32 THE FAMILY HORSE. 



the food consists mainly of ground oats and corn, with cut hay. 

 The latter is wet sufficiently to make the meal adhere to it, and the 

 whole is mixed together. In warm weather the ground feed con- 

 sists of two parts of oats and one of corn; in winter there is an equal 

 proportion of each. The great advantages which arise from the 

 practice of grinding the grain and feeding it intimately mixed with 

 cut hay or straw, are that it diminishes waste, promotes more 

 thorough mastication, and the food enters the stomach in the best 

 condition for the action of digestive fluids. Where large numbers 

 of horses are kept at exacting work, there is also economy in grind- 

 ing the grain food, and cutting the coarser forage. Mill-stones and 

 feed-cutters are cheaper means of crushing and cutting the grain and 

 hay than the muscular power of the horses' jaws, and the use of 

 them gives the horse more time for rest. 



A correct idea of the composition of foods is important to every 

 horse-keeper, whether he has one or many, and it is therefore treated 

 here at some length. But it is expected that judgment will be 

 exercised in applying these facts, according to various circumstances. 

 The care and labor required in selecting, cutting and grinding the 

 food for large stables, or for horses from which heavy and constant 

 labor is required, are not always economical where only a family 

 horse is kept. The suburban or village resident can nearly always 

 buy hay and oats of good quality, as well as bran and such roots 

 and other feeding stuffs as are required for wholesome variety. The 

 late Henry William Herbert gave the following general directions, 

 which are well adapted for the daily feedmg of a horse weighing 

 from 950 to 1,100 pounds, where oats and uncut hay are the staple 

 articles of food : 



" For a gentleman's carriage-horse or roadster, at ordinary work, 

 in its own stable, eight pounds, and from that up to ten, of the very 

 best, richest and most succulent hay is amply sufficient, with twelve 

 quarts of good heavy oats, as a daily allowance. It should be fed 

 with a lock of hay and half a pail of water, the first thing in the 

 morning, on opening the stable ; and when the stable has been aired, 

 cleaned, and littered, should have, after being thorouglily groomed, 

 the other half-pail of water, and— if not going out— four quarts of 

 oats; and when it has eaten these it may have about four or five 

 pounds of hay and be left quiet. If going oat early, it should have 

 six quarts of oats at the morning feed, and no hay. If it is standing 

 in the stable, and not to be put to work until afternoon, it should be 

 again watered, and have four quarts more at noon ; and when it 

 returns at night, should be cleaned, watered, fed with oats, and have 



