Part 7

In a horse that is not too ambitious and has not to be exerted violently, it is better to wait for him to shed naturally, which he will do rapidly at this season of the year if he gets regular work, good grooming and is well fed. Horses that are fed warmed boiled feed for the evening meal will shed much earlier in the season than those kept on dry feed. Some horses, however, will not stand this without becoming too relaxed in the bowels, especially if worked hard more than once or twice a week; others will not stand it at all without scouring. Care in all instances must be exercised not to feed an excessive quantity. In clipping saddle horses the mistake is usually made of including the part covered by the saddle, and a great deal of trouble frequently results in consequence. Newly clipped horses, particularly if they are not thoroughly used to the pressure and friction of the saddle, are very apt to develop an eczematous eruption under it, and even horses regularly used for saddle work are not immune to such injury after clipping.

The layman is apt to assume that an attack of eczema coming on under the conditions described is due to derangement of the blood or the digestive organs. While derangement of the blood or the digestive organs may predispose to an attack of this nature, some local irritation is usually needed to determine its development. It is obvious that a considerable amount of local irritation must result when the skin, divested of its coat, is, for an hour or two daily, subjected to the pressure and rubbing of the saddle. The rubbing action is further intensified by the sweating that almost always takes place under the saddle. Another contributing cause is the rapid drying and cooling of the skin when the saddle is removed from a clipped horse’s back. The rapid drying and cooling is apt to have a deranging effect upon the circulation of the skin at this part, and consequently conduces to inflammation of that covering.

Eczema under the saddle is more apt to occur in cold than in warm weather. More than fifteen per cent. of the saddle horses clipped in midwinter develop this affection under the saddle, while not more than one per cent. with backs unclipped show it.

When harness horses develop it, it is on the parts subjected to most pressure that it first shows itself, as under the collar and back pad. The eruption has a great tendency to spread, and beginning on the skin covered by the saddle, often extends over the whole of the back and side.

Occurring, as it frequently does, with a number of clipped horses in a large stable, it is thought by stablemen and owners to be contagious, but it is not so. It is apparent, then, that clipping the coat under the saddle is a bad practice. Even in cases in which an eruption does not take place, the rubbing is apt to cause temporary baldness and troublesome abrasions, particularly if the skin has not been toughened by long and continual pressure and rubbing of the saddle, the result of steady saddlework.

THE CAUSES OF DIGESTIVE DISORDERS--I

The breeder and horse owner have not the time or opportunity to acquire expert knowledge of the diseases of the horse, but it will well repay them to give a little thought and study to the causes of preventive disorders, particularly to those of the digestive organs. The exercise of a little thought and judgment in the management of a stable of horses will lessen to almost nil the occurrence of digestive ailments among its inmates. There are certain affections to which horseflesh is heir which it is impossible to prevent under some circumstances, but those of the digestive organs can be very largely prevented.

We must study these causes under a number of heads. First of all there is the condition of the individual at time of feeding, the quantity of the food, the character of the food, and the form in which it is given. Under the foregoing heads I have not included the natural predisposition of some animals to digestive troubles, for the inherent tendency to some affections cannot be classed among the preventable causes, but, nevertheless, a little extra care may neutralize the tendency to them. Take, for instance, a horse of a nervous temperament, with a light middle-piece. Such an individual is very liable to scour when first taken out, and in some horses this cannot be prevented; but careful attention in giving non-laxative and easily digestible food in properly regulated quantities, with care about watering and the avoidance of violent and overtaxing work, especially when first taken out, will often control this tendency. If nervous, light-middled horses can once be made fat by proper dieting, and are kept in health by light, slow work, the inclination to scour will be much lessened. The accumulation of fat in the abdomen has a tendency to lessen the violence of the action of the bowels and thus to counteract scouring. Horses of the temperament just referred to are better fed on corn than oats, as corn is more fattening and less stimulating to the nervous system, so that horses fed on it are less inclined to be excitable. Greedy, voracious feeders are predisposed to digestive ailments from their tendency to overtax the digestive organs by the consumption of too large quantities of food too hastily eaten. The means of prevention of such a cause is apparent and easy of application. These are examples of two inherent predisposing causes.

