542 APPENDIX. 



forming elements, and that it is a great mistake to use food rich in starch, such 

 as corn, or even barley, for the 3'oung colt. 



For four to six montlis the colt takes its natural food— the milk of the dam. 

 If this is in liberal supply, the colt will be sufficiently nourished with the 

 addition of the grass it will get in pasture. But care must be taken to ascer- 

 tain whether the dam gives sufficient milk to produce a strong growth. 

 Scanty nourishment at this period is often fatal to full development afterward. 

 The whole system of the y(ning animal is jilastic in the hands of the skillful 

 feeder. Full rations of appropriate food will give it the habit of strong and 

 rapid growth, which is easily continued after M-eaning; but, on the other hand, 

 deficient nourishment will not only contract its present growth, but also con- 

 tract its powers of digestion so as to incapacitate it for using sufiicient food 

 to give full growth after weaning. 



The vigorous growth of a colt while young is too important to be neglected 

 on any pretext, such as that " whip-cord, muscle and solid bone must be grown 

 very slowly that the fibres may become perfect," etc. There is a vast amount 

 of such humbug afloat. Slow growth presupposes scanty food ; does insuffi- 

 cient nutrition produce the most perfect development? Taking a lesson from 

 tree growth : How does the fibre of the slow-growing, large, forest hickory 

 compare with that of the rapid, open field, second-growth hickory— the grain 

 of the latter being twice or thrice the thickness of the former? Will the 

 expert, who wants an ax-helve or spokes for a trotting sulky, choose the slow- 

 growing hickory in preference to the rapid second-growth ? 



I think the same rule will hold between two colts, the one scantily and the 

 other abundantly fed. But as in this case of the rapidly-growing hickory, w^e 

 wish it seasoned to give us the full force of its springy fibre ; so likewise the 

 rapidly-growing colt must have a time of seasoning to perfect, by temper- 

 ate use and intelligent training, its wonderful power of muscular endurance. 

 I believe this foolish prejudice against good feeding for colts has arisen from 

 the fact that high feeding and fattening have been considered synonymous. 

 Such food as would produce fat ratlier than muscle can not be too strongly 

 condemned. 



MILK KATION FOR COLT. 



If the dam yields too little milk to produce vigorous growth in the colt, it 

 should be incieased by food of as nearly the same composition as may be. 

 This is nearly always at hand in cow's milk. A little practice will soon teach 

 the young colt to take cow's milk wMth a relish. New milk may be given at 

 first, but soon replaced with skim milk, which, possessing so large a propor- 

 tion of casein, or muscle-forming food, and phosphate of lime, is exactly 

 adapted to the growth of muscle and bone. This is also so cheap that vigor- 

 ous growth may be kept up at very small cost. For colts one or two months 

 old, one quart of milk given morning and evening will be sufficient. It may 

 be sweetened a little at first to render it more palatable. Colts, like children, 

 are fond of sweets ; but sugar should only be added as a temptation in teaching 

 them to eat, for it is a fattening food and improper to be given as a diet. This 

 use of cow's milk in growing colts is not a mere theory with the writer, he has 



