ON WATERING HORSES 73 



within an incredibly brief period." The obvious lesson 

 these considerations teach ns is, that we should not be 

 chary in allowing a horse to drink when he wants to do 

 so, except indeed after feeding. 



One of the popular errors about watering horses is, 

 that they should be stinted of water for several hours 

 before doing fast work, on the plea that it affects their 

 wind. As the water which becomes part and parcel of 

 the blood, cannot by any possibility impede the organs 

 of breathing, it follows that its unabsorbed portion alone 

 can affect them ; but we have just seen that the whole of 

 the water is taken up with extreme rapidity, so that, after 

 a short time, there is none left in the stomach or intestines 

 to cause any impediment. On the contrary, stinting a 

 horse with water will directly affect his wind, for the 

 blood will then gradually become thickened, and, if the 

 animal be put to violent exertion, will fail to circulate 

 through the lungs with requisite freedom; besides that, 

 the action of the heart will become impeded, and the 

 nutrition of the system more or less arrested. 



If a horse has been deprived of water for a consider- 

 able time, we should exercise some caution in watering 

 him, lest he may drink a larger quantity than can readily 

 be taken up; for the unabsorbed portion — especially if 

 the fluid be given cold — may cause serious derangement. 

 When a horse is heated by exercise, his system will 

 absorb water far more readily than when he is cool ; hence, 

 under the former condition, there is far less risk in giving 

 a liberal supply, than under the latter, always supposing 

 that the water is not very cold: in which case, there 

 would be danger of injury from nervous shock. General 



