18 PARAS-NAMA-E RANGIN 



for the hot weather. This mixed food is especially suited to Turki 

 horses.^ 



Rbaeing the Foal. — To rear a foal successfully and to keep it 

 fit and free from disease, give it daily two or three mdsha^ of 

 burnt borax in its water. Also brand the foal ^ with two lines on 

 the inside of the houghs and knees.* This will protect it from 

 disease. 



To Rejuvenate a Hoese. — To make an old horse young again, 

 get a bullock's head ^ and roast it in hot ashes ; separate all the 

 flesh from the bone and squash and mix with the brains in a big pot 

 of water [degcha) till of the consistency of thin porridge (harira). 

 Boil, with a good store of water, over a slow fire, and as the fat and 

 grease rises skim it off and put it aside in a pot. Mix the whole of 

 the fat in a maheld^ and give after watering. Feed like this for 

 five consecutive days, and the good effects will last a whole year. 

 Feed for longer than this, and the result will delight you.'' 



1 During the rains, natives give well-water in preference to river- 

 water, for obvious reasons. It is the custom, too, of many, to rub the 

 horse with mustard oil at this season. 



2 A mdsha is about 16 grains. Borax is a native remedy for bog- 

 spavin in young horses. 



3 Orientals have a passion for branding. A certain amount of 

 importance is attached to the pattern of the brand. It is not unusual to 

 see animals with contour lines round the body and gridiron marks on 

 the quarters and sides. In Persia a Plimsoll line is preferred. 



* The fore-legs are branded at right angles, i.e., parallel to the 

 ground, with two or three lines. These lines commence about six 

 fingers' breadth above the knee on the inside, and about eight fingers' 

 breadth above the houghs. 



^ A goat's head and eyes also used. 



^ Maheld is a term applied to a mash made of boiled moth, but 

 sometimes to one made of gram. Not less than 2 lbs. of maheld is given 

 at a time. 



7 As usual, a period of forty days is supposed to give the best results. 



The translator remembers a Eurasian police oflBcer trying this receipt 

 on a cavalry caster, debilitated and worn out. Meeting the officer a 

 month later and enquiring how the treatment had succeeded, he was 

 informed that the horse had run away with the trap and smashed it 

 to bits ! 



