THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 95 



good feed of oats twice a day. Their exposure to the 

 severity of the weather demands food calculated to keep 

 up their animal heat, and compensate for the rapid waste 

 which must be going on through the efforts of nature to 

 supply adequate warmth. Yet it is too often the case that 

 the horse gets no grain at all, and that the hay fed to him 

 is of poor quality. Reduced vitality, and loss of strength, 

 are sure to follow a course of modified starvation, and very 

 frequently worms and the heaves are among the con- 

 sequences which it entails. For these reasons, in addition 

 to those before mentioned, the turning-out of horses used 

 to good stabling, high feed, and warm clothing into the 

 field, to rough it during the winter season, is to be avoided. 



With reference to the feeding of those either driven on 

 the road, kept in the stable and exercised, or run in the box 

 and lot, I repeat that the loading up with flesh and internal 

 fat is to be guarded against. The constitution of the horse 

 himself is to be the main guide of whoever may have him 

 in charge, as to the amount of grain to be fed. If he is 

 naturally washy and soft, and given to sweat easily and 

 profusely, he should be kept on stronger feed and have 

 fewer mashes and carrots than one of the opposite tendency. 

 In all cases, however, the diet may be cool, and the bowels 

 kept easy during this period of rest. The system of each 

 horse must be studied and understood in order to profitable 

 and proper treatment in this regard ; for the conclusion of 

 every man of sense and experience touching it is, that there 

 are hardly any two alike. 



As I have before remarked, the horse who is turned loose 

 to run in a lot, with a box to- go into when he is inclined to 

 do so, will be altogether without clothes. The one that has 

 been under treatment by blister or actual cautery will be 

 better for a light blanket without a hood. And that kept 

 in a loose box, and exercised upon the road or an exercise- 

 ground, under saddle or in leading-reins, will require noth- 

 ing but a thin sheet. 



