Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 137 



all being crushed, and mixed with the cut hay. A pound of molasses 

 may be added for each horse. 



The points to be kept prominently in view are that the horses 

 must be kept in strong muscular condition, that the albuminoid 

 constituents of the food are necessary for this purpose, and that 

 albuminoids are provided in their most concentrated form in beans 

 and peas. The hay must not be cut very short, or part must be 

 given in long racks to induce the horses to masticate it. In town 

 stables it is not always convenient to give long hay, so that if it is 

 all cut it should be cut long enough to make the horses chew it 

 well. 



The constant work on the hard road and the continual heavy 

 feeding is very trying to the constitution. The average duration 

 of life on the street will not exceed eight or ten years. The feet 

 and joints fail first; if the horse fails in either he is unfit for the 

 work and must be disposed of, another being brought in to take his 

 place. Although many of our patient, hard-working, noble friends, 

 are shipped off to the Continent to be slaughtered for human food 

 when they have finished their work on the street, yet a few may 

 have the good fortune (or misfortune) to be sold back to some 

 farmer to work on the land, and finish their days in comfort (or in 

 misery) according to the disposition of their last owner. It is cruel 

 beyond expression to drive an old horse to death after he is unfit 

 for work ; and the R.S.P.C.A. is doing a good work in putting a 

 check on such practices. 



PROFITABLE HEAVY-HORSE BREEDING FOR FARMERS 



It is obvious that, as the great wear and tear of the street work 

 shortens the lifetime of the heavy horse, there must of necessity be 

 a supply kept up of recruits from the country districts to take the 

 place of those that are worn out or pensioned off. Although much 

 of the heavy work of the roads and streets is now done by 

 mechanical power, there has been such an expansion of trade in 

 the country that every suitable horse is readily picked up for the 

 work at high prices, from £^0 to ;^ICXD each, many of the best 

 making over the latter figure. These are paying prices, and if all 

 that are bred and reared realized similar figures, the horse breeders 

 would soon realize large fortunes. Unfortunately, however, there 

 is a large number that do not reach those figures; misfits, unsound, 

 undersized, unfit through a variety of causes for the hard work of 

 the streets, these have to be sold for smaller prices, or kept on the 

 farm until they are worn out. There is a certain amount of 



