Investigations Concerning the Horse. 



279 



case with a rider will call for 9.12 pounds of digestible sub- 

 stances in the feed (exclusive of crude fiber), and in the latter 

 10.52 pounds. A daily ration of 8.8 pounds of good meadow 

 hay and about 11 pounds of oats will supply the demand for the 

 former effort, and 8.8 pounds of hay and 13.2 pounds of oats the 

 latter. 



438. Rate of movement. In practice it is generally assumed 

 that the speed of the horse per second amounts to 4.1 feet in 

 walking; in slow trot, 8.2 feet; in rapid trot, 12.3 feet; in short 

 canter, 16.4 feet; in canter, 20.5 feet, and in full gallop, 24.6 feet. l 



The strain of work by a full-grown, well-fed horse can, accord- 

 ing to Eueff, continue on an average for eight hours a day; for 

 instance, a horse weighing about 900 pounds can carry 176 pounds, 

 with a speed of 4.1 feet per second, for eight hours without suf- 

 fering exhaustion, traveling in that time a little more than 22 

 miles. The length of time can be increased, but if more energy 

 is called into play by increasing both the load and the speed, the 

 animal will become exhausted. If, for instance, both the load 

 and the speed be increased one-fourth, the working hours must 

 be shortened one-fourth, and vice versa. 



439. Influence of rapidity of work. The amount of work which 

 a horse is able to perform on a certain ration remains practically 

 the same whether done during a shorter or longer period of time, 

 or by hauling a smaller or greater load. The following summary 

 given by Wolff 2 shows this statement to be correct: 



Influence of rapidity of work by the horse Wolff. 



The total work done remained practically the same in all cases, 

 and the nutritive condition of the horse was apparently unchanged, 

 i Wolff, Landw. Jahrb., 1887, Suppl. Ill, p. 119. 2 Loc. cit., p. 71. 



