—ve- 

 il. What to Peed. 



In the West the feed of all horses of whatever class is oats, 

 Indian corn, bran and hay. Whatever the work to be done, 

 bran shoiild always be kept, since a horse being off his feed, or 

 slightly ailing from any cause not indicative of violent disease, 

 bran mashes with good nursing will bring him out all right in 

 nine cases out of ten. So, in the Winter when horses are con- 

 fined to hard food, a bran-mash once a week should be given. 

 On the farm there is nothing better than an occasional feed of 

 roots— carrots, Swedish turnips, or mangel wurtzel — being valu- 

 able in the order named. If a peck of these could be given 

 daily as an evening or noonday meal, the good effects of this 

 feeding would be quickly shown. For the mares before foaling 

 time, for the farm or draft horse, for the carriage horses of the 

 citizen, and even for the fast driven roadster, or racer, when not 

 being driven to exhaustive work, these will be found valuable. 



The foal itself shouki be learned to eat roots as quickly as pos- 

 sible, and if the mare takes kindly to them it will not be a diffi. 

 cult matter for the foal to learn to eat them. As to the other 

 food of the young colt or fill}^ oats alone with grass or hay, ac- 

 cording to the season, should be allowed. In the Winter, half 

 oats and half corn may be given with benefit, unless the young 

 things are intended for racing or trotting, and are kept in warm 

 stables ; then Indian corn would not be desirable, as being too 

 heating under the circumstances. 



For the ordinary farm team, or other horses of slow work, In- 

 dian corn may be the main dependence in Winter, in connection 

 with good hay ; especially so if a few roots can be allowed as a 

 portion of the daily provender. For fast working horses, sound 

 oats and hay will be the priciple dependence, but in the Winter 

 I have always given one-third of the weight of the daily grain 

 ration in Indian corn, and we have always thought, with decided 

 benefit. 



III. When to Feed. 



The importance of strict regularity in feeding is underesti- 

 mated by nine-tenths of the ordinary feeders, and by fully one- 

 half of the stablemen having the care of well bred horses. The 



