Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-18
Waterine Hnrses.

Watering Horses.
An Englishman communicates
to the Country Gentleman some
valuable suggestions touching the
watering of horses.
In England, it is not usual to let
4 them drink on an empty stomach,
unless it may be few swallows OF
chilled water, and, in case OF very,
violent exertion, some cruel made
of oatmeal. Cart horses generally
90 into the stable and eat for some
time before they are allowed to
drink. They have as much as they
like before going to work, but a
nag of any kind is regulated in a
morning according to what ne has
to do, and, as they are commonly
moved rather quicker than in this
country, they are seldom permitted
to drink more than ten quarts, which |
is, after they have eaten their feed of |
grain, the first thing; and they have
none till after their return home, un-
less it is long journey, requiring a
rest, or, when business or aught else
requires the animal to he put up at
an inn or any stables, in which case
the rule is feed, and about five or
six quarts of water. When the work
to be done is very fast, no matter
whether on the road or across the
country, about "six go downs" is all
o groom gives-that is, six swal-
lows, for water won't do to travel
fast with. No hay is given either,
the morning horse goes hunting.
In almost all the best stables, the
water has the cold moderated by a
small quantity of warm put iR; in
winter, when horse drinks a pail
of cold water, his hair will look
rough, and some will be seen to
tremble as we'll as have his "coat
stare" which of course would inter
fere with the beautifully glossy short
hair, which always adorns the skins
of gentlemen's horses, or any others
well cared for.
Some people are very particular
to give horses clear water, but at
one period Of my life my horses
(Which from constant work and long
journeys, and being in use at all
hours, were kept in the stable all the
year round), were not so tiresome
reaching after the fresh earth when
/ rode round to the pillow teams
feeling curious to know why it was,
/ ascertained that my new man
fetched fresh earth out of a field
near by, and put double handful /
in the water pals abouttwice week, /
and, filling the pals the last job. at I
night, would stir it up, and then let
thehorses drink the water in the NOR
ming, from which most of the earth
had settled or when he did not give
it them in that way, he put it in thu
and they ate what they
chose. This convinced me that a
little clean dirt was good for horses,
acting probably much in the same
way as gravel stones do with
chickens, for they will not do well
without access to grit. After that
time, while / used to have nice
polished bits, curbs, etc, always
had some earth given occasionally
to my saddle horses, for it is very
to have them chew dirt
every opportunity, making them
selves in q regular mess all around
the mouth. Water from any pond
which gets drainage from manure
heaps or from any dirty source of
the kind cannot be wholesome for
any animal to drink, but pond
water in q field away from any pol
luton of that nature is preferred by
cattle to raw spring streams when
at the fountain head.
When horses are not driven or
used under the saddle at greater
rate than six or seven miles an hour,
there can be no injury or inconye-
nience to them if allowed to drink
at every watering place approached,
but it is a very different case when
the pace is nearly or quite double
that speed. Whenever a horse is
warm from work, and has not eaten
for some hours, it cannot be right
to have him drink freely from a cold
spring, and doubtless water which
has had the raw cold taken off
by the open air in summer, or by
the warmth of a stable, or by small
quantity of hot water put in during
winter is best. 1t is considered to
be highly injudicious to make a
horse 60 fast up hill directly after
drinking, and there have been in
stances of horses taken to water
down a bank about a hundred yards J
long, which, in consequence of max /
ing them gallop back to the stable
up this steep incline, have become
unsound in wind Taking every
phase of the subject into considera-