THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. 29 



it a little. They often eat more than twelve hours out of 

 twenty-four, and when the grass is very short they may be 

 nibbling eighteen hours out of twenty-four. Now carmen, 

 if they are only going to stop five minutes, should always 

 hang the nose bag on their horses for two reasons First, 

 because the anmials keep in much better condition, and 

 do not become faint in their work when they feed often ; 

 secondly, when they have their nose bags on it teaches 

 them to stand much quieter, and they can be trusted 

 better. Some carmen make a mistake in buckling the 

 nose bag on tightly. The nose should not be pressed into 

 the food when it is buckled on, if so, they breathe into it so 

 much. Their head should be at liberty, so that they can 

 place their nose bag on the ground, but in all cases great 

 care should be taken as regards buckling their bridles on 

 tightly, because when a horse holds his head down, if the 

 bridle does not fit well, occasionally the animal gets it 

 off. Some horses will run away if their bridle comes off. 

 It is far better to take care in this respect, and be on the 

 safe side. If I kept draught horses, and they travelled by road, 

 I should have a small table constructed to fold up like a 

 dandy chair, and carry it under the cart or waggon for the 

 nose bag to rest upon while the horse is eating. It may 

 often be noticed that when a horse has his nose bag on and 

 he cannot reach the food, he will keep tossing his head up 

 to get at it, and by this means a great deal of the corn falls 

 out upon the ground. There are hundreds of sacks of corn 

 wasted in this way throughout the country, when it might 

 easily be saved by giving the horse something to rest the 



