86 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



QUANTITY OF FOOD 



As before mentioned, the quantity of food allowed for a 

 horse, over and above what is required to maintain health, 

 should be in proportion to the amount of work exacted. A 

 selection of diet having been determined upon, by a careful 

 estimate of the relative feeding value and comparative cost of 

 each article entering into its composition, a consideration of the 

 quantity necessary to keep the horse in such condition as will 

 enable him to perform his work satisfactorily and without 

 material injury to his strength, is most important. It will be 

 obvious that the quantity of food required will depend upon cir- 

 cumstances such as the duration and severity of the work, the 

 conditions under which it has to be performed, as well as the 

 size, age, condition, constitution, and appetite of the animal ; 

 for it must not be forgotten that horses, like men, differ in 

 their appetites, some being able to perform a certain amount 

 of work on a smaller quantity of food than others. 



To maintain a just balance between food and work, which 

 the condition of the horse will pretty accurately demonstrate, 

 the owner must be ready to increase, and as promptly diminish, 

 the grain allowance as demands upon it are created or dis- 

 appear. If the quality of the food is not sufficiently rich to 

 furnish material for the repair of waste tissue, the deficiency 

 must be met by the consumption of an increased quantity. 

 But as has been pointed out, an excessive supply of compara- 

 tively innutritious food to compensate for deficiency in quality, 

 is not only embarrassing to the stomach, but hampers the horse 

 with bulky dead weight. Severely worked horses eat more 

 than those which are not so strained, and should therefore be 

 supplied with more concentrated food, easier of digestion, and 

 rich in flesh- form ing properties. 



For the largest-sized draught horse which performs steady 

 hard work fora number of hours every day, 18 Ibs, of hay, and 