A feed that an animal can take with impunity and possibly with benefit under some circumstances, may prove an exciting cause of that very serious trouble in horses, acute indigestion, under other conditions. Take, for instance, a horse that is to be called on to do an unusually long and hard day’s work. The anxious, over-zealous and well-meaning driver will, in some instances, give an extra-sized morning meal, with the idea of buoying the horse up for the ordeal of the day. As soon as the horse has had time to consume it, he starts on his journey; it may be to pull a heavy load, or for faster work. The more violent the work, the more will the digestive process be interfered with. As soon as the course of digestion is arrested, fermentation begins and it may go on to such a degree that the horse soon begins to show signs of something being amiss. He most likely came out of the stable showing life and energy, and went at his work with spirit, but after going a few miles, however, he begins to sweat more than he should, to lag, to drop his head and to bloat. As soon as he is allowed to stand he shows restlessness and becomes demonstrative in his exhibition of pain. He has acute indigestion, due to mistaken kindness on the part of his attendant. Instead of having been given a full feed or rather more than usual, he should have had less, and the first opportunity taken of giving him another small feed.

We have the same thing occurring under different conditions, as, for example, when a horse has had an unusually hard day’s work and is very tired. He is put in the stable and given his usual meal, which he eats. After an hour or so he begins to show signs of abdominal pain. His attendant cannot understand the reason for this, as the horse has only had his usual feed. He does not realize that the horse’s vital powers have become very much lowered, the result of unusual fatigue, and that the stomach participates in this temporary inability and becomes, for a time, unequal to exerting its full digestive powers, and that indigestion has resulted in consequence. Had the horse been allowed to rest for a time, given a little water and allowed to nibble hay, he might have been fed with impunity, although it is usually a wise plan to lessen the feed if a horse is unusually fatigued. The condition, then, of the individual has to be considered in determining the amount of food he should get. Horses that are in good condition, having regular hard work and full feed, are much less liable to be affected by unusual fatigue and full feed than those that are irregularly worked.

In addition to the necessity for caution in feeding when a horse is fatigued from hard work, long abstinence also necessitates care. A horse that has had his stomach empty for a long time, whether fatigued or not, is usually ravenous for his food, and is apt to consume a full allowance of concentrated food too hurriedly to permit digestion to go on satisfactorily. The old plan of giving a little thin warm gruel to a fatigued fasting horse is a good one, in order to prepare him for his full meal later on. It is not always convenient to furnish this, however, and the next best plan is to give a couple of quarts of water and a little hay, to get the stomach into working order before the full meal of concentrated food is given, preceded by more water.

The quantity of food to be allowed a horse is not only an important matter of study from the standpoint of economy, but is a very material one to consider in connection with the question of preventing digestive disorders. The statement can hardly be gainsaid that decidedly the most prolific source of ailments of the digestive tract is overfeeding. Farmers who raise their own feed are possibly the worst offenders in this respect, and particularly in the overfeeding of bulky food, or what is called by some roughage. An enormous amount of hay is thus wasted throughout the country, and injury done to many horses. It is really not an exaggeration to state that fully half the amount of hay fed to horses in the rural districts of this country is wasted. Not only is this so, but a positive injury is inflicted on the horses that consume it. It is, of course, true that horses, for the purposes of perfect digestion, require a certain amount of bulky food. Sufficient nutritious matter can be supplied in concentrated form, but digestion would not go on properly without a certain amount of bulk. Volume of feed is essential to insure the proper activity of the digestive tract.

There is a limit, however, to the bulk required, and if this limit is much exceeded, there is not only a waste of food, but injury is done. If a horse is constantly being fed too large a volume of feed, it overworks and overtaxes the digestive organs, soon weakening these organs and consequently rendering them more liable to indigestion, colic, stoppage and diarrhœa. Even if no such evidence of acute disorder shows itself, as the affections named, the unnecessarily distended bowels encroach upon the chest capacity and interfere with the action of the lungs; so that the horse cannot stand as much exertion as he might otherwise. One likes to see a horse with a good depth of rib, and well ribbed-up and not presenting a tucked-up condition, all of which is evidence of a good feeder. But no horse, unless it is a mare in foal, or one running at grass, should show what is called a “pot-belly,” as that is a sign that too much bulky food is being consumed. Too much bulky food is also a cause of that very serious trouble, called heaves, especially if the food happens to be of defective quality, and consequently difficult of digestion. One often hears it said that clover hay is apt to cause heaves. The reason is that horses are very fond of it, and if they are allowed all they want, will eat an excessive quantity of it. If the quality of clover hay is good, and only a proper ration of it is fed, it is no more likely to cause heaves than any other kind of hay.

