech, being in want of sufficient 

 moisture, will partly emerge from the nostril in an endea- 

 vour to reach the water, and may then be suddenly plucked 

 away. Whether this is the case or not, if the emergency 

 arose, it would be a remedy at any rate worth trying. 



The principal points, then, in watering horses may be 

 summed up in the following : — 



Water horses before feeding them. 



Give soft water in preference to hard. 



Take the chill off if the water is very cold. 



Let water always be present if it can be arranged without 

 inconvenience. 



Forage. 



The next item to consider is the forage, and in this is 

 included not merely hay and corn, but also the extra 

 adjuncts of linseed, bran, carrots, and sundries, which not 

 only tempt the appetite but also tend largely to the pro- 

 motion of health. Although straw has considerable feeding 

 value it is comparatively little used in this country, and 

 when it is given it is generally chopped fine and mixed with 

 hay treated in a similar fashion ; but in Southern countries 

 it is used almost entirely, the reason probably being that 

 hay is seldom made, for grass is too precious a commodity 

 for grazing stock to be preserved in the form of hay. 



