HYGIENE AND SANITATION. I9 



powerful bearing upon health that it cannot be omitted. First. 

 See that your service tanks are regularly and not un frequently 

 cleaned out. Second. Be sure that no contaminating source from 

 drains or otherwise can come in contact with your water supply. 

 Third. H your horses are constantly supplied with water in the 

 stall, be sure that the supply is changed at least twice daily, so as 

 to avoid the passible contamination from gases originating from 

 putrefactive sources. Fourth. Let your water supply be natural 

 soft water if possible; but should it come from a hard spring, by 

 all means ha\-e it boiled in order to counteract the influence ex- 

 ercised upon the digestive organs by the minerals naturally held 

 in solution, which are capable of acting upon the system much as 

 a drug does when administered as a poison. vShould this sugges- 

 tion of the boiling appear to the practical mind of some horse 

 owner, a vague, theoretical, and impracticable sort of idea, which 

 he has not the patience to carry out, then let him see to it that 

 this hard, cold spring water is collected in a tank exposed to the 

 sun's rays for a few hours before it is used; this is the next best 

 thing, but do not fail to understand that much more care is neces- 

 .sary with regard to water supply than is generally acknowledged 

 if you desire to do the best you can for your horses to keep them 

 in health. There is one more point worthy ot consideration be- 

 fore leaving this subject of water, and whereas it is one upon 

 which practical horsemen differ it deserves a special word: " When 

 is the best time to allow a hard-worked horse to drink ? " 



In coming to a definite opinion upon this vexed question it be- 

 hooves the practical man to bear in mind the anatomy of the horse; 

 First. Remember that the stomach of the horse, compared with 

 other parts of the body, is decidedly small; Second. That he is 

 supplied with a large bag-.shaped compartment in the intestinal 

 tract, which forms a sort of cul de sac and is called the Caecum 

 which serves the purpose of what may be described a water 

 stomach: when a horse drinks, the fluid does not remain any 

 length of time in the digestive stomach but quickly passes on to 

 the Caecum and from thence is distributed over the body. Now 

 this being the case it points distinctly to the desirability of allow- 

 ing the horse to partake of such an amount of fluid as the 

 natural call of thirst demands before taking food, because the 

 water which has passed on to the Caecum will serve the purpose of 



