502 THE MANAGEMENT OF FARM HORSES 



implements they work amounts to about 105 to ,110 

 yearly, or a cost of about 8s. 6d. per pair per working 

 day. Little variation has taken place in this total figure 

 during the last half-century, because, although the cost 

 of food has fallen, wages have risen to a corresponding 

 extent. Fourteen to sixteen- miles per day is a sufficient 

 distance for a horse to walk on a hard road if the work be 

 regular. An animal will do its work more easily on a road 

 with here and there moderate rises and descents than on one 

 which is level throughout, because the positions assumed are 

 more varied, and additional muscles come into play on going 

 up and on coming down hill, to break the monotony of 

 the constant strain upon those which bear the burden upon 

 a level road. 



The food during winter ought to be liberal, and should 

 consist of a mixture made equivalent to three bushels of 

 dressed oats (40 Ibs. per bushel) per week, the grain being 

 bruised or broken (not ground), especially for old horses. 

 Unless extremely dry and kept in a dry place, only a little 

 can be prepared at a time, as the ingredients, especially 

 oats, mould and spoil. In addition to oats, which would 

 naturally form the greater part of the mixture, one or more of 

 the varieties of food in the following list, according to what 

 is cheapest in the market, may be included : Beans, peas, 

 lentils, barley, maize, a little malt or desiccated brewers' 

 grains to assist the digestion, along with bran or linseed 

 cake (restricted to one and a half pound per day), to keep 

 the bowels open. Oats have for some years maintained a 

 relatively higher price, according to feeding value, than 

 barley or wheat, in a great measure owing to the fact that 

 the area in which oats can be successfully grown is more 

 restricted in the hotter grain-producing countries than the 

 areas in which wheat and barley are cultivated. In the 

 warmer climate of the South of Europe, barley takes the 

 place of oats as horse-corn, and there is no sufficient reason 

 why the less expensive varieties of Mediterranean barley, 

 not pure enough for brewing purposes, should not be 

 employed to feed horses in this country. Should the high 

 price of oats be maintained for a few years, the inducement 

 to save expense will lead to the prejudice against barley as 

 food for horses (unfounded as regards the flinty well-matured 



