St. Landry democrat., 1885-03-07
THE HORSE.
Tho Anatomy of the Animal Indicating
How He Should Be Fed.

How He Should Be Fed.
To properly understand the manage
ment and feeding of a horse it may not
be out of place to state that in several
parts of his anatomy the horse Is one of
the most interesting of existing mann
mails, but none of his organs shows
more marked peculiarities than his
stomach. The first noticeable feature
in this organ in the horse is its relatively
small size. This is most strikingly
brought out by comparing it with the
stomachs of the other domesticated
animals. The capacity of the stomach
of an average-sized horse is about three
gallons. The stomach of an ordinary
dog, such as collie or a retriever, will
hold more than half a gallon, and that
of pig nearly two gallons. The OK
and the sheep have four cavities that
are generally termed stomachs, and one
of these-the paunch-has capacity
many times exceeding the single cavity
of the horse.
Another interesting feature of the
horses stomach is not noticeable until
it is cut open. 1t is then seen to have
two quite different kinds of lining.
Thus, its left half-the one at which the
food enters-is lined by a white, thick
membrane like that of the gullet; while
the right half, by which the food leaves,
has soft, pinkish yellow color. Now,
from the microscopic structure of these
two parts of the lining membrane, it is
IL. Al LA Io1 fox Oh
in the manufacture of the gastric juice,
the formation of which is the main duty
of stomach. 1t thus happens that the
serviceablA part of the horses stomach
is even onn-half less than would appear
from looking at the outside of the organ.
A third popularity of the stomach of
che horse is that it is so constructed
that it is almost or quite impossible for
the animal to bring food that has once
entered the stomach up again by the
gullet; in other words, to vomit.
Everybody has seen a dog vomiting,
and the act is performed quite easily
by the pig The OK and sheep vomit
as normal part of the process of pre-
pairing their food for digestion and for
rumination.
The relatively small size of the
horses stomach points to its being
very active, and recent observations
seem to show that, whereas in other
animals the stomach forms gastric
Juice only when meal has been taken,
in the horse it forms it constantly. A
consideration of the anatomy of the
horses stomach affords some useful in
dications regarding feeding and water
ing.
When convenient, horses should be
fed at short rather than at long inter-
walls. This is an obvious indication,
for the small size of the stomach pre-
cludes the horse from rapidly iniesting
a quantity of food sufficient to serve
him for long period. This applies
with even greater force to watering.
1t is very common practice to water
horses only three times day, the
water being by some given before
meals, and by others afterward. What
ever of these plans is adopted the sys-
tenn is bad; but it is worse when the
latter method is adopted. For when
the horse, with his small stomach al
ready filled with food, injests large
quantity of water, a great portion OF
the food must be washed on into the
intestine before the gastric juice has
had time to act on it. And if it be the
case that gastric juice is formed even
in the fasting stomach, then watering
before meals must wash away this
juice into the intestine, where it is OF
no service. Horses should, therefore,
have water at short intervals, and,
where practicable, they should have
free access to it in their managers.
When this is the case, the horse drinks
frequently, but never in quantities SO
great as practically to wash out his
stomach, NORTH British .Agr5cGZturtst.
WHAT He GOT BY IT.