552 The Book of the Horse. 



inflammation of the bladder. At this period a poor pasture, with plenty of clean water at hand, 

 should be preferred. Moor-land is very useful for running breeding animals on in the autumn 

 of the year. 



A mare cannot be kept too cool, either internally or externally. Anything that tends to 

 increase excitement of the general system lessens the chances of generation. 



On the other hand, to half-starve a mare and expose her to inclement seasons, without 

 shelter, would be to run into another extreme, and, by causing debility, may occasion the loss 

 of both mare and foal, or at any rate permanently impair the constitution of the latter. 



A mixture of food which will be nourishing and wholesome without heating or fattening 

 too much, consists of good sweet hay, carrots or mangel, oats, peas, or beans, with plenty 

 of bran. For mares exposed to the changes of the atmosphere two quarterns of peas or 

 beans, with a quartern of hay per day, is sufficient from the 1st November to the 1st May. 

 Ample shelter will be afforded by a shed open only to the south (the entrance wide and the 

 door-jambs round, and turning on pivots) ; the floor should be of hard concrete. Lime, gravel, 

 and gas-tar make a cheap and excellent floor. 



Each mare must be tied up to feed morning and evening (inside or outside the shed, 

 according to the weather), otherwise some will fare well at the expense of others. Mr. 

 Digby Collins, from whose work these instructions are abridged, calculates that a good mare 

 may be kept liberally for £\t, i8s., exclusive of cost of attendance, which must be divided 

 amongst the whole number; and that a foal will cost the same per year until taken up for 

 breeding. The following are his figures, which may at any time be corrected by the selling 

 price off a farm of hay and beans : — 



24 bushels of beans, at 53. 

 4 cwt. of bran 

 2 acres of grass, at 30s. 

 Hay and chaff, half a ton, at ^^4 los.... 

 Straw, half a ton, at £2 los.... 



N.B. — Crushed maize may be partly substituted for beans, if found to be cheaper. 



To this must be added the wages of the man attending on the mares, divided by their 

 number. Whether it be poultry, pigs, bullocks, or brood mares, live stock never thrive so well 

 as when they have the undivided attention of one person. 



Mares and foals, two-year-olds and three-year-olds, may be kept in good health and condition, 

 when not intended for racing stock, on sliced or pulped mangel, or swedes, with an ample 

 mixture of hay, or hay and straw cut into chaff. If intended for hunters, half a peck of a 

 mi.xture of oats, beans, peas, or crushed maize, should be added in daily feeds to the roots and 

 chaff. The latter should be cut long. Carrots are to be preferred when the soil is favourable 

 for getting good crops, but where it is not mangel will be a valuable addition to the dry food to 

 any unbroken horse stock, as well as of lean horses in slow work. When roots are given it 

 must be remembered that they are composed of twenty per cent, of water, and must be mixed 

 with a proportionate quantity of long chaff. 



The above information embodies the experience of breeders with whom it has been an 

 object to go to work in the most economical manner. In the following letter, addressed by 

 Mr. William Blenkiron, of Middle Park Stud Farm, Kent, to Mr. Jenkins, the Secretary of 



