226 THE HORSE. 
oats. I shall hereafter be able to make a comparative estimate of the 
value of the various articles of horse-food in muscle-making ingredients, 
from which it will be seen that they are right in their conclusions. For 
private horses, beans are generally too stimulating, and as they also have 
a tendency to produce constipation, they should be used with caution. 
Old horses, and those exposed to the wet, require them, and the effect ot 
a few in restoring condition, when it has been lost during wet and cold 
weather, is sometimes quite marvellous. Almost all horses are passion- 
ately fond of beans, and those which have been long used to them will 
hardly touch oats alone. In private stables, when beans are given, they 
are generally mixed with three or four times their weight of oats, half a 
exartern of beans daily being sufficient, when split, for most horses, when 
mixed with their usual allowance of oats. Of course this addition must 
be met by a diminution of the oats; and thus a horse which has been 
allowed a peck of oats’ daily, if he has a quartern of beans may be reduced 
to three quarterns of oats in addition. Wherever the feet or legs are in- 
clined to inflame, or there is any tendency to thick wind or broken wind, 
beans are very injurious, and should be carefully avoided. Indeed, for 
private work, I should never recommend them, excepting for old horses, 
or for those which are much exposed to the weather, and especially in 
standing about at night. In such cases beans are extremely valuable, 
always supposing that there are none of the diseases which I have in- 
stanced as ageravated by them. Many washy, light-carcased horses, which 
could not be made to do any work without beans, may by their aid 
be rendered serviceable ; and although they are liable to great abuse, 
they are a very valuable adjunct to the stableman. Beans should never 
be used till they are nearly a year old, and after they are thrashed they 
require turning every ten days to keep them from becoming musty. . 
They are very prone to the ravages of the weevil ; but so long as they are 
sweet and old the damage done by this larva is only from the loss of 
substance, which they cause by scooping out the middle of the bean. 
Peas produce nearly the same effects as beans on the horse, but they are 
scarcely so digestible, and being more adapted for human food they bear 
a higher price in the market, so that they are comparatively seldom used. 
Thirty years ago many trainers regularly used peas in their final prepara- 
tions, but neither one nor the other of the articles I am here describing 
are now introduced into the racing stable, except in some very rare cases. 
Beans and peas weigh from sixty to sixty-five pounds per bushel; the 
price varying from thirty-five to sixty-five shillings for that quantity. 
Inpian Corn has long been used in America as the ordinary food 
of horses, and it is said to suit them well. There is, however, a pre- 
judice against it im this country, which has prevented its being tried long 
enough to enable us to form a good opinion of its merits, as it takes some 
time to accustom any animal to a change of food. For a long time it 
was said to be unfit for hounds and other dogs, but it is now admitted to 
be useful enough, excepting where the nose is required to be kept very 
cool, as in the hunting season. Cobbett recommended its use for horses, 
but Bracy Clarke, and other writers of his day, opposed the innovation, 
alleging that it clogged the stomach, and had a tendency to produce 
founder. I have myself known harness-horses fed upon it for six months 
at a time, without any manifest disadvantages, and with a considerable 
saving of money, oats being in the year the experiment was tried un- 
usually high as compared with other corn. No one should attempt to 
give it, in the present siate of our knowledge of its properties, to horses 
