GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF HORSES 27 



horses foraged on a mixed diet thrive better than when 

 an unmixed one is given, nevertheless, all horses will do 

 well on oats and hay, the latter either as hay or as chaff, 

 i.e. a mixture of cut straw and cut hay or either of these 

 grasses separately. Age, sex, breed, work to be performed, 

 condition of the animal are all important factors in 

 determining the amount and nature of the fodder to be 

 supplied. Elsewhere in this work we have warned horse 

 feeders against the purchase of mixed forage, owing to 

 the inferior nature of some of its constituents, and now 

 repeat the statement just as emphatically. The great 

 secret in feeding both healthy and sick horses is em- 

 bodied in the phrase " little and often." We have known 

 horse owners feed their animals five times a day, but 

 four times is quite sufhcent, and if the exigencies of 

 circumstances demand it, horses will thrive quite well on 

 three feeds per day, but this statement does not disturb 

 the maxim already laid down. 



■ Forage for the horse comprises oats, maize, barley, 

 beans, peas, lentils, bran, gram, hay. Unseed, together 

 with certain auxihary feeding stuffs, such as cake, locust 

 beans, carrots, swedes, ensilage, etc., but the usual forage 

 employed consists of oats or barley, bran and hay, with 

 or without beans, maize, and linseed. 



All the foregoing kinds of forage vary greatly in their 

 , quality, and it is very necessary for anyone having any- 

 thing to do with the foraging of horses to acquire a know- 

 ledge as to what constitutes good, bad, or indifferent forage 

 No price of forage can be quoted, as the market price 

 must be the price at the time of purchase. Under normal 

 conditions good hay can be bought for £4 los. or £5 

 a ton, but the last war has altered all conditions of 

 purchase, as well as prices. Huge quantities of forage 

 are brought into Great Britain from the Colonies and 

 United States, and nearly all the hay coming from the 

 United States consists of one grass only, viz. " Timothy " 

 {phleum pmtensa). In that country this grass attain 



