276 HUMANE HORSE-TRAINING 



necessary amount of nourishing food, and at proper 

 intervals. Many owners are of the opinion that a 

 supply of hay scattered about the ground is sufficient 

 for the well-being of any foal, and possibly it may be 

 so if the keep is good and the animals are not of any 

 considerable value. But long hay is at best an un- 

 satisfactory thing to use, as it gets dragged about and 

 trampled upon. Therefore it becomes unwholesome even 

 if eaten, but probably a great part of it is wasted. 



In the feeding of horses, as in other matters, if a 

 thing is worth doing at all it is better to do it well. It 

 is rather a short-sighted policy to pay any amount of 

 attention to the best foals at the expense of their less 

 good-looking companions. Foals alter remarkably some- 

 times, and, provided that the plainer-looking ones are 

 as well-bred as the others, it is quite within the limits 

 of possibility that some of their number may develop, 

 with care, into quite as valuable horses. Hence the 

 extreme desirability of endeavouring to assist nature 

 by a little extra feeding. 



It is not a very serious expense to provide a foal 

 with a reasonable amount of extra nourishment. A 

 few crushed oats and now and then some split beans, 

 boiled, or, at all events, well scalded, and mixed with 

 bran, is all that is required, in addition, of course, to a 



