42 DOMESTIC ANBIALS. 



EfftCt on the Offspring. — It is now generally known that the embryo 

 offsprino' partakes of the health or condition of the dam, therefore the 

 food with which the mother is supplied must affoct the foal. This is a 

 subject too commonly disregarded by breeders, although it is constantly 

 demonstrated after the foal comes into life. Ifa mare be supplied with 

 food which produces relaxation, her foal will be in the same state; and 

 constipation is recognized in a similar manner. The propriety of sup- 

 plying a brood-mare with the best and most suitable kinds of food dur- 

 ing pregnancy cannot be too strongly impressed. In the management 

 of young stock every effort should be made, by giving them food which 

 is adapted to the purpose, to bring them to maturity as early as possi- 

 ble ; by these means the texture and development of the bones, the 

 sinews, and the muscles is greatly accelerated. The constitution of 

 each animal must be consulted, and it is highly important, if the acme 

 of condition is to be attained by animals when they arrive at an age of 

 maturity, that the growth and gradual development of their frames 

 should be composed of those healthy and invigorating materials, upon 

 which the structure of condition can be raised. To accomplish this, 

 hay, oats, and occasionally beans, must form the principal items of 

 food, and grass should be provided only in limited supplies during the 

 summer months. 



Grass, it may be observed, loses two-thirds of its weight, and a still 

 greater proportion of bulk, when converted into hay ; but that extra- 

 neous matter consists of moisture, possessing no portion of fibrine, con- 

 sequently it contains none of those elements which increase muscular 

 development. If a horse be supported upon grass alone, he must eat a 

 vast quantity — equal to more than three times the proportion of hay — 

 to derive an equivalent amount of nourishment; being very full of sap 

 and moisture, it is quickly digested; consequently, the animal must be 

 continually devouring it. This distends the stomach and bowels, and 

 impairs the faculty of digestion ; for the digestive powers require rest, 

 as well as the other organs of the body, if they are to be preserved in 

 a healthy state. The muscular system is debilitated, and tat accumu- 

 lates; Hatulent colic or gripes is produced, which not unfrequently 

 becomes constitutional. Nothing can be more erroneous than the anti- 

 quated impression, that the purgative properties of young grass in the 

 spring arc conducive to the lu'althy state of the horse. When the 

 modus operandi of that description of food is explained, the supposition 

 of its being calculated to produce beneficial effects must vanish. Tiie 

 young green herbage is extensively overcharged with sap and moisture, 

 of a crude, acrimonious nature, and it exists so abundantly, that a con- 

 siderable portion of it cannot be taken up by the organs destined for 

 the secretion of urine, or by the absorbent vessels of tlie body ; a great 

 quantity of this superfluous tluid, therefore, passes into the intestines, 

 and is thus discharged in a watery state. But the mischief does not termi- 

 nate immediately on the subsiding of the purgative action ; the absorb- 

 ent vessels, having been overloaded, become distended and relaxed, and 

 some time intervenes before they resume their healthy tone, under the 

 most judicious treatment. This is clearly exemplified' by the habitual 

 tendency which many horses exhibit of having swelled legs. When 



