FEEDING AND CONDITION 41 



plan the horses are only fed twice a day, at six 

 in the morning and at six in the evening and a 

 peck of corn (oats) per horse is allowed per day. 

 A little long hay is given at night but most of 

 the hay is given in the form of chop. It seems 

 to me that the only advantage to be derived 

 from this system is that there is a considerable 

 saving of time effected. But I think half a peck 

 is too large a quantity of oats to place before 

 a horse at one time. However I am bound to 

 say that the horses I saw were in excellent con- 

 dition and I saw no signs of oats being left in 

 the manger. 



The horse when stabled, is living under very 

 artificial conditions ; and this must be taken 

 into consideration when any system of dieting 

 is being discussed. The natural food of the 

 horse is grass, of which something like 80% is 

 water. But the amount of water in the food 

 given a horse in the stable falls short of that 

 standard by at least some 55 %. Then the 

 amount of dressing he gets opens the pores of 

 the skin and causes him readily to throw off 

 a considerable amount of moisture. So it is 

 necessary that he should have a copious supply 

 of drinking water, in order that he should be 

 kept in a healthy state. Some authorities would 

 have water kept constantly before their horses. 

 This is a plan I do not approve. Horses are 

 sure to blow over it, and mess it about ; it will 

 collect dust and dirt and the natural result of 

 dust and dirt is disease. If a man is determined 



