512 The Book op iRe Horse. 



FODDER. 



Hay should be hard, sweet-smelling, rather green than brown, with plenty of leaves or 

 flowers of grass, and, if possible, of the previous year. It should be heavy, and make a crackling 

 noise when stirred ; this shows that it has been well gathered. Ill-made mustj^ ha}- is tiie 

 source of a host of disorders ; coarse sedgy hay contains little nutriment. The soft hay 

 suited for cows is quite unfit for horses in hard work. 



Oats should have a sweet taste and a sweet flowery smell, and thin smooth skins that 

 slip smoothly through the fingers. Short plump oats are generally better than large long 

 oats ; size and colour are of no consequence, but those with beards are objectionable. The 

 weight should be from thirty-eight to forty-two pounds per bushel. Light oats are composed 

 of more skin than flour. Oats badly saved, mouldy, sprouting, or otherwise damaged, will 

 cause disease in the best horses. Every horse-owner should make himself practically ac- 

 quainted with the quality of oats, beans, and hay. 



Beans should be one year old. New beans produce colic, and do not give strength. They 

 should be hard, dry, sweet, plump, sound, and weigh from sixty to sixty-four pounds to the 

 bushel. They must be split, otherwise they will pass through the intestines whole and undigested. 



Modern ingenuity has produced a variety of machines for splitting beans, crushing, cutting 

 chaff, and otherwise preparing horse food, which may be seen and studied in the galleries of 

 the Smithfield Club Show and the tents of the Royal Agricultural Society. 



Maize answers perfectly well for harness horses and hacks in constant, steady work. It 

 is generally from fifteen to twenty per cent, cheaper than oats, because weighing about sixty 

 pounds per bushel, but it must be cracked. 



The following extract from the Live Stock Jonrnal covers the whole question of the feeding 

 value of oats, beans, maize, and bran : — 



No men understand better or so well how to get blood horses into galloping condition as English grootns, 

 they do not, and few of their masters do, know the reason why oats and beans are the best food for putting muscular 

 flesh on a horse. The agricultural chemist steps in here, and shows that if you want lever-like pace, Indian corn, 

 although nominally cheaper, is not cheap at all. 



It was a common saying in Leicestershire, before deep-draining, clean-cut fences, and increased sheep-feeding 

 had improved agriculture at the expense of fox-hunting, after one of those five-and-forty minute runs at best pace 

 that are now so rare — "it found out the horse that ate old beans and best oats." 



In fact, they made experiments they did not understand, which it was left for the modern chemist to explain. 



When we feed a bullock, a sheep, or a pig for sale, after it has passed the store stage, we want to make it fat as 

 quickly and as cheaplv as possible ; but with a horse for work the object is, give him muscle — in common language, 

 hard flesh. 



There are times when it is profitable to make a horse fat, as, for instance, when he is going up for sale, after a 

 severe hunting season. 



For this purpose an addition of about a pound and a half of oil-cake to his ordinary food has a good effect. 



It is especially useful when a horse that has been closely clipped or singed is in low condition. It helps on the 

 change to the new coat by making him fat. 



A horse in low condition changes his coat very slowly. 



When from any cause there is difficulty in getting a supply of the best oats, an excellent mixture may be made of 

 crushed maize and beans, in the proportion of two-thirds of maize and one of beans, which exactly afford the 

 proportions of flesh-forming and fat-forming food. 



Bran is a very valuable food in a stable for reducing the inflammatory effect of oats and beans. Made into 

 mashes it has a cooling and laxative effect, but used in excess, especially in a dry state, it is apt to form stony 

 secretions in the bowels of the horse. Stones produced from the excessive use of bran have been taken out of 

 horses after death weighing many pounds. When sawn througli they appear to be composed of a hard crystalline 



