and when you

have tired him on both sides pretty thoroughly, or if he refuses to take his

trot kindly and obey your voice and a moderate pull on the bit, you can raise

both his fore feet, drop him upon his knees, and let him make a few bounds in

The animal will soon find that he can not run away; that he

completely in your power, and by soothing words you will also be able

to convince him that you are his friend.

He will soon obey your commands,

that position.

is

and will be afraid to extend himself for a run, Witliin a week or two some

horses that were quite valuable animals in respect to everything but their

bad habits of kicking and running in harness, were cured by methods

described above."

Boston Herald.

—These plans,

if managed skillfully, must prove effectual and

and they ought to be generally known, for there are many

horses given to one or both of these viciously evil habits.

Remarks.

satisfactory;

Digestion of the Horse Compared with that of the Ox,

Showing How Each Should be Fed.— The study of the physiology of

the horse, as compared with that of the ox and other animals, is calculated to

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

663

them to feed

them in such manner as to obtain the strength needed at once by the digestion of

the more concentrated articles of food, as oats or other grain, which for this

purpose must be retained in the horse's stomach, while the hay or otlier coarser

food may have passed on into the intestines. The horse's stomach has a capa.

city, generally, of only about 16 qts., while that of the ox has about 153^ times

But the intestines are somewhat reversed, the horse

as much, or about 250 qts.

having a capacity of 190 qts., or thereabouts, while the ox has only 100. And,

again, the ox has the advantage of a gall bladder for the retention and continu-

give such a knowledge to stockmen and farmers, that shall enable

ous distribution of bile during the digestive process, while the horse has none,

and depends upon the saliva being properly mixed with his food by slower mas-

"This

flowing into the intestines at once, as it is secreted.

construction," says Colvin, " of the digestive apparatus indicates that the horse

tication, the bile

and to digest continuously the more bulky and

Then, when fed on hay, it passes very rapidly through the

stomach into the intestine. The horse can eat but about 5 lbs. of hay in an

hour, which is charged, during mastication, with four times its weight of saliva.

Now, the stomach, to digest it well, will contain but about 10 qts., and when

the animal eats )<j of his daily ration, or 7 lbs., in IJ^ hours, at least, 2 stomachfuls of hay and saliva, one of which must have passed on into the intestines.

And, as observation has shown that food is passed into the intestines in the

order in which it is received (first come, first served), we find that if we feed a

horse 6 qts. of oats, it, with the saliva and swelling of the grain by mastication (chewing), vdll just fill his stomach; and then, of course, if, as soon as he

of an

finishes his oats, we feed him his ration of hay, he will eat sufficient in

was formed

to eat slowly

innutritions food."

^

hour to force the oats entirely out of the stomach into the intestines,

while but slightly digested. Then as it is more particularly the office or function dutj' or natural work of the stomach to digest the nitrogenous parts of

as oats or other grain

while it is believed the duty of the intesthe food

tines is to digest the less nitrogeneous and more bulky parts of the food, as hay,

etc., by the continuous pouring upon it of the bile, as above indicated (the probable reason why a horse has no gall bladder), and as oats contain four or five

times as much nitrogen or nourishment as the same bulk of hay, it stands to

reason that the stomach must either secrete the gastric juice five times faster

than usual, which is impossible, else it must retain the oats sufficiently long for

—

—

—

—

much of their strength-giving properties are lost.

Therefore, this knowledge says to the horseman, if you are going to feed hay,

give it first and let the oats be given last, so that they drive the hay into the

digestion, or otherwise very

intestines, while they remain in the stomach for a more full and complete diges-

With the large stomach capacity, and the reserve of bile in the gall-bladder to be poured out, as required with the ox, it matters not so much as to

which class of food may be first given; still, I think there will be less colic and

gaseous disturbances in either case when the hay is fed first, if it is to be given

tion.

But, as the ox is a ruminating animal

at all, especially at the mid-day meal.

(chews over again), he ought to be fed differently from the horse; having a

large stomach capacity, as above explained, he needs coarse food to fill it; hence

DR. CHASE'S RECIPES.

664

if

Tvorking oxen are to be fed meal of any kind, at noon, let it be mixed with

cut hay, or other coarse food, and he will be

much more strengthened and

refreshed for his afternoon work than if fed meal alone; and, as mentioned for

the horse, let two hours be given them to eat, and ruminate, or re-chew, their

food, by which means they obtain their strength for the balance of the day's

work. Then, again, as the ox does not sweat like the horse, he cannoc stand

the mid-day heat as well as the horse can a double reason for this rest at noon.

[See also How Long the Horse Ought to Work.]

—

Cribbing of Horses, What It Is and How to Cure It.— The

subject of cribbing is such a distressing thing to see a horse continuously doing

when hitched to anything upon which he can press his teeth; and wliich must

be more distressing to the horse, to be compelled, either from necessity or habit,

to do it; and, as it is a subject which I never heard anyone give a plausible

reason as to why horses get into the habit of it, and as I never saw anything

printed upon the subject which appeared to throw any liglit upon this mystery,

until Dr. Tuttle, of Clinton, Mich., Feb. 28, 1880, sent a communication to the

Post and Tribune, of Detroit, which seems to give such a rational explanation

as to its cause, and also a rational treatment, or cure, for it, I have felt constrained to give his ideas, although I shall feel compelled to condense his letter

considerably; yet, I will give that wliich will enable anyone to avoid the difficulty with colts, and to treat horses upon his rational plan, that have become

diseased, as he claims,

which has addicted them to this terribly distressing

am aware that most people claim it to be wind sucking, and hence

call them wind suckers, but it never seemed to me to be the fact; and Dr,

habit.

