PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING. 229 



order my patients to live on plain food, on that which does 

 not tempt excess ; and I tell them to eat when they are hun- 

 gry, and to desist when satisfied. It is thus I treat my horse," 

 continued he ; "I give him plain wholesome food, as much 

 as he likes, and when he likes." 



This is sufficiently absurd ; it is a common way of speak- 

 ing only with the ignorant. It might be a very good rule, if 

 there were no food for the horse but grass, and none for man 

 but bread. Horses may eat more grain, and men more beef 

 than their work requires ; or the plain, wholesome nourish- 

 ment, as it is called, may not suffice for certain kinds of 

 work. It is this, it is the work which renders care and sys- 

 tem so necessary in the feeding of horses. Men have to 

 work, too, but very few have labor bearing any resemblance 

 to that of the horse, and those few are compelled to regulate 

 their diet by rules which are not known to the bulk of man- 

 kind. The diver, the boxer, the runner, and the wrestler, 

 must not live like other men. The fermentable nature of the 

 horse's food, and the peculiar structure of his stomach which 

 forbids vomition, and the abstinence from food and drink oc- 

 casionally required by the work, are other circumstances 

 which demand particular attention to the mode of feeding. 



Slow Work aids digestion, empties the bowels, and sharp- 

 ens the appetite. Hence it happens that on Sunday night 

 and Monday morning there are more cases of colic and 

 founder than during any other part of the week. Horses 

 that never want an appetite ought not to have an unlimited 

 allowance of hay on Sunday ; they have time to eat a great 

 deal more than they need, and the torpid state of the stomach 

 and bowels produced by a day of idleness, renders an ad- 

 ditional quantity very dangerous. 



By slow work, I mean that which is performed at a walk, 

 not that which hurries the breathing, or produces copious 

 perspiration. The moderate exertion of which I speak does 

 not, as some might suppose, interfere with the digestive pro- 

 cess. It is attended with some waste ; there is some ex- 

 penditure of nutriment, and that seems to excite activity in 

 the digestive apparatus for the purpose of replacing the loss. 

 Farm and cart-horses are fed immediately before commencing 

 their labor, and the appetite with which they return shows 

 that the stomach is not full ; but, 



During Fast Work digestion is suspended. — In the gene- 

 ral commotion excited by violent exertion, the stomach can 

 hardly be in a favorable condition for performing its duty 



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