32 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



appetite with which they return shows that the stomach is not 

 full. 



During fast work digestion is suspended. In the general 

 commotion excited by violent exertion, the stomach can hardly 

 be in a favorable condition for performing its duty. The blood 

 circulates too rapidly-to permit the formation of gastric juice, 

 or its combination with the food ; and the blood and the nerv- 

 ous influence are so exclusively concentrated and expended 

 upon the muscular system, that none can be spared for carry- 

 ing on the digestive process. 



3. Bulk Essential. Condensed food is necessary for fast- 

 working horses. Their food must be in less compass than that 

 of the farm or cart horse. But to this condensation there are 

 some limits. Grain affords all, and more than all, the nutri- 

 ment a horse is capable of consuming, even under the most 

 extraordinary exertion. His stomach and bowels can hold 

 more than they are able to digest. Something more than nu- 

 triment is wanted. The bowels must suffer a moderate degree 

 of distension ; more than a wholesome allowance of grain can 

 produce. 



When hay is very dear and grain cheap, it is customary in 

 many stables to give less than the usual allowance of hay, and 

 more grain. The alteration is sometimes carried too far, and 

 is often made too suddenly. The horses may have as much 

 grain as they will eat, yet it does not suffice without fodder. 

 Having no hay, they will leave the grain to eat the litter. 

 "When the ordinary fodder, then, is very dear, its place must 

 be supplied by some other which will produce a wholesome 

 distension, though it may not yield so much nutriment. Straw 

 or roots, either or both, may be used in such cases. The ex- 

 cessively tucked-up flank, and the horse's repeated efforts to 

 eat his litter, show when his food is not of sufficient bulk, and 

 this indication must not be disregarded. 



4. Quantity of Food. The quantity of food may be insuffi- 

 cient, or it may be in excess. The consumption is influenced 

 by the work, the weather, the horse's condition, age, temper, 



