Feed and Care of the Horse. 321 



When going into winter quarters, the feed of the trotter should 

 be reduced fully one-half in order to prevent fattening, for too 

 much fat on the intestines and about the heart makes the trainer 

 no end of trouble in working it off. A few carrots may be given 

 and a bran mash occasionally, with good clean, sweet hay. Horses 

 whose legs must undergo blistering or firing should have feed of 

 a cooling nature, mashes and carrots being in more abundance, 

 with less oats, in order to reduce the tendency to feverish, inflam- 

 matory symptoms. Care must be taken not to permit the animal 

 to get flabby or washy by too much soft food while undergo- 

 ing treatment. Horses turned out to the field should be fed oats 

 twice a day, for the exposure to the severity of the weather in- 

 creases the need of heat-giving food. In the spring when shed- 

 ding, bran mashes are in order to keep the bowels open. Flax 

 seed and linseed meal should not be given, for they have a tend- 

 ency to relax the system too suddenly and to cause the old hair 

 to come away before the new coat is well started. 



"With the beginning of the season (we quote directly from 

 the author), 1 while the jogging, the first part of the trotting 

 horse's preparation, is in progress, the strength of the feed may 

 be increased, though not up to the extent that will be requisite 

 when the work is made longer and sharper. He may have, dur- 

 ing this first part of the preparation, from eight to ten quarts of 

 oats a day, according to his capacity as a feeder, and the demands 

 made by nature for supply of strong food under work. As the 

 oats are increased, the horse will want less hay, but may still 

 have all he will eat up clean. After taking his feed of oats, he 

 will not consume as much hay in general; but some horses are 

 such gluttons that it is necessary to limit them as to hay almost 

 from the first. There are even some who will eat the straw of 

 their bedding when they have had all the grain and hay that 

 should be fed to them; and, with these, it sometimes becomes 

 necessary to put on the muzzle long before the time for the trial 

 or the race. No carrots are now to be given, and I believe corn 

 to be unnecessary and often mischievous. It is heating, and does 

 not contain as much of the stuff that goes to make up hard flesh 



1 Loe. cit., p. 99. 

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