FOOD, 463 



irregular and injurious. It is dependent upon the caprice of him who is per- 

 forming a task, and who will render that task subservient to his own pleasure 

 or purpose. 



In training the hunter and the race horse, regular exercise is the most im- 

 portant of all considerations, however it may be forgotten in the usual manage- 

 ment of the stable. The exercised horse will discharge his task, and sometimes 

 a severe one, with ease and pleasure ; while the idle and neglected one will be 

 fatigued ere half his labour is accomplished, and, if he is pushed a little too 

 far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How often, nevertheless, does it 

 happen, that the horse which has stood inactive in the stable three or four days, 

 is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles in the course of a single day ! This 

 rest is often purposely given to prepare for extra-exertion ; to lay in a stock of 

 strength for the performance of the task required of him : and then the owner 

 is surprised and dissatisfied if the animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly be- 

 comes seriously ill. Nothing is so common and so preposterous, as for a person 

 to buy a horse from a dealer's stable, where he has been idly fattening for sale 

 for many a day, and immediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and 

 then to complain bitterly, and think that he has been imposed upon, if the 

 animal is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be led home 

 suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and gradually increasing exercise 

 would have made the same horse appear a treasure to his owner. 



Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the horse. A young 

 horse requires more than an old one. Nature has given to young animals of 

 every kind a disposition to activity ; but the exercise must not be violent. A 

 great deal depends upon the manner 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 should 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 neighbourhood of his residence, many an 

 accident and irreparable injury would be avoided. It should be the owner's 

 pleasure, and it is his interest, personally to attend to all these things. He 

 manages every other part of his concerns, and he may depend on it that he 

 suffers when he neglects, or is in a manner excluded from, his stables. 



FOOD. 



The system of manger-feeding is becoming general among farmers. There 

 are few horses that do not habitually waste a portion of their hay ; and by some 

 the greater part is pulled down and trampled under foot, in order first to cull 

 the sweetest and best locks, and which could not be done while the hay was 

 inclosed in the rack. A good feeder will afterwards pick up much of that 

 which was thrown down ; but some of it must be soiled and rendered disgusting, 

 and, in many cases, one-third of this division of their food is wasted. Some of 

 the oats and beans are imperfectly chewed by all horses, and scarcely at all by 

 hungry and greedy ones. The appearance of the dung will sufficiently evince this. 



The observation of this induced the adoption of manger-feeding, or of mixing 

 a portion of chaff with the corn and beans. By this means the animal is 

 compelled to chew his food ; he cannot, to any great degree, waste the straw or 

 hay ; the chaff is too hard and too sharp to be swallowed without considerable 

 mastication, and, while he is forced to grind that down, the oats and beans are 

 ground with it, and yield more nourishment ; the stomach is more slowly filled, 

 and therefore acts better on its contents, and is not so likely to be overloaded ; 

 and the increased quantity of saliva thrown out in the lengthened maceration 

 of the food, softens it, and makes it more fit for digestion. 



