Feed and Care of the Horse. 323 



may form a portion of the ration. From ten to twelve pounds of 

 oats, or their equivalent, should suffice for the concenti-ates, 

 divided into three feeds, the evening meal being the largest. 

 Cooked grain, having a tendency to soften the flesh, should not 

 generally be given, though a feed once or twice a week will have 

 a cooling effect; bran mashes will be conducive to the same end. 

 • A part of the hay may be chaffed and moistened before feeding; 

 the remainder may be fed long, as the carriage horse has plenty 

 of time for masticating his food. From ten to twelve pounds of 

 hay should be allowed in order to bring the total weight of the 

 ration within the limit of twenty or twenty- two pounds. 



"While the large abdomen cannot be tolerated in the carriage 

 horse, we should not forget that there must be a certain bulk or 

 volume to the feed in order that the digestive functions may be 

 properly maintained. Carriage horses are usually over-fed and 

 under or irregularly exercised, the latter trouble arising from the 

 ab.^ence or business engagements of the owner or because of inclem- 

 ent weather. For these reasons mainly, the period of satisfac- 

 tory service with this class of animals is usually short. Where 

 daily driving cannot be practiced, under-feeding rather than heavy 

 feeding should prevail as the safer course. When the team is 

 not taken from the stable during the day, the concentrates or 

 grain portion of the ration should at once be reduced one-third 

 or one-half, and the normal allowance should not again be given 

 until work or exercise demands it. Such action requires firmness 

 on the part of the feeder who wishes to treat his animals with 

 kindness, but any other system than that of accurately gauging 

 feed to work is harmful and ultimately disastrous. 



505. Feeding the work horse. — The work horse, having but few 

 days of idleness, possesses a hearty appetite and a vigorous diges- 

 tion, so that if intelligently cared for, his lot is not altogether an 

 unhappy one; nor is he to be commiserated when compared with 

 his aristocratic kin, the carriage horse, which by high living and 

 periods of enforced idleness, followed occasionally perhaps by 

 hours of over-exertion, generally has but a brief career and that 

 sometimes attended with many ills. Regularity in work brings 

 regularity of feeding, and these greatly conduce to comfort and 

 long years of usefulness. 



