4-^ NATURE ON FEEDING. 



the horse will necessarily be left lonj,^ without attention as after 

 the last feed at night 



76. — Then how often should we feed him ? Go to nature 

 again and you will learn your lesson at once, fiook first at the 

 colt. How often does he suck ? Every half hour at the farthest. 

 The calf may lie down three, six. or even twelve hours. When 

 a wild cow hides her calf and is watched she will sometimes not 

 go near it for thirty-six hours, and the calf will be perfectly 

 quiet. The foal rarely lies, e^ en asleep, for more than half an 

 hour, and its mother's milk runs away if not drawn for two 

 hours. Look at its mother and you may watch her many a day 

 and many a night before you will see her refrain from eating- 

 half an hour together. The cow will lie down all night 

 peacefully chewing what she gathered in the day ; but the mare 

 has no such reservoir, her small stomach will not hold enough to 

 keep her digestive organs going a single hour, and she requires 

 no long sleeps. A look into the interior of either animal teaches 

 the same lesson. In the horse \re see a piece of machinery that 

 must be supplied little and often — a manufactory without a 

 warehouse. There is nothing adapted to go long without a 

 fresh supply, and we see l>y his habits in a state of nature that 

 his appetite prevents him from doing so. 



77. — Experience too has proved that by frequently feeding 

 and watering the horse, more work can be got out of him, and 

 that he will be less liable to any kind of disease of the digestive 

 organs. Directly the old fashioned mistaken system of keeping 

 plough horses in the field all day without a feed, which had been 

 practised harmlessly enough with the ruminating bullock teams, 

 gave place to the midday bait, the pace improved, the whip was 

 abolished, and twenty-five per cent, more work was done. 



78. — Four hours is the outside time that the horse should 

 work without feeding, and where convenient the time would be 

 better shortened to three hours. The last feed at night, say 

 at 10 p.m , should be double that of any other, and should be the 

 only one at which he should have more than he will eat up 

 without a pause. Then, if at all, he should have some hay to 

 grind up at his leisure, as it will give a longer slower supply 



