96 



HORSES: 



EATING THE BEDDING 



is a very common complaint in all stables where any 

 food substance is used for bedding. Few horses are 

 sufficiently aristocratic to permit even musty hay or 

 straw to lie within reach uneaten, unless the appetite 

 has become less than perfect from excess. The '' muz- 

 zle" has its uses in some of the finest horse palaces. 

 It should be used upon occasion ; but it is better to 

 use bedding that is even less tempting than hay or 

 straw that smells as bad as some brands of cheese 

 that are in favor with certain gormands. 



RULES THAT MAY BE SAFELY TRIED. 



1. The diet for a road horse of 900 to 1,000 lbs. 

 weight, averaging thirty miles, to wagon, every day 

 in the week, and often pushed hard fifty to sixty miles 

 or more in a day, would be 6 lbs. of hay and 9 qts. 

 of oats, or, say, 6 to 12 qts., according to his work. 

 If he be called on for fifty to sixty miles every day 

 for any length of time, he might require 14 to 16 

 qts. of oats every day, with only a very small bunch 

 of hay, say 4 to 6 lbs. For a 1,500 lb. horse, at 

 moderate, but steady work, ten hours a day, six days 

 in the week, 10 lbs. of hay and 8 qts. of oats (or 4 qts. 

 corn and 2 qts. of oats) would probably be sufficient 

 (see pages 65, 66, 6^, 81, 82, 83). 



2. Always increase the diet on the day following 

 the extra hard drive — never on the day preceding, 

 nor the very day : it is to-day s extra waste of tissue 