Fully one-half the horses one sees in country districts are pot-bellied, especially in the winter. In many farm stables you see racks kept full of hay constantly in front of the horses, and the less work they do the more hay they eat, most of them eating certainly twice as much as is good for them. In cities it is different. Hay being high-priced, the quantity fed is usually limited, with the result that digestive troubles are very much rarer than in country districts. It is directly the opposite with regard to the diseases of the breathing organs. In the large, crowded stables of the cities, with breathing space limited, the air becomes charged with impurities, with the result that diseases of the breathing organs are very prevalent, while in the country they are comparatively rare. The relative prevalence of digestive and respiratory troubles in city and country affords a good illustration of cause and effect, but the country horse owner has the advantage, as he has to encounter chiefly diseases that are largely preventable. It is a difficult matter to successfully cope with the prevention of respiratory ailments in cities.

It has been already stated and emphasized that the feeding of too much bulky food to horses is one of the most prolific causes of digestive disorders. The question naturally follows: How much is sufficient for a horse to attain the best results? As far as the supply of nourishment is concerned, it can be supplied amply in concentrated form, as in oats or corn; but a certain amount of bulk is necessary. If there is not a certain amount of bulk in the food material in the bowels, the coats of these organs have not sufficient contents to contract on, so that these organs may be able to move along in proper time substances that should be excreted. The bowels become torpid, as far as excretion is concerned, and the proper digestion and absorption of nutritive material is not carried on. Under these circumstances, health and condition cannot be long maintained, and there will be a waste of food fed in concentrated form. Of course, the amount of bulky food necessary varies according to the size of the horse, and it is approximately correct to put it at about one pound per hundred-weight of the animal’s weight. This may be exceeded in some cases with impunity, to the extent of a few pounds, particularly in horses used for slow work; but it will be found sufficient in the majority of cases. While horses are being used for very fast work, or are in training, a less quantity will suffice. The usual plan in large cities is to feed the allowance of hay all at one time, in the evening, after the horse has finished his day’s work, and it works very well. People used to seeing a horse get all the hay he can eat, think, when they see him restricted, that he is being starved, but they will find he thrives if adequately fed with grain, has better wind, more endurance, particularly for fast work, and is much less liable to digestive ills.

THE CAUSES OF DIGESTIVE DISORDERS--II

Experience proves that there is no better concentrated food for a horse for good hard work than oats. This can be readily explained. First of all, it contains the essential flesh-forming, fat and heat-producing elements in approximately their proper ratio. It also supplies to the nervous system, as no other grain appears to do to the same degree, the sustenance that gives life and ambition. In addition to this, oats have a physical property that mechanically fits them for ready digestion in a greater degree than any other grain. This is due to the fact that the particles of the meal are more loosely put together than in any other grain and that the hull is coarser. On this account, when a masticated mass of oats enters the stomach, owing to its looseness it is readily permeated by the digestive fluid, so that digestion goes on readily and thoroughly. Possibly the most indigestible of all grains, when fed by itself, either ground or whole, is wheat, and this is due to its physical character. A mass of wheat forms a tough, glue-like lump in the stomach, so that it is comparatively impervious to the action of the digestive fluid, and digestion goes on slowly and imperfectly, and is apt to be arrested, causing serious indigestion. Peas and beans, owing to their flinty nature, are also less digestible than oats. Corn, when fed whole, is fairly easily digested, but when ground is difficult of digestion, unless the cobs are also ground with it, which renders it more pervious. Wheat, corn, pea and bean meal can be rendered much more digestible by being fed thoroughly mixed with a little chaffed hay. The chaffed hay, when consumed with the meal, renders the meal more pervious to the action of the digestive fluid and consequently more digestible. Where, from economy or convenience, it is found desirable to use any of these grains for horses, it can be done with comparative safety, if they are ground and fed with chaffed hay. When meal is fed with chaff in this way, it is generally quite thoroughly moistened, which is a mistake, as in this condition it is apt to be too hastily eaten and too imperfectly mixed with saliva to be thoroughly digested. One reason given for moistening is that it makes the meal stick to the chaff and insures the two being consumed together. There is something in this, but, as a rule, if they are thoroughly mixed, there will be enough of the chaff consumed to insure the digestibility of the meal. If moistening is done at all, it should be done only slightly. A horse is so constituted that the major portion of his feed should be fed to him dry, as in this condition he will digest it more thoroughly and with less liability to digestive troubles.

