WATER. 283 



stance as they preach. They never give cold water when 

 the horse is hot. 



The Effects of Cold Water vary according to the quantity 

 given, and according to the state of the horse. Two or three 

 quarts will not do any harm, or at the most it will set the coat 

 on end. If the horse be very hot, this small quantity is very 

 refreshing to him, and may be given with perfect safety. If 

 the day be very warm, and the horse kept in gentle motion, 

 twice or thrice as much will do no harm, however warm the 

 horse may be. Yet none should be given till one or two 

 minutes after the horse is pulled up. Let him recover ms 

 wind for a minute before he drinks. A large quantity, say a 

 pailful, of very cold water, to a horse at rest, not heated by 

 exertion, may make him shiver, or it may produce pain in the 

 belly, cramp of the bowels. Both the shivering and the cramp 

 may be prevented by putting the horse in motion ; a brisk 

 walk or gentle trot. A horse much heated by exertion, which 

 has produced copious perspiration, will drink more than a 

 pailful, and the colder the water the more he will drink; if 

 he shiver, founder may be expected in the course of an hour 

 or two. If the same quantity be given when the horse is get- 

 ting cool, he is almost sure to take cramp of the bowels. So 

 far as my experience goes, it appears that cold water is most 

 dangerous, not when the skin is at its hottest, but when it is 

 becoming cool after being very warm. I have seen cold water 

 produce a kind of rheumatism. The horse is stiff all over, 

 and on one or more of his legs he is lame and cramped, and 

 it is several days before he recovers. I have never known 

 this happen except when the horse had drunk freely of cold 

 water, and eaten grain at the time he was much heated ; and 

 in all the cases he had been permitted to stand at rest. I re- 

 member only three cases of this kind, and it is possible the 

 rheumatism might not be altogether due to the treatment, I 

 suspect. This, however, a shivering fit, founder, and spas- 

 modic colic, are all the evils that cold water will produce. 

 I have never seen it produce any other. Their treatment, 

 their symptoms, and results, it would be improper to describe ; 

 but it may not be very much out of my province to mention 

 that shivering is prevented and cured by motion and clothing ; 

 and that cramp of the bowels may be cured by four ounces 

 of sweet spirits of nitre, given in a pint of warm milk, with 

 about a teaspoonful of ground ginger, mustard or pepper. 



To prevent these the watei must either be warmed, or it 

 must be given oftener and in smaller quantity, A very thirsty 



