36 HORSES • 



four quarts of oats at a feed. For a time there was 

 no change in her appearance ; but he accidentally 

 ascertained that she was having her grain at noon 

 the same as before. Somewhat angry at the decep- 

 tion practiced by the man who " wouldn't have a horse 

 starved" in his stable, he changed her boarding place, 

 ordering her feed as before. Some discussion ensued 

 between him and the stable-keeper about the advan- 

 tages of two over three meals, in which the latter 

 predicted that he would find that it " wouldn't work 

 with some ' bosses.' " Sure enough, it became evi- 

 dent in a few weeks that his horse was declining. 

 He ordered an increase of grain at the two feeds ; 

 still she grew poor. Another increase was ordered, 

 but she kept going down hill. Not suspecting any 

 cheat, her owner put her away for another horse, 

 directing this one to be fed in like manner. She, too, 

 begun to decline, and in spite of twelve quarts of 

 grain daily {ordered) and "■ all the hay she would eat 

 up clean at each meal," she grew more and more 

 seedy, until, at last suspecting that something was 

 the trouble he hired a stable, and, himself, attended 

 to the feeding. He found that the amount of grain 

 she had been having (!) purged her, in the new stable, 

 and he lessened the ration, more and more, until 

 finally she began to improve on what might be called 

 a meal and a half, viz. : a very light feed of hay and 

 two quarts of oats in the morning, and a full feed of 

 hay with four quarts of whole corn and oats at night. 

 On this feed, with liberal exercise, she acquired a 

 splendid condition in a few months. The first mare, 