I

Tuttle's idea that it is to get wind out of the stomach rather than to suck it in,

as you will see below, I fully agree with, and believe his theory to be the cor-

In answer to "What is Cribrect one, hence I give it the more cheerfully.

bing? " he says: " Belch of wind from the stomach. Tliis is absolutely true in

He admits the possibility "that horses which

have followed the habit for years, may suck in and swallow wind, though I

doubt it," he continues, " for by carefully watching 'an old stager' go through

the motions of cribbing, you will observe that the shape of the neck, along the

line of the gullet, indicates something coming up out of the stomach, but

which is swallowed back again. As to its cause, he claims it to be indigestion

dyspepsia, which in man, by fermentation, or souring of the food, produces

does the same with the

gas, and therefore belching of wind, as it is called

the first stage of every case."

—

—

generally begins with the colt and the cribbing, at

first, so far relieves the distress from the distention of the stomach, the habit is

colt, for he claims that it

formed, and he ever afterwards follows it; unless the cause, indigestion, is

cured.

As to the cause of the indigestion, he thinks that it arises mostly with

fall colts, which have been too early put upon dry feed, grain, etc., which it

was not properly able to masticate, or chew sufficiently fine to make it digesti' for remember," he says, 'if you please, that a colt doesn't have a full

ble,

colt mouth (full set of milk teeth) until 2 years old so don't feed them on dry,

hard, old corn, to 'keep 'em thriving,' any more than you would feed a 3

months' old babe on corned beef and boiled cabbage and expect it to thrive."

;

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

665

The last would be as sensible a thing to do as the first. Raising spring colts is

his remedy, so as to avoid putting them so quickly upon other feed than grassmade milk, with grass to eat, if they want it, and warm weather in which to grow

and develop. Then when winter comes, if grain seems necessary, give boiled

oats, or oatmeal in limited quantities, just enough to keep the colt growing, and

Early cut hay, a warm shed for stormy weather; feed regularly,

water regularly before feeding, never after," etc. If after the foregoing care,

signs of dyspepsia and cribbing appear, he claims there is something wrong in

the diet, or handling, which must be corrected, and hot bran mashes must be

given, and continued, to keep the bowels continuously free, never allowing the

movements to be hard and difficult. And the further treatment to be the following, as for horses, in proportion to the age.

To cure the disease when

developed, " Bear in mind," he says, " you are treating dyspepsia, not cribbing,

in condition.

for the latter is only a symptom, a result of the former, and the treatment must

be thorough and persistent " (continued). The following is his treatment for a

horse of five years or older:

nux vomica, 20 drops, in a swallow of water, before each

" The effect of a small dose is all you

need." It may be given by putting into a small bottle with a long neck and

with about a gill of water, and given by putting into the mouth, as a drench, or

by putting into a small amount of water in a bucket and drank before giving

Tinct. of

I.

feed, continued for months, if need be.

his full drink before the feeding.

—A

Condition Poioder.

II.

heaping dessert-spoonful (small-sized table-spoon)

of the following tonic powder (condition powder), thoroughly mixed with the

feed at every meal:

Powdered gentian, powdered Peruvian bark (always get

the best red, unground Peruvian bark, and have the druggist grind or powder

it fine),

lb., and powdered Jamaica ginger root, J^ lb., mixed thor[And the author would say, keep it in a closely-covered tin box.]

of each, 1

oughly.

—

Graduated Dose According to Age. He has graduated the dose to the

For a horse 5 years or older, full dose, as above (20 drops); 4

III.

age, as follows:

years old,

drops);

^ (17 or 18 drops); 3 years old, % (15 drops); 2 years old, }4 (10

yearlings,

3^ (6 or 7 drops);

sucking

colts,

%' to ^ (2 to 3 drops,

according to the robustness of the colt). That in parenthesis is the author's,

and will save every one the trouble of calculating at each time of giving the

medicine. I will give Dr. Tuttle's closing paragraph in full. He says:

" In closing, I would say I am not a horse doctor, nor do I wish to be, but

a regular physician of nine j^ears' experience; that in the first years of my practice, by hard, irregular work and unwise handling, I made a cribber of one of

Since then I

the finest horses ever owned in Michigan or driven by any man.

have tried to study carcfullv and scientifically his very intelligent efforts to

obtain relief, and likewise the effects of treatment, hygienic and therapeutic {i.

And with my knowledge of disease

e., care as to proper feed and medicine).

and remedies in man I have, by analogy and experience, arrived at the above

conclusions, which I give to the public, hoping to assist horse-loving men to a

better understanding of a hitherto unscientifically-treated disease, which is disAnd I am confident that if this advice is

tressing to both horse and owner.

earefutly followed it will be found to result in cures far beyond that ever produced by the choke-strap, to say nothing of the peace of mind which follows the

DR. CEASE'S RECIPES.

666

humane treatment adopted for the relief of a distressing disease of the muchabused, unappreciated, though intelligent horse."

—