330 Feeds and Feeding. 



510. The supervision of feeding. In stables where many horses 

 are maintained, a group or row of animals should remain in the 

 care of the same attendant, the whole establishment being under 

 the watchful supervision of the superintendent. While we can 

 estimate quite closely the amount of food to be given a hundred 

 or a thousand horses, there must always be modifications and con- 

 cessions to individual members of the establishment to be recog- 

 nized and provided for by the guiding mind, one horse should 

 have a little more than the regulation allowance, and the next 

 possibly a little less, the object being to keep each in the -desired 

 condition. Usually it is not well to leave the feeding of horses 

 to their own driver, for he has his likes and dislikes, and the 

 favorites are pretty certain to receive more than their proper 

 allowance of grain, while the others suffer. A watchful superin- 

 tendent must ever be on the alert to see that each animal secures 

 the needed provender. 



511. Exercise essential, to the maintenance of health. The 

 Arabs have a saying, " Rest and fat are the greatest enemies of 

 the horse. ' ' The horse is par excellence the creature of motion, 

 and in its feeding and management we should hold this point 

 ever in view. The prudent horseman will bear in mind that cor- 

 relative with liberal feeding there must be hearty exercise or 

 severe labor, and that these conditions may be happily balanced. 

 As soon as hard labor ceases, or constant and vigorous exercise is 

 over, it will be found absolutely necessary to reduce the allow- 

 ance of food if the proper balance is to be maintained. The idle 

 horse should be limited to less than half the grain given while on 

 regular duty, and in some instances it were better to give none, 

 provided the roughage supplied be of good quality. 



A colt fed heavily on suitable nutrients will grow rapidly 

 and develop good bone and strong muscle, provided at all times 

 there be a proper balance between exercise and feed. The 

 highly-fed colt should be out of doors from eight to ten hours a 

 day, and should move several miles each day either in the field, 

 on the track, or both. A mature horse should be in the open air 

 not less than four or five hours a day and should travel from ten 

 to fifteen miles daily to maintain health. 



