HOW TO FEED A HOKSE. 183 



stamina and strength, in a degree greatly in excess of its 

 own increased value, may be assumed as facts. 



Slow working horses do not, of course, require so much 

 nutriment of a high quality, as those which are called on 

 to do quick work and perform long distances; but, as a 

 rule, all animals, which have to do hard work, and much 

 of it, must necessarily be so kept as to have hard flesh ; 

 and they cannot be so kept, unless they are fed on hard 

 grain. 



There is, perhaps, under the head of feeding, one more 

 point, which should be considered. It is that of summer- 

 ing horses, which have been kept up at hard work, in hot 

 stables and on highly stimulating food, for a year or more ; 

 and whose feet and legs have become stale, and their whole 

 systems more or less fevered, so that it is desirable to alter 

 their mode of life, for a time ; to give them more air, 

 cooler lodgings, and a more natural and less exciting diet. 

 It was, formerly, usual to prepare such horses for grass, 

 by three regular doses of medicine, and then to turn them 

 out, upon some grass land, to fare as they might best, until 

 the summer time should be over, when they are to be 

 taken up again, physiced, as before, and got gradually 

 into condition, by feeding and exercise — -a process which 

 could not, with the very best grooms, be accomplished 

 under three or four months, perhaps not in double the time. 



The objections to this plan are, first, the length of time, 

 which is required before the horse, which has by this 

 system been thrown wholly out of condition, can be re- 

 cuperated. Secondly, the great probability of his coming 

 up lame from galloping, gambolling and skylarking with 

 his co-mates, on the pastures, which under our American 

 sunshine are usually burned as hard and nearly as brown 

 as a turnpike road in July. Thirdly, the poorness and 

 innutricious quality of the arid, dried up grass at this period. 



