BROKEN WIND. 
85 
Dr. Law also recommends corn-fodder for broken-winded 
horses, stating that it is laxative food, and says rye-straw is 
better than hay for such horses. 
Now it seems to be the general idea that clover hay is bad 
food for a heavey horse: i. Because it-is bulky ; 2. Because 
it is dusty ; 3. The horse loves it and so will eat much of it. 
And prairie hay is supposed to be good food for a heavey 
horse, 1. Because it is not so bulky; 2. It is not dusty; 3. 
The horse is not so apt to overeat of it ; 4. Because it contains 
more or less rosin weed. 
Let us remove the objectionable features of clover hay 
and see the result. 
We will take a heavey horse and feed him dampened 
clover hay in small quantities, thus doing away with all ob¬ 
jections to it as regards bulk, dust and overeating. Now it 
should be as good as corn-fodder, but we find it is not, 
although it is much better than before. There is then some 
other difference. Is it not to be partly accounted for by the 
difference in chemical composition ? Consider these facts: 
A dog when fed upon meat uses but 75 per cent, of the oxy¬ 
gen he takes up, in the formation of carbon dioxide. The 
principal part of the remainder goes to oxidize the nitrogen¬ 
ous food and convert it into urea. When fed upon vegetable 
food he uses 90 to 95 per cent, of the oxygen taken up, in the 
formation of carbon dioxide. 
If more albuminous food be eaten than is necessary the 
extra amount, if not too great, is digested, oxidized and ex¬ 
creted as urea. 
Fatty foods lessen the destruction of albumen in the body, 
while much water increases it. The combustion of albumin¬ 
oids is not the source of muscular force. 
The ratio of albuminous food to non-nitrogenous food re¬ 
quired by a working horse is from 1:5 to 1:8, and a working 
horse weighing eleven hundred pounds requires daily, 
according to Smith, about two pounds of digestible nitrogenous 
food stuffs, and ten pounds of non-nitrogenous food stuffs. 
Suppose we feed clover hay and oats, equal parts by weight, 
enough to give the required ten pounds of non-nitrogenous 
1 
