180 STABLE ECONOMY. 



There is a kind of diabetes which does not proceed from 

 bad food. It is accompanied with a good deal of fever, and 

 requires different treatment ; it may be suspected when the 

 food has not been changed ; but the 'eye is red, and the mouth 

 hot, and the horse is dull for a day or two before the staling- 

 evil is upon him. 



Preparation of Oats. Most frequently oats are given raw 

 and whole. But occasionally they are bruised, or coarsely 

 ground. Sometimes they are boiled, and sometimes germina- 

 ted. There is no objection to bruising but the cost ; grinding 

 is never useful, and sometimes it is improper ; boiling does 

 not seem to improve oats, and, after the first week, high-fed 

 horses prefer them raw ; germination is rarely practised, and 

 only for sick horses. In Lincolnshire oats are malted in salt 

 water, and given for three weeks or a month in spring. 



Oats are sometimes given in the straw, either cut or uncut 

 The cost of thrashing is saved, but that is no great gain. It 

 can not be known how much the horse gets. One may be 

 cheated altogether out of a meal and another may be sur- 

 feited. There is always some waste, for the horse must be 

 getting very little grain if he eat all the straw he gets along 

 with it, and if he get more, some of the grain is left in the straw. 



The Daily Allowance of oats is rery variable. Hunters and 

 racers receive almost as much as they will eat during the 

 season of work. The quantity for these horses varies from 

 twelve to sixteen or eighteen pounds per day. Stage and 

 mail horses get about the same allowance. Some will not 

 consume above fourteen pounds, others will manage nearly 

 eighteen. In most stables some other grain is used. For 

 every pound of barley or beans that may be given, rather 

 more than an equal weight is taken off the ordinary allowance 

 of oats. Saddle-horses receive about twelve pounds of oats 

 cart-horses from ten to fourteen. Those employed on the 

 farm get from four to twelve pounds. The ordinary feeding- 

 measure in Scotland, termed a lippy, holds from three to four 

 pounds of heavy oats. 



Substitutes for Oats have been frequently sought. Many 

 experiments have been made to ascertain how far their use 

 might be dispensed with. Roots and bread have both been 

 tried, and the results have shown that horses of moderate 

 work, or even laborious work at a slow pace, can be kept in 

 good condition on carrots or potatoes, with some fodder and 

 no grain. The bread has been made from grain, but it does 

 not seem to have been productive of any economy. Barley 



