INDIGESTION OF THE FOOD. 225 



said that an overloaded stomach is one, particularly when 

 water is given either immediately before, or immediately af- 

 ter an extraordinary allowance of food ; but water directly 

 after even an ordinary meal is never very safe. [It suspends 

 digestion and occasions fermentation.] Another cause is vi- 

 olent exertion on a full stomach ; a third cause, is a sudden 

 change of diet, from hay, for instance, to grass, or from oats 

 to barley ; but an allowance, particularly a large allowance, of 

 any food to which the horse has not been accustomed, is lia- 

 ble to produce colic. Some articles produce it oftener than 

 others. Raw potatoes, carrots, turnips, green food, seem 

 more susceptible of fermentation than hay or oats, barley 

 more than beans ; wheat and pease more than barley. Such 

 at least they have seemed to me ; but it is probable that in 

 the cases from which I have drawn my conclusions, sudden 

 change and quantity may have had as much to do in pro- 

 ducing colic, as the fermentable nature of the food. Haste 

 in feeding is a common cause ; if the horse swallow his food 

 very greedily, without sufficient mastication, he is very liable 

 to colic. 



Heavy draught-horses are almost the only subjects of colic, 

 and among the owners of them it is difficult to meet with an 

 old farmer or carter who has not lost more than one. Light, 

 fast-working horses are rarely troubled with it, and few die 

 of it. The diffisrence is easily explained. Heavy, slow- 

 working horses are long in the yoke, they fast till their appe- 

 tite is like a raven's ; when they come home they get a large 

 quantity of grain all at once, and they devour it in such haste 

 that it is not properly masticated, and the stomach is sud- 

 denly overloaded. Possibly the quantity may not be very 

 great, yet it is eaten too fast. The juice by which the food 

 should be digested can not be made in such a hurry, at least 

 not enough of it ; and add to this the rapid distension of the 

 stomach ; more deliberate mastication and deglutition would 

 enable this organ to furnish the requisite quantity of gastric 

 juice, and to dilate sufficiently to contain the food with ease. 

 In fast feeding, the stomach is taken too much by surprise. 



Light horses are usually fed oftener, and with more regu- 

 larity. They receive grain so often that they are not so fond 

 of it ; not disposed to eat too much ; and the nature of their 

 work often destroys the appetite, even when abstinence has 

 been unusually prolonged. 



The bulk of the food, however, has a great deal to do with 

 this disease. An overloaded stomach will produce it in any 



