MANAGEMENT OF LIGHT HORSES. 175 



It has been remarked that, in the process of mastication, dry 

 hay becomes mixed with four times its weight of saliva, while 

 oats only require an amount of saliva equivalent to their own 

 weight. It is said that a horse, in eating ten pounds of hay, 

 loads his stomach with forty pounds of saliva in addition, or 

 fifty pounds in all ; but in consuming an equivalent amount 

 of oats, say five pounds, he needs but five pounds of saliva, 

 or ten pounds altogether. Therefore, in introducing into the 

 system a given amount of flesh-forming aliment in the form 

 of oats, the stomach is filled to only one-fifth the extent that 

 would be necessary if the same quantity of nutrient material 

 were given in the form of hay. But the ten pounds of hay, 

 with its saliva, could not all be accommodated in the stomach 

 at once, but only at three times, unless the organ is to be 

 distended to more than the normal plenitude of two-thirds of 

 its full capacity. The five pounds of oats, on the other hand, 

 with its five pounds of saliva, will not fill the stomach to one- 

 third of its capacity, but leaves the amplest opportunity for 

 freedom of movement and the secretion of the gastric juices. 

 It might be added that the ready digestibility and assimila- 

 tion of the food is a very important matter, and especially for 

 hard-working horses, with which time is all-important. If 

 the food is difficult of mastication, and requires a lengthy 

 period to reduce it to the necessary condition of crushing and 

 insalivation before being swallowed, then the animal gets less 

 rest, and so much power is wasted by the muscular move- 

 ment of the jaws ; while, if it is indigestible, it takes a longer 

 time to reach the blood, and fatigues the stomach before it 

 is in a fit state to enter that vital fluid, besides loading the 

 bowels with matters which are often worse than useless. 



" If we attempt to feed a working horse upon hay alone, 

 we must give him much more than if he were not doing any 

 labour ; if, for instance, he is allowed twenty pounds per day, 

 as has been observed by the American Live Stock Journal, he 

 will require four or five hours in order to masticate it pro- 

 perly ; and if this quantity of hay must be saturated with 



