STABLE MANAGEMENT 227 



vyhen the flour is cooked before it is eaten, this process 

 rendering it capable of being digested. Parching the grain 

 appears to have a similar effect, and this should always be 

 done if necessity obliges horses to be fed upon wheat. It is 

 this viscid property which renders wheat flour so useful in 

 making paste, and is also the reason why such flour must 

 first be mixed with cold water, and the hot water added 

 afterwards, when making it into gruel. Such, however, is 

 not the case with oatmeal, which should be scalded with 

 water as near boiling as can be procured, if there is no time 

 actually to simmer it in a pot. 



When a change is made from oats to maize or barley, and 

 the horses have never previously been accustomed to the new 

 grain, it is well to make the change rather gradually and to 

 mix the maize or barley with oats for a few days. More- 

 over, particularly with barley, it is prudent to soak the grain 

 at first and let it swell before giving it to the horse, gradually 

 adding dry grain as the animal becomes accustomed to the 

 change, for the swelling of the grain inside the animal is very 

 upsettmg to the digestion when not used to it. 



In Spain the race-horses were always fed upon barley, 

 and seemed to get as fit upon that as when fed on hay and 

 oats. They put on flesh more rapidly than when fed in the 

 usual fashion, and some horses certainly carried much more 

 than we had ever been able to get them to do before when 

 fed upon oats. 



Hay. 



The quality of hay is most important, especially as this 

 forms such a large proportion of the food. Not only must it 

 be well saved, but the locality in which it is grown has a 

 great deal to do with the herbage of which it is composed ; 

 and so also has the kind of top dressing that is used, and 

 hence the condition of the land. The formation of the bony 

 skeleton, and also the production of milk, make large demands 

 upon the land when grazed by young stock of any descrip- 

 tion, by dams who are suckling, and by milch cows, for little 

 of the lime contained in the grasses is returned in the animal 

 wastage, but is retained instead for their interior economy. 



