300 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



(397) Any unusual feeding stuff, such as silage, roots, apples, etc., 

 should be given in small quantities at first, and changes in kind and 

 quantity of any food should be made gradually. As a rule some hay 

 should be fed at the same time the concentrates are given, in order to 

 distend the stomach and intestines properly. As is shown in the follow- 

 ing chapter (492), more horses are injured by gorging on hay than by 

 being given too little. 



472. Supervision of feeding. In stables where many horses are main- 

 tained, 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 should always 

 be modifications and concessions to individual members of the establish- 

 ment to be recognized and provided for by the guiding mind, one horse 

 should have a little more than the regulation allowance, and the next pos- 

 sibly 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 likes and dislikes, and the favorites are quite certain to receive 

 more than their proper allowance of grain, while the others suffer. 

 A watchful superintendent must ever be on the alert to see that each 

 animal secures the needed provender. 



