FEEDING. 57 



"With broken-winded horses, or those afflicted with roaring 

 (a very different thing, by the way), an extra careful method 

 of feeding should be adopted. With such care, these invalids 

 last an amazing long time, and do a lot of genuine work. 

 Many I have come in contact with, both for field and road 

 purposes were capable, properly fed, and judiciously and 

 humanely handled, of great things in the way of exertion. 

 In proof of this, I may mention the example of Woodbrook, 

 a roarer, who, with a substantial weight on his back, won 

 the Grand National Steeplechase, over four and three-quarter 

 miles of the stiffest jumping course in England. The leading 

 principle in dietary for this class of animal is that all dryness 

 should be avoided. Aim at having everything scrupulously 

 free from dust, and damp all that is capable of being damped. 

 Green food, and especially watercress, where obtainable, roots, 

 wet bran, and " kibbled " oats, are the most suitable food. 

 Hay and chaff should be used very sparingly, if at all, and 

 always damped. Care should be taken to prevent them eating 

 the litter, either by the use of the setting-muzzle, where 

 straw is the bedding, or by substituting moss litter or saw- 

 dust for straw. As to the moss litter, I never fancy a stable 

 where it is used, and the horses always look more or less 

 dirty. At the same time horses will not eat if, it distinctly 

 improves bad feet, keeping them much cooler than wheat 

 straw, and, where there is any thrush, it purifies and deodo- 

 rises. I have found, from practical experience, that it is a 

 very cold bed to give a horse in winter. On the whole, I 

 prefer it to sawdust, though nothing looks so neat and clean 

 as straw. 



Perhaps in a chapter devoted to the subject of feeding, a 

 word or two may not be out of place as to what should be 

 done with an animal which has been taking the matter into 

 his own hands, and overfeeding himself, through breaking 

 loose and getting at the corn-bin. There can be no doubt 

 but that a horse sometimes suffers very severely from over- 

 gorging himself. I walked into my stable late one night, 

 and found one in serious trouble. He was standing in his 

 box, blowing hard, his head held down, and his stomach 

 painfully distended. On placing the hand upon the latter 

 organ, it proved to be hard as iron, and the action of the 

 heart was materially increased. In a case like this I thought 

 it expedient not to move him, and straightway set to work 



