Objects of Drinking Water - Destination of Water drunk by Horses - Conditions which Drinking Water should fulfil - Quantity of Drinking Water required daily by Horses - Number of Times a Horse requires to drink daily - Change of Water - Summary of Rules for watering Horses.

Objects Of Drinking Water

1. To Aid In The Nourishment Of The System

The importance of this duty is shown by the fact that water is the largest constituent of the body, and that its stay in the system is particularly brief, as we may see by the great quantity of it which is expelled by the lungs, skin, kidneys, and other excretory organs. The nutrition of the body is performed by fluids (saliva, gastric juice, bile, blood, etc.) which cannot act efficiently unless their usual proportion of water is maintained. Boussingault has proved by experiment that lime (chiefly in the form of carbonate of lime) in water drunk by animals, assists in the formation of bone and in supplying lime to other tissues.

2. To Keep Down Any Abnormal Rise Of Bodily Temperature

2. To keep down any abnormal rise of bodily temperature, which is accomplished by evaporation (p. 12), and also by the loss of heat which the system experiences by warming cold water that has been drunk. This cooling effect by conduction has been demonstrated by H. L. Russell and V. R. Bassett (Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin, 1899), who have shown by experiment that horned cattle suffer a loss of temperature of from 1 1/2° F. to 30 F. by drinking ordinary cold water when they are at rest; but only one of less than 1/2° F. by drinking water which has been raised to 101° F. (the approximate temperature of their bodies). In this case, the fall in temperature of somewhat less than 1/2°F. may be attributed to the effect of increased evaporation. It appears that up to the present, no experiments have been made to show the cooling action by evaporation which water recently drunk, has on the system, when the bodily temperature has been considerably raised by exercise. We may, however, conclude from experience, that in such cases, the ingestion of water is a strong stimulus to evaporation.

3. To Assuage Thirst

3. To assuage thirst, which, apart from artificial stimulation (for instance, by an excess of salt in the food), is as a rule proportionate in intensity to the need the system has for water.

4. To Aid In Excretion

The blood requires water as much for removing waste and injurious products out of the body, as for nutrition. Among these deleterious substances we have nitrogenous compounds which give rise to the feeling of fatigue (p. 56); and, if retained too long in the system, to nervous depression and to rheumatic affections. As they are sparingly soluble in water, their due removal demands a free supply and a free excretion of water. I am inclined to think that continued restriction in the quantity of the drinking water, is a not uncommon cause in horses, of obscure cases of lameness which are usually thought to be joint rheumatism or navicular disease. The presence of water in the body stimulates change of tissue and aids in the removal of carbonic acid. Hence it is specially necessary during hard work.

Water also plays an important part in excretion by mechanically aiding the intestines to get rid of the residue of food which is in them, before such residue, in the more or less perfect form of dung, decomposes, or before its presence can interfere with digestion. The water which is drunk by a horse naturally helps the water which is contained in the food to perform this office.