ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 167 



Hay requires to be thoroughly chewed and mixed with 

 saliva before it can be swallowed. When it reaches the stomach 

 it is delayed there but a short time, and passes to the small in- 

 testine, where the greater part of its digestion is performed. 

 If a horse is fed only hay, the first portion of his meal passes 

 into the intestine very soon, but the stomach retains the suc- 

 ceeding portions for a longer time, and it is several hours before 

 the stomach is empty. In this way the muscles of the stomach 

 get the necessary amount of exercise to keep them in proper 

 condition. 



Oats, however, and other concentrated foods are digested 

 almost entirely in the stomach; when they pass into the in- 

 testine much of their bulk is rapidly absorbed by the lacteals, 

 and there is little left for the intestine to work on. The result 

 is that the horse is still restless and hungry. If this one-sided 

 ration is continually given him, he will fall off faster than he 

 would do if fed hay alone, and this in spite of the fact that oats 

 contain more elements of nourishment than hay does. Horses 

 given an insufficient amount of hay will eat their bedding, or 

 any rough food they can get, to satisfy the craving for intestinal 

 exercise. Poor hay — that is not musty or dusty — and wheat, 

 rye, or barley straw, although they may contain practically no 

 nourishing qualities, will preserve the strength and health of a 

 horse in a remarkable degree. On this account horses on cam- 

 paign, or in places where good hay is hard to get, ought always 

 to be provided with rough forage of some sort, no matter how 

 poor in nourishing qualities. 



The normal processes of digestion must not be interfered 

 with, or sickness or debility will result. A certain amount of 

 the digestion of food is done in the mouth, where the chemical 

 action of the saliva prepares the food for the further action of 

 the stomach. In order that the saliva can reach every part of 

 each mouthful of food, it must be broken up by the teeth. This 

 process is necessarily done in the case of hay, but oats are al- 

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