Of course, a certain amount of laxative food is necessary in order to mildly stimulate the bowels and keep them sufficiently active. Some horses cannot stand laxative food without their bowels becoming unduly relaxed. To such it is better not to give any, particularly if they are going to work the next day. It is an interesting point to study, and one that throws some light on the peculiarities of the digestive tract, to explain why bran mash, boiled feed and roots act as laxatives. They do not possess any purgative principle, as aloes does. If a dose of aloes is given to a horse, it is dissolved in the stomach, taken up by the blood vessels, going the round of the circulation, and is eventually eliminated by the glands of the bowels, increasing their secretion very much and rousing the action of the coats of the bowels, so that a large quantity of liquid excrement is passed. An explanation sometimes given of the laxative action of mash and the like, is that it is due to the increased amount of liquid supplied by the moist food; but that is not a satisfactory explanation, as there is not enough of it to make any difference. The most reasonable explanation appears to be that it acts as a laxative by virtue of its indigestibility. It apparently acts in the way that oil does. Small quantities, as a couple of ounces, of linseed oil, given three times a day to a horse, are digested and cause the animal to accumulate fat; but if a pint or a pint and a half is given, it will not be digested, but passes on into the bowels and stimulates them, causing laxative action. It will be noticed that it is the undigested portion of the oil that causes the purging. So it is with boiled feed and mash. It is on account of a considerable quantity not being digested, that passes into the bowels and stimulates their action. This is beneficial up to a certain point, but if the bowels are overstimulated, irritation is apt to result and the system is robbed of some nutrition. Horses that are not worked or worked very little, can stand, and, in fact, require more laxative food than those more exerted. Active exertion of itself has a naturally stimulating effect upon the bowels.

The lesson we learn from all this, is that moist food for horses should be given with care and judgment. Given too frequently or in too large quantities at a time, it is apt to cause indigestion and undue relaxation of the bowels. Most horses that are doing little work, such as those in moderate exercise, are benefited by a little boiled oats and barley, given every evening. This is a very good plan, particularly for sale horses. It is a good rule to follow with hard-worked horses, that if they happen to stand in for a day, a mash should be substituted for their evening meal of grain. With horses that work hard and regularly six days in the week, the general custom of giving the mash on Saturday evening is a good one; but in the case of horses that may be left in for the day at irregular intervals, it is usually the best plan to give simply a mash for the evening meal instead of grain.

Veterinarians meet with a frequently fatal disease called by them azoturia, which in almost all cases is a preventable disease, due to an error in feeding. It usually occurs in horses used to regular work and good feed being kept idle for a few days and getting as much feed as when they are working. It has been found in large stables that with the carrying out of the rule that if a horse does not go out during the day he shall have no grain in the evening, but only a mash, there will be very few, if any, of these cases.

Indiscretion in watering horses sometimes leads to derangement of the digestive organs. The chief trouble arises from allowing too long intervals to elapse in watering. Under normal conditions water may be given as often as it will be taken, and it is rare that a horse will take too much, unless he is very warm. Even when he is quite warm, a quart or two may be given with impunity. The proper plan is to water before feeding, as the water is then rapidly absorbed and does not interfere with digestion. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get many horses to drink, particularly in cool weather, before feeding, and they have to be watered afterwards; it is, however, wise to allow an hour to elapse before doing so. If a horse takes a full feed of grain and a drink shortly afterwards and is then put to any violent exertion, he is very apt to suffer from digestive derangement. If a horse is suffering from diarrhœa, or is purging from a dose of physic, water must be restricted and slightly chilled; otherwise, superpurgation and death may result.

An irrational plan of salting horses sometimes causes trouble. That horses require salt is generally recognized, but a great many follow the plan of giving it at intervals of a week or more, when they become very ravenous for it and eat a great deal of it, which makes them so thirsty that they will drink immoderately, and this will sometimes cause digestive derangement. Horses should have access to salt constantly; they then get the most benefit from it.