32 Domestic ANIMALS. 
appetite with which they return shows that the stomach is not 
full. 
During fast work digestion is suspended. In the general 
commotion excited by violent exertion, the stomach can hardly 
be in a favorable condition for performing its duty. The blood 
circulates too rapidly to permit the formation of gastric juice 
or its combination with the food; and the blood and the nerv- 
ous influence are so exclusively concentrated and expended 
upon the muscular system, that none can be spared for carry- 
ing on the digestive process. 
8. Bulk Essential Condensed food is necessary for fast- 
working horses. Their food must be in less compass than that 
of the farm or cart horse. But to this condensation there are 
some limits, Grain affords all, and more than all, the nutri- 
ment a horse is capable of consuming, even under the most 
extraordinary exertion. His stomach and bowels can hold 
more than they are able to digest. Something more than nu- 
triment is wanted. The bowels must suffer a moderate degree 
of distension; more than a wholesome allowance of grain can 
produce. 
When hay is very dear and grain cheap, it is customary in 
many stables to give less than the usual allowance of hay, and 
more grain. The alteration is sometimes carried too far, and 
is often made too suddenly. The horses may have as much 
grain as they will eat, yet it does not suffice without fodder. 
Having no hay, they will leave the grain to eat the litter. 
When the ordinary fodder, then, is very dear, its place must 
be supplied by some other which will produce a wholesome 
distension, though it may not yield so much nutriment. Straw 
or roots, either or both, may be used in such cases. The ex- 
cessively tucked-up flank, and the horse’s repeated efforts to 
eat his litter, show when his food is not of sufficient bulk, and 
this indication must not be disregarded. 
4, Quantity of Mood.—The quantity of food may be insufii- 
cient, or it may be in excess, The consumption is influenced 
by the work, the weather, the horse’s condition, age, temper, 
