16 HOUSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



the sun a few days before using/ so that it may become 

 too sapless and unpalatable to be chosen in preference 

 to grass, while a layer of old bedding may be kept on 

 the top. Such cases of morbid appetite will generally 

 call for medical treatment, if a full supply of salt and 

 green meat fail to correct the habit. 



The bedding should be carefully spread, so as to be 

 as comfortable as possible for the horse ; and should be 

 banked up around the walls, so that the animal may not 

 hurt himself when lying down, or when rolling. At the 

 entrance of the box or stall, for appearance sake, the 

 bedding should be arranged in a straight line, and its edge 

 finished off by plaiting the ends of the straw together. 



Hard-worked horses should, if possible, have the 

 bedding under them by day as well as by night, so that 

 they may have every inducement to lie down and rest 

 themselves, when they choose. Besides this, when the 

 horse stands on the bare ground, he will abstain from 

 staling longer than he ought to do, often to an injurious 

 extent. Most of us old Indians know that a straw mat, 

 expressively called, in Hindustanee, a seetul patee or cold 

 mat, is the coolest thing on which to lie during the 

 hot weather; so we may infer that straw forms an 

 equally grateful couch for the horse. While he is out at 

 morning and evening work, the bedding should be 

 removed, and dry straw should be substituted for any 

 that may have become soiled or wet. 



A slight additional expense is the only objection to 

 keeping the horse bedded down by day. 



Sawdust. I have found that sawdust makes a good 

 substitute for straw, though I am inclined to think it 



