164 The Management of Light Horses 



observation will be his best guide. One horse will eat and need 

 four quarterns of good old oats per da)' ; another will do the same 

 work, and do it quite as well, with three. And this rule applies to 

 the racehorse as well as to the hunter. 



There is one hard-and-fast rule which should always be observed, 

 and that is, that the proper food for racehorses and hunters is oats 

 or beans. Maize and barley should be avoided, but peas may be 

 given. Nothing but the sweetest and the best of old hay should 

 be used, and new corn should be carefully avoided, unless swollen 

 legs with their attendant disadvantages are desired. Bran mashes 

 should be given twice a week — some give them oftener, but I think 

 twice a week is quite often enough. They are no worse, but better 

 for being mixed with linseed gruel. 



A few carrots once a day are very appetizing, and if they cannot 

 be got, part of a swede turnip cut up and mixed with the corn will 

 answer a good purpose. A little change of diet occasionally when 

 horses are very hard worked is sometimes beneficial, inasmuch as 

 it stimulates the appetite. I have given a horse a handful of 

 linseed cake amongst his corn after a very hard day, but this sort 

 of thing wants doing with discretion. 



One thing is a certain guide to a proper ration, and that is, 

 the faster the work a horse is doing the more stimulating food he 

 requires. But what the proper quantity is the owner must judge 

 for himself The quantity a horse requires is entirely a " personal 

 equation ". 



When a young horse needs a little help when at grass it is not 

 so essential to confine him to oats, beans, and peas. A little maize 

 may be mixed with his corn, or a little barley, though I must admit 

 that I don't care much for either, and like the latter the worse of 

 the two. Prejudice, perhaps, but so it is. All the different kinds 

 of food I have mentioned may be mixed in a split or crushed state 

 with a little coarse bran added, and the mixture makes a capital 

 feed for young horses at grass. From 5 lb. to 8 lb. a day should 

 be a good ration for such horses — perhaps a liberal one, but here 

 again a man must be guided by the way in which his horse is 

 thriving. I would give long hay to all horses, except to hard- 

 worked horses who are only a comparatively short time in the 

 stable. 



