ON THE MANAGEMENT OF FARM HORSES. 175 
The stomach of the horse is comparatively small, holding about 
three gallons, whilst the ox possesses no less than four stomachs, 
the first of which is considerably larger than that of the horse. 
This difference shews, what indeed the habits of these animals 
also demonstrate, that whilst the ox is so constructed as to con- 
sume a large quantity of food at a meal, the horse, on the other, 
is adapted to consume a moderate quantity, and often. If such a 
mass of food as is often found in the maw of the ox were con- 
tained in the stomach of the horse, it would be impossible for this 
animal to perform those exertions he is often called upon to 
accomplish ; for the loaded stomach presses against the midriff or 
diaphragm, the muscle of respiration, and would thus materially 
retard or prevent its action. The internal surface of the stomach 
of the horse is worthy of particular notice. One half, or that 
nearest the cardiac orifice, as the entry to the stomach is termed, 
is lined by a white coat called the cuticular, from its being com- 
paratively insensible, like the cuticle or outer skin ; and the other 
half has a reddish coloured coat, called the villous, which is not 
only sensible, but secretes the gastric juice, by which the food is 
converted into chyme. This chymification, as the first act of 
digestion is termed, is thus accomplished by means of the acid of 
the gastric juice; and small as the stomach is, yet only one-half is 
really devoted to the process of digestion, the other moiety acting 
as a reservoir for the food. Now, it is a well-known fact, that in 
proportion to the exertions of an animal is the expenditure of the 
muscular system, and the consequent necessity for an equivalent 
supply of nutriment. 
If, therefore, bearing this in mind, we consider the smallness of 
the stomach of the horse, it seems evident that he was intended 
by nature to consume concentrated food, such as grain, and the 
formation of the molar teeth strongly corroborates this view of the 
matter. These molar teeth, or grinders, as they are commonly 
and very expressively termed, are broader and less cutting than 
those of the ox, but decidedly better adapted for grinding corn, as 
in a mill; for the teeth of the upper and lower jaws do not exactly 
correspond, but the teeth of the latter are narrower as well as the 
jaw itself; so that the lower jaw is moved from side to side, and 
the grain is thus triturated and ground, as between two mill- 
stones. 
With this information on the structure of the masticatory and 
digestive apparatus of the horse, it is impossible to arrive at the 
conclusion that such poor and bulky food as straw or roots is a 
wholesome and nutritious diet for working horses. It is, indeed, 
as unwholesome and unnutritious as it is for man to live entirely 
on potatoes. With such food, neither the quadruped nor the biped 
is capable of doing a fair day’s work without great exhaustion. 
