FOOD. 35ft 



.Jian barley straw, but docs not contain as much nourishment as that of 

 wheat. 



When the horse is fed on hay and oats, the quanthy of tlie oats must 

 vary with his size and the work to be performed. In winter, four feeds, 

 or nine or ten pounds of oats a day, will be a fair allowance for a horse oi 

 fifteen hands one or two inches high, and that has moderate work In 

 summer, half the quantity, witb green food, will be suthcient. 



Oatmeal will form a poultice, more stimulating tlian one composed of 

 linseed meal alone — or they may be mingled in different proportions as 

 circumstances may require. In the form of gruel it constitutes one of the 

 most important articles of diet for the sick horse — not indeed forced 

 upon him, but a pail containing it being slung in his box, and of which he 

 will soon begin to drink when water is denied. . In cases of poisoning, or 

 of over purging, it is useful, whether administered by the mouth, or as an 

 injection. , 



White-water, made by stirring a pint of oatmeal into a pail of water, 

 the chill being taken from it, is an excellent beverage for the thirsty and 

 tired horse. 



Barley is a common food of the horse on various parts of the Continent, 

 and, until the introduction of the oat, seems to have constituted almost his 

 only food. It is more nutritious than oats, containing nine hvindred and 

 twenty parts of nutritive matter in every thousand. There seems, how- 

 ever, to be something necessary besides a great proportion of nutritive 

 matter, in order' to render any substance wholesome, strengthening, or fat- 

 tening. Except where horses are very hardly worked, barley does not 

 seem in our country to agree with them so well as oats. They are more 

 subject to inflammatory complaints, and particularly to surfeit and mange. 

 When barley is given, the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. It 

 should be always bruised, and the chaff should consist of equal quantities 

 of hay and barley straw, and not cut too short. If the farmer has a 

 quantity of spotted or unsaleable barley which he wishes thus to get rid 

 of, he must very gradually accustom his horses to it, or he will probably 

 produce serious illness among them. For horses' that are recovering from 

 illness, barley, in the form of malt, is often serviceable, as tempting the 

 appetite and recruiting the strength. It is best given in mashes; water, 

 considerably below the boiling heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel 

 or pail kept covered for half an hour. 



Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone or mixed with oats or 

 chaff, or both, may be occasionally given to horses of slow work; they 

 vi'ould, however, afford very insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker 

 or harder work. 



Wheat is in Great Britain more rarely given than barley. It contains 

 nine hundred and fifty-five parts of nutritive matter. When farmers have 

 a damaged or unmarketable sample of wheat, they sometimes give it to 

 their horses, and, being at first used in small quantities, the horse becomes 

 accustomed to it, and thrives and works well. It must, however, always 

 be bruised, and given in chaff. Wheat contains a greater proportion 

 of gluten, or sticky adhesive matter, than any other kind of grain ; it is 

 difficult of digestion, and apt to cake and form obstructions in the bowels. 

 This will oftener be the case if the horse is suffered to drink much water 

 soon after feeding upon wheat; for the water passing rapidly through the 

 stomach and small intestines, in its way to the coecum, (see page 204,) car- 

 ries off with it all the starch, which is the most nourishing, and leaves 

 this sticky mass behind, which accumulates, and hardens, and obstructs 

 the intestines, and often destroys the horse. A horse that is fed on wheat 



