FOOD. ia3 



ten to fourteen pounds of oats in the day, Avill be a fair allowance for a 

 horse of fifteen hands one or two inches high, and that has moderate 

 work. In summer, half the quantity, with green food, -^411 be sufficient. 

 Those who work on the farm have from ten to foui^teen pounds, and the 

 hunter from twelve to sixteen. There are no efficient and safe substitiites 

 for good oats ; but, on the contrary, we are much inclined to believe that 

 they possess an invigorating property which is not found in other food. 



Oatmeal, in the form of gTuel, constitutes one of the most important 

 articles of diet for the sick horse — not, indeed, forced upon him, but a 

 pail containing it being slung in his box, and of which he will soon begin 

 to drink when water is denied. Few grooms make good gruel ; it is 

 either not boiled long enough, or a sufficient quantity of oatmeal has not 

 been used. The proportions should be, a pound of meal thrown into a 

 gallon of water, and kept constantly stirred until it boils, and five minutes 

 afterwards. 



White- water, made by stii'ring a pint of oatmeal in a pail of water, the 

 chill being taken from it, is an excellent beverage for the thirsty and tired 

 horse. 



Barley is a common food of the horse on various parts of the Continent, 

 and, until the introduction of the oat, seems to have constituted almost his 

 only food. It is more nutritious than oats, containing nine hundred and 

 twenty parts of nutritive matter in every thousand. There seems, hoAv- 

 ever, to be something necessary besides a gTeat proportion of nutritive 

 matter, in order to render any substance wholesome, strengthening, or 

 fattening ; therefore it is that, in many horses that are hardly worked, 

 and, indeed, in horses generally, barley does not agree -with them so well 

 as oats. They are occasionally subject to inflammatory complaints, and 

 particularly to surfeit and mange. 



Wlien barley is given, the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. It 

 should always be bruised, and the chaif should consist of equaf quantities 

 of hay and barley- straw, and not cut too short. If the farmer has a 

 quantity of spotted or unsaleable barley that he Avishes thus to get rid of, 

 he must very gi'adually accustom his horses to it, or he will probably pro- 

 duce serious illness among them. For horses that are recovering from 

 illness, barley, in the form of malt, is often serviceable, as tempting the 

 appetite and recruiting the strength. It is best given in mashes — water, 

 considerably below the boiling heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel 

 or pail kept covered for half an hour. 



Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone, or mixed with oats or 

 chaff, or both, may be occasionally given to horses of slow draught ; they 

 would, however, afford very insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker 

 or harder work. 



Wheat is, in Great Britain, more rarely given than barley. It contains 

 nine hundred and fifty-five parts of nutritive matter. When farmers have 

 a damaged or unmarketable sample of wheat, they sometimes give it to 

 their horses, and, being at first used in small quantities, they become ac* 

 customed to it, and thrive and work Avell ; it must, however, always be 

 bruised and given in chaS". Wheat contains a greater portion of gluten, 

 or sticky adhesive matter, than any other kind of grain. It is difficult of 

 digestion, and apt to cake and form obstructions in tlie bowels. This will 

 oftener be the case if the horse is suffered to drink much water soon after 

 feeding upon wheat. 



Inflammation of the bowels and feet, colic, and death, are occasionally 

 the consequence of eating any great quantity of wheat. A horse that is 

 fed on wheat should have very httle hay. The proportion should not be 

 more than one truss of hay to two of straw. ^Ylieaten flour, boiled in 



