46 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



is by bulk and not by weight, is evidently due to the 

 necessity the animal feels of having his intestines filled. 

 We see the same craving for bulk evinced by human 

 beings. " The Kamschatdales. for example, are in the 

 habit of mixing earth or saw-dust with the train-oil, 

 on which alone they are frequently reduced to live. 

 The Veddahs or wild hunters of Ceylon, on the same 

 principle, mingle the pounded fibres of soft and decayed 

 wood with the honey on which they feed when meat is 

 not to be had; and on one of them being asked the 

 reason of the practice, he replied, ' I cannot tell you, but 

 I know that the belly must be filled ' " (Carpenter). 



Selection of Food. For all practical purposes, we need 

 not consider grain beyond its use as a former of fat, and 

 of nitrogenous tissues such as the various muscular and 

 nervous structures while to give bulk to the food (ex- 

 cept in the cases of horses getting as much oats as they 

 can eat), and to supply the required mineral matters, 

 we must principally depend on grass. As exercise direct- 

 ly increases the waste of tissue, we must add to the 

 amount of grain according to the degree of labour, though, 

 at the same time, allowing an unlimited supply of hay, 

 in order to comply with the conditions just stated. The 

 exceptions to this rule will be, when the horse is in a 

 state of enforced idleness, when his appetite is in a 

 depraved or abnormal condition, and when he is required 

 for immediate work. When a horse's powers are fully 

 taxed, he should be allowed as much hay arid suitable 

 orn as he chooses to consume. This now leads us to 

 the pertinent question, " what proportion should the 

 nitrogenous matter in grain bear to the starchy consti- 



