foods and feeding. 89 



Oats. 



Experience has shown that oats are generally speaking the best of all Oats as 

 grains for horses. They combine all the elements necessary for nutrition ^"o<^' 

 in such proportions that the animal is able to consume a large amount 

 without upsetting the digestion, and to extract the greatest possible amount 

 of nourishment from it ; and although many other grains are successfully 

 used as horse food, wherever oats can be obtained they are universally 

 acknowledged to be the best, provided the question of cost does not enter 

 into consideration. In England they are the staple feed, though usually 

 mixed with cheaper grains in commercial stables, and in addition to the 

 home grown supply, large quantities are obtained from abroad, Russia, 

 Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, and Germany 

 all exporting to this country. 



Characteristics of Oats. 



Good oats should be plump and short, of good colour, hard to the 

 feel, quite dry, rattling when allowed to fall on a solid surface, without smell, 

 breaking sharply across when bitten, tasting like good oatmeal, and, in a 

 good sample, practically all the same size. On looking closely it will be Judging 

 seen that there is a split down the under side of the husk ; a good oat oats, 

 should be so plump that the kernel bulges through this split, making a 

 double line down the grain. A plump oat is a heavy oat, it has little or no shape of 

 beard, consequently lies closer together and therefore weighs heavier than oats, 

 a longer, thinner, more bearded variety. The size and plumpness of the 

 grain should be due, not to an increase in the husk but to the size of the 

 kernel, and consequently some thin skinned varieties may be smaller and 

 meaner in appearance than thick, heavy husked though inferior samples. Colour of 

 The colour of oats varies considerably ; some varieties being a deep brown, oats. 

 others black and others again almost white. Whatever the colour it 

 should be good of its sort, any unusual discoloration showing that the 

 grain has suffered from damp or has been tampered with to improve its 

 appearance. Practice alone is the only way of learning to successfully 

 judge these points, and to tell by feel whether oats are in good condition 

 or not. If a handful be firmly grasped it should not be possible to Feel of 

 further close the hand by increasing the pressure, for this would show oats, 

 either that the grain was soft or that it was light and heavily bearded so 

 that the individual grains did not lie as close together as they might. 

 Thorough dryness is very important when oats have to be kept long in Dryness of 

 bulk, and they should shell out of the husk with ease when nipped at one oats, 

 end. In well conditioned samples some grains may be found which have 



