CHAPTER XIX 



CARE OF DRAFT-HORSES AND FARM-HORSES 



DRAFT-HORSES, in this connection, include all horses 

 used for slow or comparatively slow and exhausting 

 work, especially farm-horses used for tilling the 

 land. Horses in a wild state graze largely at night, 

 while cattle feed largely in day time. The horse's 

 stomach is relatively small, implying that he should 

 be fed more often than cattle, and less at a time. 

 Horses do not eat so fast as cattle, and do not remasti- 

 cate their food, as do cattle and sheep. Horses may 

 be fed three or four times daily, while cattle and sheep 

 do well when fed but twice. The morning ration of 

 the horse should contain about one -fourth of his total 

 daily ration, and it should be given him some little time 

 before being put to hard work. Another fourth of his 

 food may be fed at noon. On the farm, one hour's 

 nooning instead of two, as of yore, is best. The hour 

 saved will shorten the work -day one hour at night. 

 This will give time for the horse to cool off before 

 the dampness and falling temperature of the evening 

 occur, which tend to produce that disagreeable and 

 dangerous condition which a person feels in the evening 

 whose shirt is saturated with the prespiration of the 

 day. Horses, and especially oxen, if perspiring freely, 



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