92 STABLE ECONOMY. 



That the sugar might not be appropriated to other purposes 

 it was slightly scented with assafoetida, which did not pro- 

 duce any apparent effect upon the horses. 



" FRUIT, as pumpkins, apples, &c. 7 and sweet potatoes in 

 America, figs and chestnuts in Spain and Italy, apples in 

 some parts of France, and numerous other fructified exotics, 

 are occasionally employed as food for horses."* Horse 

 Chestnuts, it is said, " would probably form a valuable article 

 of medicinal food for horses. In Turkey the nuts are ground, 

 and mixed with other food ; and they are regarded as a rem- 

 edy for broken wind, and serviceable to horses troubled with 

 coughs."! Haws, the fruit of the hawthorn, have been em- 

 ployed by West, of Hampshire, as an article of food for farm- 

 horses, with what profit I have not learned. " The people 

 of Medjid feed their horses regularly on dates. At Deyrach, 

 in the country of the Flassae, dates are mixed with the clover. 

 Barley, however, is the most usual food in all parts of Ara- 

 bia.":): 



FLESH. The structure of the horse does not seem adapted 

 to the assimilation of animal food. But some seem to have 

 no dislike to it ; and it is well to know that it may, to a cer- 

 tain extent, supply the place of grain. I have seen them 

 lick blood repeatedly and greedily. Bracy Clark says he has 

 " seen a well-attested account in a magazine, of a colt that 

 was in the habit of visiting a pantry window which looked 

 into his paddock, and of stealing and eating mutton, beef, 

 veal, and poultry. Pork he seemed to reject. In the East 

 Indies, meat boiled to rags, to which is added some kinds ef 

 sprain and butter, is made into balls and forced down the 

 horse's throat. Carpenter's Introduc. to the Wars of India. 

 Also sheep's heads during a campaign are boiled for horses 

 in that country."! 



" While at the stable of Mr. Mellings, of Wakefield, the 

 groom would let me see a flesh-eating horse. He brought 

 about a pound of roasted beef and as much raw bacon, which 

 he warmed. I took away the horse, while the groom put the 

 meat in one corner of the manger, and a feed of oats in the 

 other. I put in the horse and directed his nose to the oats, 

 out he darted from that to the bacon, which he greedily do- 

 toured. He then ate his oats. The groom said this horrw) 



Elaine's Vet. Outlines, p. 94. London, 1832. 



IComp. Grazier, p. 529. 1833. 

 Past and Present State of the English Racer. Hookham, 1896. 

 Clarke, Pharmacop. Equina. London, 1833. 



