Feeding. 177 



working horses." The owner remarked, "But 

 we boil these, and their being wet and damaged 

 kinds can make no difference, as boiling makes 

 them more nutritious."" 



For the first time then we learned that to cook 

 food rendered it more valuable in its strengthen- 

 ing properties. The operation appears to our 

 mind as an attempt to smuggle into the horse's 

 stomach such a mixture of rubbish that he would 

 not swallow in any other condition. It is a cloak 

 for the purpose of buying inferior corn, and in it 

 may be looked for all the causes of the mischief 

 which is known among horses to which such 

 trash is given. 



Without good food, no horse can maintain an 

 aptitude for work. If he is deprived of it and 

 inferior kinds are substituted, the body suffers, his 

 organic functions give way, and he becomes a 

 sufferer from disease. There is more damage 

 done to studs from this cause alone than from any 

 other, and what is most surprising, owners are 

 not slow to believe in this " penny wise and pound 

 foolish" system. 



To arrange diet for horses is not a difficult 

 matter, nor is it a thing impossible. Hunters 

 and race horses execute a laborious kind of work, 

 which differs from that of the cart, cab, or omni- 

 bus horse but very little. All require the same 

 amount of stamina in order to execute their work. 



None grudge the former their share of the very 

 best, but for the poor hard-working dray horse, 



K 



