THEORY AND PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 237 
rust be selected for them which have a tendency rather to confine 
the bowels than to relax them. Independently of this extreme case it 
never can with certainty be pronounced beforehand what amount of food 
will keep an untried horse in condition, but in a large stable an average 
can easily be struck, and it is this quantity alone which can be estimated 
here. In the following pages, therefore, I shall give a description of the 
several alimentary wants of the horse, and then show in what propor- 
tions they are found in the varieties of keep which have already been 
described, so as to enable the horsemaster to make his selection according 
to circumstances. All these substances are found in the blood, but the 
composition of this fluid does not enlighten us as to the wants of the 
system, because it is continually receiving and giving off its various 
elements. The blood of a horse fed on highly nitrogenized food does not 
differ on analysis from from that of another which has been kept on the 
opposite kind of diet. Physiological research, however, tells us that 
muscle is chiefly composed of fibrine, and that every time a bundle of its 
fibres contracts a certain expenditure of this material is made, calling for 
a corresponding supply from the blood, which cannot be afforded unless 
the food contains it. Hence the badly fed horse if worked soon loses his 
flesh and not only becomes free from fat, but also presents a contracted 
condition of all his muscles. And thus science is confirmed by every-day 
experience, and the fact is generally admitted that to increase the muscular 
powers of a horse he must have a sufficient supply of nitrogenized food. 
As I have remarked above, the nutrition of muscle requires fibrine—but 
in addition the brain and nerves must be supplied with fatty matter, 
phosphorus, and albumen. The bones demand gelatine and earthy salts, 
and the maintenance of heat cannot be effected without carbon in some 
shape or other. But it is chiefly with nitrogenized food that we have to 
deal in considering the present question, there being plenty of the other 
substances I have mentioned in all the varieties of food which are not 
largely composed of fibrine. It may therefore be taken for granted that 
the hardly worked horse requires oats or beans, or both mixed together in 
varying proportions, together with such an amount of hay as will supply 
him with the starch, gum, sugar, fat, and saline matters which his system 
requires, while on the other hand the idle animal does not use his mus- 
cular system to any extent, and therefore does not require much or any 
eats or beans. The following table exhibits the proportions of these 
various elements in the several kinds of horse food most frequently used 
in this country :— 
Woody |Starch and|Fibrine &| Fatty Saline 
Fibre. | Sugar. | Albumen.| Matter. | Matters, | Water 
Oats ry sole sy eos 20 53 11°4 6 2°5 12°5 
Beangec wae ar suea ve 14°5 40 26 2°5 3 14 
PCAs. pectic arches 9) 48 24 2 3 14 
lenis oc 6 0 6 c 14 52 UB) 2:5 3 15 
Indian Corn. . . . 6 62 12 5 1 14 
Oe ER 6 6 6 o 6 30 40 1 2 7 14 
CloversHays. 7) = 25 40 9 3 9 14 
Barley Straw .. . 46 34 11955 0 6°5 12 
Oat Straw .... 50 3 ite a trace 5:5 12°5 
Wheat Straw ... 55 27 i) 0 55 12 
IBranive fo es 86 sts 54 2 20 4 Uf 13 
Ikimseed| «. . 3 « « 9 35 20 20 6 10 
Warrotstets, (6) se) = 3 10 1°5 0 1:5 84 
