OP DRINK. 
347 
before it is used ; or if a cart-load or two of clay or chalk 
be thrown into the well, it will greatly improve the water. 
It has likewise been found that breaking down a piece of 
clay, about the size of an apple, in a pailful of hard water, 
before it is given to a horse to drink, morning and evening, 
has produced a considerable change in their coats. 
Indeed it will be found where horses are obliged to drink 
hard water, they are for the most part rough-haired, and at 
the same time have a great deal of dusty matter at the 
roots of their coats, even though they are well curried and 
brushed every day ; from which we infer this is occasioned 
by the bad quality of the water they drink. 
In cases where stagnant water can only be procured in 
summer, unslacked lime will materially improve it; but 
ground charcoal will render even the most impure water 
sweet and wholesome. 
When horses are warm, they should never be allowed 
more than a few mouthfuls of water; neither should they 
be permitted to drink too freely while on a journey, or while 
they are subjected to any active employment. But when 
they have cooled, two or three quarts may be given to them, 
and after that their feed. Before finishing their corn, two or 
three quarts more may be offered them. 
If horses refuse their food after travelling, it is a bad 
sign of them, as a healthy and vigorous animal will always 
feed well after he is properly cooled down and has had 
a drink ; and when horses do refuse their food on a journey, 
they ought not to be again made to travel that day, or 
at least for some considerable time afterwards, and not until 
they have taken their feed. 
Horses will invariably, if left to themselves, prefer soft to 
hard water, and when cool may be allowed to drink their 
fill, and no evil will result therefrom. Instinct or expe- 
