352 'I'HE HORSE. 



deab-ir's stable, where he has been idly fattening for sale for many a day, 

 and immediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and complain 

 bitterly, and tiiink that he has been imposed upon, if the animal is exhausted 

 before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be led home suffering from 

 violent inflammation. Regular and gradually increasing exercise would 

 have made the same horse appear a treasure to' his owner. 



Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age ^)f the horse. A 

 young horse requires more than an old one. Nature has given to young 

 animals of every kind a disposition to activity; but the exercise must not 

 be violent. A great deal depends upon the manner in which it is given. 

 To preserve the temper, and to promote health, it should be moderate, at 

 least at the beginning and the termination. The rapid trol, or even the 

 gallop, may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, but the horse 

 must be brought in cool. If the owner would seldom intrust his horse to 

 boys, and would insist on the exercise being taken witliin sight, or in the 

 neighbourhood of his residence, many an accident and irreparable injury 

 would be avoided. It should be the owner's pleasure, and is his interest, 

 personally to attend to all these things. He manages every other part of 

 his concerns, and he may depend on it, that he suffers when he neglects, 

 or is in a manner excluded from his stables. 



FOOD. 



The system of manger-feeding is becoming general among tarmers. 

 There are few horses that do not habitually waste a portion of their hay; 

 and by some the greater part is pulled down and trampled under foot, in 

 order first to cull the sweetest and best locks, and which could not be done 

 while the hay was inclosed in the rack. A good feeder will afterwards 

 pick up much of that which was thrown down; but some of it must be 

 soiled and rendered disgusting, and, in many cases, one-third of this division 

 of their food is wasted. Some of the oats and beans are imperfectly chewed 

 by all horses, and scarcely at all by hungry and greedy ones. The appear- 

 ance of the dung will sutficiently evince this. 



The observation of this induced the adoption of manger-feeding, or of 

 mixing a portion of chaff with the corn and beans. By this means the 

 animal is compelled to chew his food ; he cannot, to any great degree, 

 bolt the straw or hay ; and while he is forced to grind that down, the oats 

 and beans- are ground vvith it, and yields more nourishment; the stomach 

 is more slowly filled, and therefore acts belter on its contents, and is not so 

 likely to be overloaded; and the increased quantity of saliva thrown out in 

 the lengthened grinding of the food, softens it, and renders it more fit 

 for digestion. 



If, when considerable provender w^as wasted, the horse maintained his 

 condition, and was able to do his work, it was evident that much might 

 be saved to the farmer, when he adopted a system by which the horse ate 

 all that was set before him; and by degrees it was found out that even 

 food somewhat less nutritious, but a great deal cheaper, and which tlie 

 horse eitlier would not eat, or would not properly grind down, in its natural 

 state, might be added, while the animal would be in quite as good plight, 

 and always ready for work. 



Chair may be composed of equal quantities of clover or meadow hav, and 

 wheaten, oaten, or barley straw, cut into pieces of a quarter or half an inch 

 In length, an.' mingled well together; the allowance of oats or beans is 

 afterwaids added, and mixed with the chaff. Many farmers very proPc-^rly 

 bruise the oats or beans. The whole oat is apt to slip out of the t half and 



