1. Drinking Water For Horses Should Not Be Artificially Warmed, especially if the animal is at work (p. 137).

2. It Should Be Given To A Horse As Fresh As Possible (p. 133).

3. The Best General Rule For Watering Horses In The Stable is to have a constant supply of it in their box or stall, in which case the ideal arrangement would be, to have a continued flow of water to pass through the water receptacle. If this plan could not be carried out, the water should be changed at least thrice a day. In adopting this constant supply method, we should bear in mind that water left in a stable, even for a few hours, becomes flat, and during that time absorbs ammonia and other noxious impurities from the more or less tainted air.

If it is not practicable to keep a constant supply of water in reach of a horse when he is in his stable, he should at least be given as much water as he will drink, before each feed, and immediately after his return from work.

As water is the natural drink for horses, it possesses no properties that would induce these animals, under natural and usual conditions, to take more water than the quantity demanded for the requirements of the system. Although we find that many human beings are inclined to drink more beer, wine, tea, and other artificial beverages than is good for their health; we meet with few, if any, cases of persons who habitually drink more water than is good for them. We may therefore accept the fact that a horse's appetite, in the form of thirst, is the best general means for regulating the quantity of water he should drink.

Owing to the ignorance and laziness of grooms, and the ignorance and apathy of owners, the large majority of horses in England which are kept in private stables, suffer greatly from thirst. Omnibus, tramway, railway and city corporation horses are generally better off in this respect; because they are as a rule under veterinary superintendance.

4. Special Precautions Should Be Observed In Watering a thirsty horse which has been recently fed; because, as we have already seen, watering horses after feeding, instead of before feeding, is a prolific cause of colic. Supposing that a horse had as much water as he wanted to drink, say, an hour before feeding; it would be extremely unlikely that as soon as he had cleared out his manger, he would be thirsty enough to take sufficient water to do himself any harm. My experience is, that if a horse has not been allowed to fully satisfy his thirst a short time before being fed, it is dangerous to give him free access to water for at least two hours after he has finished his feed. If we found, after a horse had eaten his corn, that by a mistake or through ignorance he had not been watered for a considerable time before getting it, the safest plan would be to give him, say, from half a gallon to a gallon of water every half-hour, until his thirst was assuaged. The longer the period after feeding, the larger would be the quantity of water which could be given with safety. Feeding a thirsty horse, and at the same time withholding water from him, is a practice altogether opposed to the conditions which promote digestion. In speaking of feeding, I refer particularly to feeding with corn, the digestion of which is more liable to become upset by subsequent watering, than that of grass or hay.

5. It Is Injudicious To Give A Horse As Much Water As He Can Drink, shortly (say, within an hour) before taking him out of the stable to be worked; supposing that he had been deprived of water for several hours previously. In such a case, the presence of a large quantity of unabsorbed water in the horse's alimentary canal would be liable, under the influence of subsequent exercise, to set up temporary diarrhoea. I have often known this to occur with horses which had been watered shortly before being taken out in the early morning; but have observed no such tendency when the interval between the watering and the beginning of the work has been extended to over an hour. Some horses which we might class as "washy," are very susceptible to the influence of water in thus bringing on diarrhoea. This tendency to looseness of the bowels is aggravated by excitement, fast work, the presence of undigested food in the alimentary canal, and a large quantity of corn in the daily ration; and can easily be obviated by keeping a constant supply of water in the box or stall, or by frequent watering.

It is instructive to note that horses which drink water when they are warm from exercise, seldom if ever "scour" on being again put to work. Their immunity is evidently due to the fact that while their blood is in a rapid state of circulation, owing to recent exercise, the water they drink, is quickly absorbed out of the intestine, and into the fluids and tissues of the system.

6. A Horse Should Not Be Watered Shortly Before Work which, like racing, would try his breathing powers to the utmost. Considering the fact that a horse which has an unlimited supply of water will under ordinary circumstances drink only two or three times a day, and that he drinks, not only to meet existing requirements, but also to lay up a store for use during the next few hours; I think that before running a race a horse should have no water to drink for, say, three or four hours. It is evident that a considerable quantity of water in the caecum will more or less interfere with the action of the diaphragm during forced breathing, and its weight will have a retarding influence. On the other hand, depriving a horse of water for such a long period as will make him decidedly thirsty, cannot fail to injuriously affect his lungs, heart, muscles, and other organs, by depriving the system of its due supply of water. This practice of stinting a horse of water, so that he might maintain the highest possible rate of speed for a few minutes (say, 62 seconds for 5 furlongs, or 10 minutes for the Grand National) would of course be injurious if applied to ordinary horses, such as trappers and hunters.

7. A Horse Should Be Frequently Watered During Long-Continued Work, especially if it be severe and the weather hot; and he should be watered immediately after hard work, whether it be long or short. I have had ample opportunities of seeing the good results from the practice observed by the St. Petersburg cab drivers, of frequently watering their horses in the middle of their journeys at the numerous public watering troughs in that city, especially when the animals were hot and tired, no matter how intense the cold might be. During winter, the attendant at the respective troughs is almost constantly employed in breaking the ice, so that the water supply may not be stopped. In India, tonga (a kind of curricle) and ecka (a small, two-wheeled trap) ponies, which average about 13 h. 1 in. in height, frequently travel 50 or 60 miles in a day over unmetalled roads during the hottest weather, when the noontide heat often exceeds 110° F. in the shade. Such performances can be accomplished only by watering the ponies about every hour; the system pursued being to give them at each bait 1 to 2 lb. of barley meal or Indian corn meal in a couple of quarts of water. Persons who have had to ride long distances in hot countries are aware of the advisability, during a journey, of allowing their mounts to drink frequently from any good water near which they may pass, even when the horse is bathed in perspiration. I have always found out hunting, especially on a long day, that my mount received great benefit from being allowed to drink, when he was thirsty, at any convenient watering place. We should remember that the longer a horse has been without food, the less likely is water to do him harm.

During many years, when I was training horses in India, I had the best results from giving them half a bucket of water immediately after their gallops; and as much water as they cared to drink, as soon as they returned to their stable. This plan of watering immediately after a training gallop or race, which I was the first to put into practice and write about in India, is now generally adopted by persons who train horses in that country. The very time above all others at which a horse requires a liberal drink of water, is when he is heated an J exhausted by hard work; for not only is the body then in the greatest need of water, but the danger of chill from drinking it is less than when the horse has become cool, because the circulation of the absorbent blood-vessels is more active. If the animal be allowed to cool down without getting water, his blood will recover its fluidity at the expense of the tissues. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that useless waste of tissue - of which water forms a large component part - and consequent loss of strength will be incurred by keeping a horse in a state of thirst. Experience proves, both in our own persons and in that of horses, that water taken when a man or animal is hot and tired from hard work diminishes to a great extent, or altogether obviates, any subsequent exhaustion, which in all cases has an injurious effect on the system.

8. Regularity Should Be Observed In The Watering Of Horses Which Have Not Free Access To Water. The remarks already made on the necessity of regularity in feeding apply equally well to regularity in watering.