No. 4.] THE HORSE. 117 



more than half as much as he requires if, like his master, 

 he hurriedly fills it three times a day with half-masticated 

 food. When a horse is in pasture it is hard to find him 

 asleep ; he is eating nearly all the time. He has no gall 

 bladder ; the fluid, as fast as secreted, passes to its work, 

 and digestion and assimilation go on with prodigious ra- 

 pidity. 



The German teamsters, in old times, fed their horses at 

 short intervals with coarse rye bread, and it was a good 

 practice. 



I have said they are usually overfed. If I was to make a 

 rule it would be to feed two per cent of a horse's weight per 

 diem, unless he was engaged in hard work. Good hay 

 should be half of his ration in weight, and the remainder 

 oats. If these are crushed between rollers or bruised, they 

 will be wortii at least twenty per cent more than whole oats. 



Salt in rock form should l)e where the horse can use it at 

 his desire. 



I would never turn him out to pasture unless he is thrown 

 out of work for the whole season, but carrots in Avinter and 

 cut grass in summer should be moderately used. 



Indian corn, whole or in meal, is unfit for horses. It is 

 heating and fattening. We do not want to fatten horses nor 

 hired men. 



Horses will drink a great deal of water if indul2:ed in it. 

 Like men, they are creatures of habit. It is good horse- 

 manship to discourage them about drinking. The best time 

 to give water is half an hour before or one and a half hours 

 after eating. If watered just before eating, especially in 

 cold weather, the temperature of the stomach is lowered be- 

 yond the digestive point. If he has what water he wants 

 after eating, he washes the food out of the stomach into the 

 intestines and much of its value is lost. The great loss of 

 grain in the digestion of the horse is largely due to this 

 action. 



In the winter use of horses, clipping the hair is a wise 

 practice. It is not long since it was bitterly opposed, and 

 people were arrested in New York by Mr. Bergh's officers 

 for clipping horses. But it is now common all over the coun- 

 try, and if the horses are carefully blanketed it adds to their 

 comfort and health. 



