THE HORSE. 



be violent. A great deal depends upon the man- 

 ner in which it is given. To preserve the temper, 

 and to promote health, it should be moderate, at 

 least at the beginning and the termination. The 

 rapid trot or even the gallop, may be resorted to 

 in the middle of the exercise, but the horse must 

 be brought in cool. If the owner would seldom 

 intrust his horse to boys, and would insist on the 

 exercise being taken within sight, or in the neigh- 

 bourhood of his residence, many an accident and 

 irreparable injury would be avoided. It should be 

 the owner's pleasure, and is his interest, personally 

 to attend to all these things.' 



Watering and Feeding. 



A horse should be exercised a little after being 

 watered. He should on no account be allowed to 

 drink when heated, particularly if heated to the 

 extent of perspiring. The only refreshment 

 allowed in these circumstances is a rinsing of the 

 mouth, and the muzzle may be washed and relieved 

 of froth. When not permitted to take water of his 

 own accord in the stall, let him be offered a pail 

 three or four times a day ; and after drinking 

 copiously at either a pail or pond, he may be trotted 

 or gently cantered, the motion being generative of 

 heat, and at least preventing any chill. 



Horses are fed on different materials in different 

 countries ; but principally on the various kinds of 

 grasses and cereal grains. The Germans give 

 them feeds of brown bread while on a journey ; in 

 India, rice and spices are employed for their diet ; 

 in England, the chief articles of food are oats and 

 hay, with inferior proportions of beans, peas, cut 

 straw, and bran. The quantity, and also the 

 nature of the food, will depend on the habits of the 

 animal, and the work to which he is put. If the 

 work be hard, he must be fed to a considerable 

 extent on oats and beans, which are more nutri- 

 tious than most other articles in use ; but if the 

 work be light, a lighter diet of hay, with perhaps 

 only a small quantity of oats, will suffice. The 

 stomach of the horse being small, he cannot eat 

 much at a time ; and it is always preferable to feed 

 him often, and at regular intervals, than to offer 

 him large feeds at irregular periods. There is 

 another reason for offering small feeds : the horse 

 nauseates food which he has blown upon, or pre- 

 viously touched, and will accordingly reject it if 

 offered a second time, or allowed to stand beside 

 him. For various reasons, therefore, it is better 

 to give him only a little at a time, so as to 

 leave none behind. If the animal be a poor 

 feeder, or apt to waste his food, greater care must 

 be taken in this respect. 



Oats ought to be sound, old, and dry. If musty, 

 reject them. In almost all cases, it is preferable 

 to have them bruised ; for by this they are more 

 easily digested and nourishing than if left whole. 

 It is now customary to mix oats with chaff com- 

 posed of the cuttings of clover or meadow-hay, 

 and the straw of wheat, oats, or barley. In some 

 stables, a machine is kept to cut these materials. 

 The length of the cuttings should be about half an 

 inch. Bruised oats have a tendency to scour the 

 animal ; but the admixture of chopped stuff coun- 

 teracts this quality. 



Of hay, clover, and meadow-hay, little need be 

 said. They should be sound and sweet-flavoured, 

 without any mustiness. The hay should, if pos- 

 sible, be a year old, and well saved for use in an 



adjacent stack. Some horses are fond of peas ; but 

 they require to be.given with caution, as they are 

 apt to swell in the stomach. Almost all horses are 

 inordinately fond of carrots, which, when adminis- 

 tered in small quantities, do not purge the animal, 

 and improve his coat A respectable authority 

 states, that ' for agricultural and cart horses, eight 

 pounds of oats and two of beans should be added 

 to every twenty pounds of chaff; and thirty-four 

 or thirty-six pounds of the mixture will be suffi- 

 cient for any moderate-sized horse [daily] with 

 fair or even hard work.' In this estimate, no hay 

 is supposed to be given. When the horse is fed 

 on the last two articles, hay and oats, four feeds, 

 or nine or ten pounds of oats per day, will be a 

 fair allowance during winter, and in the case of 

 moderate work ; but in summer, half the quantity, 

 along with a proportion of green herbage, will 

 suffice. Many gentlemen follow a general rule of 

 allowing twelve pounds of oats per day to each 



j riding-horse, and this is given in three or four 

 meals. A pony, having but moderate work, will 



i be well fed on six pounds of oats per day with a 

 fair proportion of hay. Latterly, sago has come 

 into use as an article of horse-diet ; and we believe 

 it is tolerably nutritive, and may be employed to 

 a certain extent to supersede oats, or to be mixed 

 with them. It should be partially softened by 

 preparation. 



THE DISEASES OF HORSES. 



In consequence of the general mismanagement 

 and ill-treatment of horses, they are exposed to a 

 number of formidable diseases. Those of most 

 frequent occurrence are inflammation of the lungs, 

 broken-wind, inflammation of the bowels, and 

 certain illnesses of the feet and legs. Referring 

 our readers to larger works on the horse for fuS 

 information on these diseases, and recommending 

 all unskilled persons at once to hand over their 

 horse to a veterinary surgeon when unwell, we 

 propose only to give a few hints as to the best 

 means of prevention. The institution of schools 

 of veterinary surgery, at which the anatomy, pecu- 

 liar nature, and diseases of horses are explained 

 by men skilled in this important department of 

 science, has been a powerful auxiliary in improving 

 the qualities of horses, preserving their lives, and 

 saving them from much needless distress. 



Inflammation. 



The more ordinary inflammation is that of the 

 lungs, and is caused by sudden changes of tem- 

 perature ; it is, in reality, the grand disorder of the 

 horse, and its effects are only paralleled by those 

 of pulmonary consumption in the human species. 

 Already we have spoken of the great impropriety 

 of exposing horses, while heated, to cold draughts. 

 Allowing them to stand any length of time in the 

 open air, in cold or moist weather, is equally 

 objectionable, and positively cruel Inflammation 

 of the lungs, however, will arise from various 

 causes besides cold, and these have engaged the 

 most serious attention of veterinarians. 



In an essay for which the prize was awarded 

 several years ago by the Highland Society to Mr 

 M. Milburn, Yorkshire, the essayist observes : 

 ' The post-horse, and such as are required to 

 perform fast work, are more liable than heavier 

 draught-horses to diseases of the brain, the 



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