FOOD. 355 



than barley straw, but does not contain so much nourishment as that of 



wheat. 



'i When the horse is fed on hay and oats, the quantity of the oats must 



vary with his size and the work to be performed. In winter, four feeds, 



or nine or ten pounds of oats a day, will be a fair allowance for a horse of 



fifteen hands one or two inches high, and that has moderate work. In 



summer, half the quantity, with green food, will be sufficient. 



Oatmeal will form a poultice, more stimulating than one composed 

 of hnseed meal alone — or they may be mingled in different proportions as 

 circumstances may require. In the form of gruel it constitutes one of 

 the most important articles of diet for the sick horse — not indeed forced 

 upon him, but a pail containing it being slmig in his box, and of which he 

 will soon begin to drink when water is denied. In cases of poisoning, or 

 of over purging, it is useful whether administered by the mouth, or as an 

 injection. 



White-water, made by stirring a pint of oatmeal into a pail of water, 

 the chill being taken from it, is an excellent beverage for the thirsty and 

 tired horse. 



Barley is a common food of the horse on various parts of the Conti- 

 nent, and, until the introduction of the oat, seems to have constituted 

 almost his only food. It is more nutritious than oats, containing nine 

 hundred and twenty parts of nutritive matter in every thousand. There 

 seems, however, to be something necessary besides a great proportion of 

 nutritive matter, in order to render any substance wholesome, strengthen- 

 ing, or fattening. Except where horses are very hardly worked, barley does 

 not seem in our country to agree with them so well as oats. They are 

 more subject to inflammatory complaints, and particularly to surfeit and 

 mange. When barley is given, the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. 

 It should be always bruised, and the chaff should consist of equal quan- 

 tities of hay and barley-straw, and not cut too short. If the farmer has 

 a quantity of spotted or unsaleable barley which he wishes thus to get rid 

 of, he must very gradually accustom his horses to it, or he will probably 

 produce serious illness among them. For horses that are recovering from 

 illness, barley, in the form of malt, is often serviceable, as tempting the 

 appetite and recruiting the strength. It is best given in mashes ; water, 

 considerably below the boiling heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel 

 or pail kept covered for half an hour. 



Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone, or mixed with oats or 

 chaff, or both, may be occasionally given to horses of slow work ; they 

 would, however, afibrd very insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker 

 or harder work. 



Wheat is in Great Britain more rarely given than barley. It contains 

 nine hundred and fifty-five parts of nutritive matter. When farmers have 

 a damaged or unmarketable sample of wheat, they sometimes give it to 

 their horses, and, being at first used in small quantities, the horse be- 

 comes accustomed to it, and thrives and works well. It must, however, 

 always be bruised and given in chaff. Wheat contains a greater pro- 

 portion of giuteti, or sticky adhesive matter, than any other kind of grain; 

 it is difficult of digestion, and apt to cake and form obstructions in the 

 bowels. This will oftener be the case if the horse is suffered to drink 

 much water soon after feeding upon wheat ; for the water passing rapidly 

 through the stomach and^ small intestines, in its way to the coecum, (see 

 page 204,) carries off with it all the starch, which is the most nourish- 

 ing, and leaves this sticky mass behind, which accumulates and hardens, 

 and obstructs the intestines, and often destroys the horse. A horse that 



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