CHAPTEK VI 



PKACTICAL EULES FOR FEEDING AND WATERING HORSES 



From the theoretical considerations detailed in the two 

 preceding chapters, and from the results of experience, we 

 may draw the following conclusions : — 



1. The horse's corn should be given dry, except when 

 the grain — such as linseed, hulthee, etc. — is too hard, in its 

 natural condition, to be properly masticated ; when, from 

 old age and other causes, the animal's powers of chewing 

 are impaired ; and when the appetite has to be humoured 

 in sickness. 



The only way I can account for the Indian practice — 

 now happily falling into disuse — of steeping gram in water 

 before giving it to the horse, is that it is done with the 

 idea of causing the gram to swell as much as possible 

 before entering the stomach, in order that it may not do 

 so after arriving there, especially if the animal be subse- 

 quently supplied with water. Those who adopt such a 

 precaution, entirely ignore the fact that it is the evolution 

 of gas — resulting from the decomposition of the food — 

 which produces flatulent colic and rupture of the stomach, 

 and not any swelling of the gram, which, if it be given 

 dry — as we have previously seen — will become saturated 



