374 THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 



quence to the postmaster, the stage-coach proprietor, and the owner of every hard 

 worked horse. 



Manger food will be the usual support of the farmer's horse during the winter, and 

 ■while at constant or occasional hard work ; but from the middle of April to the end 

 of July, he may be fed with this mixture in the day and turned out at night, or he 

 may remain out during every rest-day. A team in constant employ should not, how- 

 ever, be suffered to be out at night after the end of July. 



The farmer should take care that the pasture is thick and good ; and that the dis- 

 tance from the yard is not too great, or the fields too large, otherwise a very consid- 

 erable portion of time will be occupied in catching the horses in the morning. He 

 will likewise have to take into consideration the sale he would have for his hay, and 

 the necessity for sweet and untrodden pasture for his cattle. On the Avhole, however, 

 turning out in this way, when circumstances will admit of it, will be found to be 

 more beneficial for the horse, and cheaper than soiling in the yard.* 



The horse of the inferior farmer is sometimes fed on hay or grass alone, and the 

 animal, although he rarely gets a feed of corn, maintains himself in tolerable condi- 

 tion, and does the work that is required of him : but hay and grass alone, however 

 good in quality, or in whatever quantity allowed, will not support a horse under hard 

 work. Other substances containing a larger proportion of nutriment in a smaller 

 compass, have been added. They shall be briefly enumerated, and an estimate form- 

 ed of their comparative value. 



In almost every part of Great Britain, Oats have been selected as that portion of 

 the food which is to afford the principal nourishment. They contain seven hundred 

 and forty-three parts out of a thousand of nutritive matter. They should be about or 

 somewhat less than a year old, heavy, dry, and sweet. New oats will weigh ten or 

 fifteen per cent, more than old ones ; but the difference consists principally in watery 

 matter, which is gradually evaporated. New oats are not so readily^ ground down 

 by the teeth as old ones. They form a more glutinous mass, difficult to digest, and, 

 when eaten in considerable quantities, are apt to occasion colic and even staggers. 

 If they are to be used before they are from three to five months old, they would be 

 materially improved by a little kiln-drying. There is no fear for the horses from 

 simple drying, if the corn was good when it was put into the kiln. The old oat 

 forms, when chewed, a smooth and uniform mass, which readily dissolves in the sto- 

 mach, and yields the nourishment which it contains. Perhaps some chemical change 

 may have been slowly effected in the old oat, disposing it to be mord' readily assimi- 

 lated. Oats should he plump, bright in colour, and free from unpleasant smell or 

 taste. The musty smell of wetted or damaged corn is produced by a fungus which 

 grows upon the seed, and which has an injurious effect on the urinary organs, and 

 often on the intestines, producing profuse staling, inflammation of the kidneys, colic, 

 and inflammation of the bowels. 



This musty smell is removed by kiln-drying the oat; but care is here requisite that 

 too great a degree of heat is not employed. It should be suflicient to destroy the fun- 



* Professor Stewart thus sums up the comparative advantages of chaff and racked feed- 

 ing :— 



"Where the stablemen are careful, waste of fodder is diminished, but not prevented, by 

 feeding from the manger. 



" Where the racks are good, careful stablemen may prevent nearly all waste of fodder with- 

 out cutting it. 



" An accurate distribution of the fodder is not a very important object. 



" No horse seems to Hke his corn the better for being mingled with chaff. 



"Among half-starved horses chaff-cutting promotes the consumption of damaged fodder. 



" Full-fed horses, rather than eat the nii.xture of sound with unsound, will reject the whole, 

 or eat less than tlieir work demands. 



" Chaff is more easily eaten than hay. Tliis is an advantage to old horses and others work- 

 ing all d:iy — a disadvantage when the horses stand long in the stable. 



" Chaff insures complete mastication and deliberate digestion of the corn. It is of con- 

 siderable, and of most importance in this respect. All the fodder needs not to be mingled 

 with the corn, one pound of chafi" being sufficient to secure the masiicaiion and slow ingestion 

 of four pounds of corn. 



" 'Ihf cost of catling all the fodder, especially for heavy horses, is repaid only wlien hay is 

 dear, and wasted in large quantities. 



" Ainong hard-working horses bad food ahould never be cut." — Stewart's Stable Q^cono' 

 my, p. 225, 



