92 THE HORSE BOOK. 



nothing. If horses are to do a proper amount 

 of work they must have about so much grain 

 and hay anyway, and the fill of grass they get 

 in pasture between dark and sunrise serves 

 merely to overload their digestive apparatus. 

 It is better to keep them in the stable and let 

 them rest in peace. It is a mistake even to turn 

 them out on Sundays or on odd days when they 

 are not working. If they must be idle, reduce 

 their grain rations and let them stay in the sta- 

 ble and rest. When the foal gets* old enough he 

 may eat grass if he wants it and his grain as 

 well, but the milk he sucks should always be the 

 same. Hence let the feeding of the mare be uni- 

 form. 



Mares that are kept in idleness must be 

 turned to pasture for economy's sake, but they 

 must also have grain and some hay, in varying 

 proportion according to the growth of the grass, 

 but always some. Shelter, too, is essential, not 

 merely woods or a hedge, but a shed that is airy 

 and dark into which they may run in the heat 

 of the day to escape from the persecution of 

 the flies and during hard storms. Somewhere 

 close to the shed rig up a trough from which the 

 foals may eat grain and around it construct a 

 creep through which the foals may enter, but 

 which will turn back the mares. This may be 

 built satisfactorily by sinking posts in the 

 ground around the trough at a distance of ten 

 or twelve feet from it, and spiking round poles 



