234 STABLE ECONOMY. 



several hours of continuous exeit.ion, the waste of nutriment 

 is greater than when the distance is short, or the work soon 

 over, and the abstinence must be regulated accordingly. For 

 a long road, the sooner a horse is fit to begin his task after 

 feeding, the less will he be exhausted at the end of it. 



To prevent, in some degree, the debility of abstinence when 

 the work forbids food, it is not unusual, I believe, to give a 

 little spirits of wine. Between the heats of a race a pint of 

 sherry or two glasses of brandy may be given in a quart of 

 w r ater. The horse will drink it, and I do not know of any 

 objection to such a practice. The energy it inspires is over 

 in about an hour, and it is not developed in less than ten 

 minutes. From ten to fifteen minutes before running is 

 therefore the proper time to give it ; the horse may run in 

 five, but in that case the race will be over before the stimulant 

 operates. [We must discountenance spirituous stimulants to 

 give temporary energy. If any be necessary, a nervous one 

 should be used.] 



I have said that the only evil arising from prolonged absti- 

 nence is exhaustion. There is, however, one more, and 

 though of little consequence, it deserves notice. When the 

 stomach is empty, and the bowels containing very little, the 

 horse is sometimes troubled with flatulence. The bowels 

 seem to contain a good deal of air. They are noisy : the 

 horse has slight intermitting colicky pains, which do not last 

 above a minute, are never violent, and cease as the air is ex- 

 pelled. I have never known this require any particular 

 treatment ; but a little spirits, or half a dose of the colic mix- 

 ture, or a feed of oats, or a cordial ball, removes it at once. 



Inabstinence. — It often happens that horses who are much 

 in the stable, and receiving an unlimited allowance of 

 food, are never permitted to fast. They get food so often, 

 and so much at a time, that they always have some before 

 them. This is not right. A short fast produces an appetite, 

 and induces the horse to eat more, upon the whole, than 

 when he is cloyed by a constant supply. If not on full work, 

 the horse eats too much, although not so much as he would 

 after short and periodical fasts. Still he eats more than his 

 work demands. He should not have an unlimited quantity. 

 The food is wasted, and the horse becomes too fat. But 

 when the work is so laborious that the digestive apparatus 

 can not furnish more nutriment than the system consumes, 

 then the more the horse eats the better ; and a short fast 

 prior to every feeding houi creates an appetite. When grain 



