In the stables of valuable horses, considerable attention is paid to the temperature of the water. If too cold, or supposed to be too cold, it is warmed, either by adding hot water, or by letting it stand a few hours in the stable or in the sun before it is given. Sometimes a handful of meal or bran is thrown into the water, to take the cold air off it. Prepared in any of these ways it is termed chilled water, meaning, I suppose, unchilled. In the stable there is a very common, though not a general dread of cold water. It is often given in considerable quantity to horses highly heated by exertion, and the men attempt to justify the practice by declaring that the horse is not heated at the heart. In theory it is always asserted that cold water is dangerous to a hot horse; but in practice the theory seems often forgotten, especially among strappers and post-boys. Training and hunting all the bred grooms practise in this instance as they preach. They never give cold water whet the horse is hot.

The Effects of Cold Water vary according to the quantity given, and according to the state of the horse. Two or three quarts will not do any harm, or at the most it will set the coat on end. If the horse be very hot, this small quantity is very refreshing to him, and may be given with perfect safety. If the day be very warm, and the horse kept in gentle motion, twice or thrice as much will do no harm, however warm the horse may be. Yet none should be given till one or two minutes after the horse is pulled up. Let him recover has wind for a minute before he drinks. A large quantity, say a pailful, of very cold water, to a horse at rest, not heated by exertion, may make him shiver, or it may produce pain in the belly, cramp of the bowels. Both the shivering and the cramp may be prevented by putting the horse in motion; a brisk walk or gentle trot. A horse much heated by exertion, which has produced copious perspiration, will drink more than a pailful, and the colder the water the more he will drink; if he shiver, founder may be expected in the course of an hour or two. If the same quantity be given when the horse is getting cool, he is almost sure to take cramp of the bowels.

So far as my experience goes, it appears that cold water is most dangerous, not when the skin is at its hottest, but when it is becoming cool after being very warm. I have seen cold water produce a kind of rheumatism. The horse is stiff all over, and on one or more of his legs he is lame and cramped, and it is several days before he recovers. I have never known this happen except when the horse had drunk freely of cold water, and eaten grain at the time he was much heated; and in all the cases he had been permitted to stand at rest. I remember only three cases of this kind, and it is possible the rheumatism might not be altogether due to the treatment, I suspect. This, however, a shivering fit, founder, and spasmodic colic, are all the evils that cold water will produce. I have never seen it produce any other. Their treatment, their symptoms, and results, it would be improper to describe; but it may not be very much out of my province to mention that shivering is prevented and cured by motion and clothing; and that cramp of the bowels may be cured by four ounces of sweet spirits of nitre, given in a pint of warm milk, with about a teaspoonful of ground ginger, mustard or pepper.

To prevent these the water must either be warmed, or it must be given oftener and in smaller quantity. A very thirsty horse should never be permitted to take so much as he pleases at one draught. A little, given at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, till his thirst is quenched, will prevent all danger, and the horse will take less upon the whole than he would take at first in one draught. I do not approve of chilled water for constant use. It makes the horse so tender that a very little cold water has a great effect upon him. It does no other harm. It need not, however, be given as it is taken from a deep well, or from a frozen pond. As a general rule, the temperature of the water should not be much above nor much below that of the air which the horse is breathing.

The Quantity of Water which a horse will consume in twenty-four hours, is quite uncertain. It varies so much, that one will drink as much as other two or three. It is influenced by the food, the work, the weather, and the number of services. While getting grass or soft food, the horse drinks less than wile his food is all dry; those that eat much hay need more than those that eat little. The demand increases with the perspiration; horses at fast work, and kept in hot stables, need a large allowance, which must be still larger in hot weather. When water is given only twice a day, more is taken, or would be taken, than if it were given three or four times. Horses of slow, or not very fast work, may be permitted to take what quantity they please, provided always that it be given before the horse becomes very thirsty. For other horses, those of very fast work, occasional restriction is necessary; and many of these are subject to habitual restriction.

Occasional Restriction is necessary. When the horse is very thirsty, he will take more than he needs, and more than is safe. This I have already explained. Restriction is also necessary before fast work. In coaching stables the horses are watered about an hour before going to work. Should they be disposed to drink a great deal at this time, they are not permitted; half an ordinary pailful ought to suffice. Twice as much might do harm. It might impede the breathing, and produce purgation; yet, very often, it does neither. Given, however, immediately before starting, it is almost sure to do both. When the horse purges, his breathing becomes freer as he gets quit of the water. But especially on a long stage, the purging is very debilitating, and it makes the horse very lean in two or three journeys. Racers, it appears, receive no water on running days till their work is over, and they are even stinted the day before running. With hunters, the restriction is carried nearly as far, though not so generally. This practice has always been condemned by veterinarians, and in truth it seems of very doubtful propriety.

But, notwithstanding what has been said against it, no proof has been produced to show that it is really a pernicious practice Much, after all, has not been urged against it; but the same thing has been said over and over again. It is always censured as cruel and needless and erroneous. The horse, it is said must suffer a great deal from thirst, and he must be languid and weak. Now, if the horse be fell on dry food, and receive no water for twelve or eighteen hours before going to work, there can be little doubt but he is very thirsty. If water be offered he will drink it greedily. But this is not the question. Stablemen do not inquire what the horse feels. They are concerned only about what he will do. If it can be shown that his speed, his power, or his endurance, suffers any diminution when he is thirsty, the trainer will doubtless endeavor to prevent thirstiness. But this has never been shown. No experiments have been made to decide the matter either one way or another. It seems certain that the thirsty horse is less willing to work.

He may need more of the lash and the spur, but his ability to do the work, does that remain the same ? An experiment must answer; and those who are most interested have means and opportunity to make it.

If either racer or hunter were put to work with a bellyful of water, no work like hunting or racing would be done. The weight of the water, and the impediment it offers to breathing, render the horse far less fit for his task than if he were excessively thirsty. This is well enough established, and needs no experiment to confirm it. But is it not possible, by giving water often, and in very small quantity, to bring the horse to his work, without thirst, and without an inconvenient quantity of water in his bowels ? If the horse were accustomed to get water every two hours, it is probable that the quantity he would take at one time would be all out of his bowels by the time he received the next. He would take no more than would serve for two hours, and between the wa-tering-hours he could do his work undepressed by thirst. But ell this is good for nothing except to suggest inquiry and experiment. [We recently made the experiment of frequent watering, during a journey of 800 miles, in the heat of summer. In addition to what he would take at mealtime, we allowed our horse to drink while on the road, every 4 to 7 miles, as near as convenient, or as opportunity allowed.

He would merely rinse his mouth in the water, or drink from one to three quarts, which seemed to refresh him sufficiently, without ever overloading his stomach or making him heavy. He was a superior traveller, and averaged 45 miles per day. From this and other shorter experiments we have made at various times, we think that water every hour or two, and ad libitum, is the best for a horse engaged in ordinary hard work.]