179 



CHAPTER II. 

 Food. 



As the subject of food has been fully discussed in Part I 

 on Horse Management, I shall treat on it here, only as 

 far as it relates to training. If oats can be procured 

 heavy enough, they are by far the best grain on which 

 to train. In England, old horses, whose powers of assi- 

 milation are somewhat impaired, are often allowed, with 

 good results, a small proportion of beans, or half 

 beans and half peas, with their corn, in order to increase 

 the nutrient value of the food, as the measure of a 

 horse's appetite is by bulk, and not by weight. With 

 our light Indian oats, one part of gram to three of corn 

 will be found to be a good general division. The same 

 proportion of kulthee and oats may be used. Boiled 

 urud may be substituted for kulthee. If oats be not 

 procurable, parched barley and gram may be given. 



I may here remark that beans, peas, gram, kulthee, and 

 urud are very similar in their composition, while barley 

 closely resembles oats. These grains differ, however, in 

 their action on the digestive organs, beans having a con- 

 stipating tendency, while both gram and barley have the 

 opposite effect. 



