Fekding the Horse. 685 



constituent when compounding a ration. This is especially true in the 

 ration of breeding animals and young stock. 



Palatability. — The food must be of such a nature and the ration must 

 be composed of such foods that the horse is eager for it at feeding time 

 in order to get best results from the amount consumed. The volatile 

 oils "as well as the condition in which the food is presented aflfect this. 

 Natural products are as a rule more palatable than manufactured 

 products. Corn, for example, is one of our most palatable and easily 

 digested foods, while gluten, which is a by-product of com, is not con- 

 sidered to be so palatable, as the meal tends to form into little balls 

 when moistened with the digestive fluids of the mouth. 



Variety. — Horsemen often state that with plenty of sound oats and 

 good timothy hay at hand they care nothing for other food. While it 

 is true that a horse can be maintained on this ration, and many race 

 horses are fed no other food during the severe campaign, yet it seems 

 reasonable that equally good or better results might be obtained and the 

 cost of the ration often lessened by feeding a ration containing more 

 variety, especially for other types of horses than those of the race course. 

 If energy and spirited action were the only qualities desirable in a horse, 

 then perhaps oats and timothy hay might suffice; but when we take into 

 account the number and complexity of the various organs we can well 

 understand that they would be better nourished by several grains 

 and forage plants than by few. A ration is ordinarily considered well 

 varied if it furnishes four different materials. The food must come from 

 different plants; if possible from four different natural orders. A ration 

 that is composed entirely of grasses and cereals would not afford the 

 same variety to the animal that a ration containing leguminous foods 

 would afford. 



Suitability. — In making up the ration for the horse one must see that 

 the foods are suitable for the w^ork. Certain foods have a loosening 

 effect on the bowels. It might not be advisable to feed these to the 

 driving horse. Other foods are constipative. The idle horse may well 

 be fed coarser and cheaper foods than can be given the hard working 

 animal with success. And as has been said, the race horse may demand 

 a different ration from the heavy drafter. 



Cost. — The cost of the ration will vary much from time to time, just 

 as the costs of the foods vary. One should not lose sight of this fact. 

 If in feeding, say corn and oats, half and half, for some reason the price 

 of com goes up and that of oats remains the same, let the feeder increase 

 the oats and decrease the corn, or perhaps drop the corn altogether. 

 The same rule may be applied to the forage. It is customary for horse- 



