82 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



establishments the cooking-house should have a trough for the 

 preparation of this fluid. 



Carrots. These are the best of all roots for horses, and 

 especially for hunters and others performing hard work, as 

 well as for unthrifty horses. Indeed, were it not for the high 

 price, they might be recommended for all horses. 



Turnips and Mangolds. These, when of good quality, are 

 useful adjuncts to the food of horses standing idle, or doing 

 little work in winter. They are best given raw and pulped. 



Potatoes. Where these are largely cultivated they are 

 often given to horses as an article of diet, especially when 

 more or less damaged by disease. Though they possess only a 

 small amount of flesh-forming material, yet they are supposed 

 to be about one-third as nutritious as oats, and when steamed 

 or boiled, mixed with chopped hay and straw, and a small 

 proportion of oats, they are found capable of maintaining 

 horses, doing slow work, in good condition. 



Green Forage. During the season green forage is fre- 

 quently given to horses as part of their diet, even when per- 

 forming moderate work ; but grass, when very succulent, and 

 especially that which has been grown on water meadows and 

 sewage irrigation land, is best for idle or sick horses, as, though 

 refreshing, it contains very little nutriment. Clover, tares, 

 and vetches are much liked by horses, and may be given 

 mixed with their hay; when sown in spring and cut late in 

 the summer, they are very useful, as then the pastures become 

 bare ; and for farm horses, winter tares come in useful for 

 spring feeding on arable farms. Under all circumstances, green 

 food, when wet with rain or dew, should not be given to 

 horses until some of the moisture has been got rid of by drying. 

 When green forage is given in the early spring as part of 

 the feed ration, it should at first be allowed sparingly, and 

 after the other food has been consumed, as horses devour it 

 greedily ; after a time it may be increased in quantity without 



