THE HOESE. 43 



this evil exists, any persons who entertain a doubt as to the primary cause 

 may readily convince tliemselves, by investigatiuG; the course of treat- 

 ment to which tlie animal has been subjected. Horses which are reared 

 on wet, marshy land are invariably afflicted with this relaxed condition 

 of the absorbent vessels of the legs. Constant supplies of green succu- 

 lent food render the defects constitutional, and the most scientific stable 

 management is often frustrated when such animals are required to per- 

 form ordinary labor ; their legs fail, not from anatomical defects, but 

 from the cause explained, which operates injuriously upon a structure 

 which is naturally perfect. 



Superficial judges of horses do not mark the difference between the 

 appearances of a tat and a muscular-formed animal. If the bones are 

 covered, the points filled out, and the general contour looks pleasing to 

 the eye, they conceive that every requisite is accomplished. A more 

 fallacious impression cannot exist. A horse of very moderate preten- 

 sions, if in perfect condition, will prove himself infinitely superior in the 

 quality of endurance or capability to perform work, than one of a 

 higher character which is not in condition. If two horses are ridden 

 side by side, at the moderate pace of seven or eight miles in the hour, 

 on a warm day, in the summer, one of which has been taken out of a 

 grass field, and the other fed on hay and grain, the diff'erence will be 

 very soon detected. The grass-fed horse will perspire profusely, yet 

 the other will be cool and dry. This propensity to perspire likewise 

 proves that the system of the former is replete with adipose deposit, and 

 iiuids destined to produce that substance ; an unnecessary encumbrance, 

 antl in such quantities opposed to freedom of action. 



Under an impression that an abundance of luxuriant grass wnll 

 increase the flow of milk, it is frequently given to brood mares, but if 

 it has the eft'ect of producing relaxation, it is exceedingly prejudicial. 

 A moderate portion of good milk is far preferable to that wliieh is 

 weak and poor. Thorough-bred mares are not unfrequently deficient 

 in their lacteal secretions, more so than thost) of a common description. 

 It is obviously necessary that either class should be supplied with good 

 and nutritious food for the purpose of augmenting it when insufficient, 

 but the nature of the food requires to be regulated by the constitution 

 of the individual. 



A mistaken notion of economy frequently induces persons to turn 

 their horses into the grass fields during the summer months. A few 

 words may serve to dispel that delusion. Twenty-two bushels of oats, 

 allowing one bushel per week, which is sufficient for young stock or 

 horses not in work, from the ]oth of May to the IGth of October, may 

 be estimated as the produce of a trifle more than half an acre of land. 

 From ten to twelve hundred weight of hay may be estimated as the 

 produce of another half-acre, although a ton and a half per acre, is not 

 more than an average crop on land in good condition. It will require 

 an acre of grass land, capable of producing a ton and a half of hay, to 

 support a horse during the above-named period. When the relative 

 vahie of a horse which has been kept on hay and grain, is compared 

 with that of one which has been grazed, the verdict will be considerably 

 ao-ainst the latter. 



