116 WATERING. 



he may be greatly refreshed by a draught of warm gruel, or 

 in summer, of cold water containing a small quantity of 

 meal. To give some idea of the routine of feeding and 

 watering when great care is necessary, I include the system 

 of feeding and watering Mr. Bonner's famous trotting horse, 

 Dexter: 



" At six every morning, Dexter has all the water he wants, 

 and two quarts of oats. After eating, he is ' walked ' for 

 half an hour or more, then cleaned off, and at nine has two 

 quarts more of oats. If no drive is on the card for after- 

 noon, he is given a half to three-quarters of an hour of 

 gentle exercise. At one o'clock he has oats again, as before, 

 limited to two quarts. 



" From three to four, he is driven twelve to fifteen miles; 

 after which he is cleaned off and rubbed thoroughly dry. 



" He has a bare swallow of water on returning from the 

 drive, but is allowed free access to his only feed of hay, of 

 which he consumes from five to six pounds. 



"If the drive has been a particularly sharp one, he is 

 .treated as soon as he gets in, to a quart or two of oat meal 

 gruel; and when thoroughly cooled, has half a pail of 

 water and three quarts of oats, with two quarts of bran 

 moistened with hot water. 



"Before any specially hard day's work or trial of his 

 speed, his allowance of water is still more reduced." 



WATERING. 



If a large quantity of cold water is taken into the stomach 

 while the system is agitated and sensitive, by the circulation 

 being so increased as to open the pores of the skin freely, 

 it is liable to so chill the stomach as to derange the circula- 

 tion and close the pores of the skin, and thus excite some 

 one of the common alimentary derangements of colic or 

 inflammation of the bowels. Hard water, especially cold 

 well water, is more liable to cause mischief in this way than 

 soft water. Hard water will derange some horses, so much 

 as to show an almost immediate effect of causing the hair to 

 look rough or stare, the appetite deranged, if not indeed 

 preceded by colic or inflammation of the bowels; also, 

 horses that are raised and worked in the country, where the 

 water is strongly impregnated with lime, are troubled a 



