52 THE HORSE 



straw, wheat straw, meadow hay, sawdust, shavings, or 

 peat moss, except that the three latter are cold bedding 

 lor winter use. Rye straw is bad if the horse eats 

 his bedding, for it often gives colic. Oat straw does 

 not have this effect, and, if clean and sweet, is a good 

 equine food. In England it is fed regularly to almost 

 all horses. 



Peat moss Is best adapted for box stalls, and it has 

 a decided tendency to soften a horse's feet and is good 

 on that account. But unless often renewed in the stall, 

 it may soften the horse's feet too much. Peat moss 

 must be used with discretion. If the horse is not a 

 good feeder, that is, if he scatters his hay about and 

 does not eat It up cleanly. It is likely to become more 

 or less mixed with the peat moss, and when that is 

 the case, the peat moss soon becomes unfit for use. 



Dry autumn leaves make a fairly good bedding, and 

 they are much used in some lumber camps in New 

 England, the leaves being raked Into heaps by horse 

 hay rakes and then carted Into the stable. 



Farmers' horses certainly should never suffer from 

 want of bedding because the farmer can always procure 

 either straw or meadow hay at the cost of a little labor, 

 and yet there is perhaps no class of horse owners so 

 remiss In bedding their horses as farmers. 



