FOOD AND WATER 255 



this kind of food wliicli is eaten is generally considered to be the measure of 

 condition, hunting grooms and trainers come to the conclusion that if they 

 can get their horses to take three bushels of heavy oats during the week, 

 instead of the same bulk of lighter ones, they will have benefited to the 

 extent of the difference in weight between one sample and the other. As 

 far as those horses are concerned which are allowed as much corn as they 

 will eat, this is perfectly correct ; but for hacks and carriage horses an 

 unlimited quantity of oats would do harm, for they are not so much worn 

 down by muscular exertion, and if overfed they soon become diseased, and 

 in the meantime become unmanageable. For them three quarterns of good 

 oats a day will be enough. Oats should never be given while they are 

 new. As a rule it is best to wait till the March winds have dried last 

 years' crop before using them, but in very dry seasons they may be used 

 earlier with safety. This is a more important point for horses that consume 

 large quantities of them than for hacks and harness horses that eat less. 



Good oats should be free from dust and stones, and may be known by 

 their plump look, and full, hard feel to the touch, by their sweet smell and 

 taste, and if white, by their bright straw colour. These qualities are the 

 apparent ones, but they accompany and depend upon the really essential ones 

 of thinness of skin, hardness of kernel, and soundness, placed in the order of 

 importance. It is of no consequence whether oats are black or white if 

 they fulfil these conditions, but at the present time there are more good 

 black oats grown than white. 



New oats are indigestible, and act prejudically on the bowels and kidneys. 

 As a natural consequence, the horse eating them becomes flabby in his flesh, 

 sweats profusely, and often throws out the eruption known as "surfeit." 

 If it is necessary to use them at once, they should be kiln-dried ; and this 

 plan is always resorted to for oats which are imported into this country, to 

 prevent the heating which would occur in the hold of the vessel from the 

 bulk which is lodged there, and which would soon make damp new oats 

 musty. New oats may be recognized by their softness to the touch, and 

 by the white substance within each grain being pulpy and quite 

 unlike flour, as it ought to be in old oats. When oats are kiln-dried they 

 are said by some fanciful stablemen to produce diabetes,^ but it does not 

 appear that any prejudicial effect follows merely from the artificial drying. 

 Many of the oats so treated are previously damaged, and then of course 

 they are likely to produce an injurious effect upon the stomach, but not 

 from the mere drying itself. 



It is a common practice in Sweden and Ireland to sulphur oats, in order 

 to improve the colour. There is no harm in the sulphur itself, but such 

 oats should be avoided, as the process is adopted often for the purpose of 

 concealing some defect. Sulphured oats may be detected by their sour 

 smell. Scotch oats are the best of all, on account of their remarkably thin 

 skins. Russian oats are also very good, as they are next to the Scotch in 

 this respect, but they vary in quality more, and the very heavy Russian 

 oat, referred to above, is not to be desired, on account of its thick husk. 

 Hardly any oats now come into the London market from Wales, and 



^ Veterinary surgeons are generally agreed that kiln-dried oats are a fruitful soui'ce of 

 polyuria, or profuse staling, which was formerly confounded with true diabetes ; a disease 

 in which sugar is found in the urine. — Editok. 



