THE HORSE. 163 



have never known any injury to arise from this prac- 

 tice. There is no more danger of injury to the horse 

 than to ourselves by eating a hearty meal when warm. 

 And who ever heard of a man kilhng himself with a 

 hearty dinner, because he eat it when he was fatigued 

 or heated ? 



It is hard driving, violent exercise, after eating 

 hearty food, that causes pain, and often death. 



Let a man but reflect on what has proved injurious 

 to himself, and he will rationally conclude what treat- 

 ment is most likely to injure his beast. Let him eat a 

 hearty meal, then run, or use any violent exercise im- 

 mediately after, and he will be at no loss in conjectur- 

 ing what must be the danger of furiously driving a 

 beast after a hearty dinner. 



It is hard driving immediately after eating grain 

 that kills the horse ; and we venture to assert that not 

 an instance can be shown in which he has sustained 

 injury from eating grain merely because he was warm. 

 People should reflect and reason more on this subject. 



Horses that travel and labor violently, as in stages 

 and fast chaises, should eat their grain at night. When 

 laboring moderately on a farm, it is not so material 

 when their heartiest food is given ; for horses are not 

 hable to be injured in any gear, when they are only 

 driven on the walk. 



But we have known many men, prudent in most 

 matters, yet guilty of stuffing their horses with grain 

 in the morning, just before starting on a journey ! 

 They gave no grain the night before, reserving for the 

 starting hour the heartiest food for the beast ! 



On a journey we have long been in the habit of 

 giving our horse his grain at night. We give it as 

 soon as he is rubbed down and put to the stable, and 

 we have never found it injured him. 



How absurd to let your horse stand for hours, after 

 a day of violent exercise, to chop up his own fodder, 

 and attempt to appease his hunger on hay, often poor 

 hay, not fit to be fed out to young cattle. 



