Bran mashes are made by pouring boiling water on fresh sweet bran in a pail, so that the mixture, when stirred, may be about the consistency of a soft poultice; it is then to be covered over, and not given to the horse until sufficiently cold. When it is thought necessary to steam the head, as it is termed, the mash is put into the manger while hot. Steaming the head is recommended in strangles, colds, and sore throats.
Bran mashes are proper in fever and all inflammatory complaints. They are useful also as a preparative to physic, serving to remove indurated fæces, and to facilitate the operation of the medicine. Mashes are a necessary diet while physic is operating. In making malt mashes, the water should be below the boiling point, otherwise the malt would be spoiled. Mashes are given for recruiting strength, when a horse is debilitated from fever or any other cause. When a horse has been fed high for some time with oats and beans, a change to bran mashes for two or three days will often do a great deal of good. The bran should be fresh, and perfectly free from any musty smell. There is a finer kind of bran, named gurgings or pollard, which, though more nutritious, is not so fit for medicinal purposes.—White.
Mash, v. To beat into a confused mass; to mix malt and water together in brewing.
Master-sinew, s. A large sinew that surrounds the hough, and divides it from the bone by a hollow place, where windgalls are usually seated.
Mastic, s. A kind of gum gathered from trees of the same name; a kind of mortar or cement.
Mastication, s. The act of chewing.
Hay, as often given, is too dry for mastication or digestion. If it has been suffered to stand until the seed becomes ripe, it is very deficient in nutriment, and difficult of digestion; and, however perfectly it may be masticated, will only serve to oppress the stomach without affording any thing that is capable of being formed into good chyle. Hay that has been kept more than one year becomes dry and deficient in nutriment, especially when kept in small mows and exposed to the wind. When such hay therefore is given to horses, it requires to be moistened with water, and given in moderate quantity. From eight to twelve pounds of hay and one peck of oats is a sufficient allowance, both as to proportion and quantity, for any saddle horse of whatever size he may be, provided he has only moderate work; but when his exertions exceed that degree which may be termed moderate, then an additional allowance is necessary, and that addition should be in oats or beans.
The teeth may be imperfect, and often are so; the grinders wear in a different manner from that in which they would, were the animals in a state of nature: consequently sharp edges are sometimes formed on the outside of the higher grinders, and on the inside of the lower grinders; and the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, with the skin or membrane connected with it, are thereby wounded, which prevents the horse from masticating, without considerable pain, and induces him to swallow his food imperfectly chewed; this is more especially the case with hay; and when hay is swallowed in this state it does harm, being difficult of digestion, as then its nutritive matter is not easily extracted by the gastric power; hence arise indigestion, flatulency, and numerous disorders. Mastication may be impeded or prevented by that state of the mouth which generally attends teething: it may also be affected by an injudicious use of the bit (as is well known in regiments of cavalry where it is too common), and has been attributed to the spiculæ of the squirrel-tail grass. The consequence of this imperfection is worms, in addition to indigestion and all its consequences.—White.
Mastiff (Canis Anglicus, Linn.), s. A dog of the largest size.
