26 THE HORSE 



in for agistment. It is reasonable to assume that the 

 Agister would be liable for the death of a horse through 

 eating yew, provided that these shrubs form part of his 

 hedges, but the onus of proof, in order to recover damages, 

 would rest with the owner of the horse to show that the 

 Agister must have been aware of the deadly nature of the 

 shrub referred to. 



Mares and foals should not be turned out to graze with 

 other horses, as many of the former become vicious when 

 they have a foal running by their side. 



The Horse and its Forage 



As food represents the fuel of animal mechanism it is 

 indispensable that regularity of supply and quality of 

 food constitute the basis of its existence. Domestication 

 has rendered it necessary to supply the horse with a liberal 

 amount of cornJn order that it may perform, in a satis- 

 factory manner, the work demanded of this animal. 

 Horses can live and thrive on grass, but no grass-fed 

 horse will continue to do hard work. Grass is a horse's 

 natural food, but as previously stated the domestication 

 of this animal has rendered supplementary feeding an 

 indispensable feature of its hfe. Horses, like human 

 beings, vary considerably in their thriftiness or otherwise 

 upon a given amount of food. In other words, some 

 horses will thrive where others will practically starve. 

 A voracious appetite is often associated with an un- 

 thrifty condition, and no amount of fodder will make an 

 animal of this kind look well. The amount of food 

 supplied should always be proportionate to the condition 

 of the animal and to the nature of the work which it has 

 to perform. Horses of soft and sluggish temperaments 

 are usually slow workers and get fat on a small amount of 

 food. It is the pace and the expenditure of energy in 

 various other ways which leads to loss of flesh under 

 ordinary conditions. It may be accepted as correct that 



