EKOKEX WIND. 629 



on the use of hay and dry forage, inasmuch as the malady 

 never developes itself in horses chiefly fed on the straws of 

 cereals and barley. Green food does not produce broken 

 wind. 



We are inclined to think that broken wind depends more 

 on the feeding of horses than on any other cause. In some 

 countries, the hay is bad, rushy, coarse, and often musty 

 A large quantity of such food, with a very moderate supply 

 of corn, tends to produce a pod-belly, and interferes with 

 the organs of respiration. In this country, it is more the 

 cart-horses and bad-bred coach-horses that suffer from the 

 disease, and frequently from their injudicious management as 

 regards feeding. 



Professor Coleman attributes broken wind to the fact that 

 horses are compelled to perform exertion on a full stomach, 

 and that one of the most common causes is riding or driving 

 a horse hard which has previously drunk a large quantity of 

 water. The experience of coaching days is brought to bear 

 by Professor Coleman, who mentions in his lectures that 

 post or coach horses never become broken-winded when used 

 on the road, and no animals with this disorder were seen in 

 the coaches, except such as were bought affected with it. 

 He attributed this to the manner in which they were fed, 

 each horse having probably 20 Ibs. of oats daily, but not more 

 than 5 Ib. of hay, and no water before work. They were 

 driven fast and long, but were not subject to broken wind on 

 such treatment. Coleman went on to say that farmers' and 

 millers' horses are most disposed to this disease, because 

 they feed them largely with hay and chaff and mealy food, 

 which blows them out enormously, and then they are worked 

 without discretion. 'Nimrod' confirms Coleman's state- 

 ment. He says that, in the stables of the fast coaches, 

 horses were only allowed half rations of hay (28 Ibs.) each for 



