34 FEEDING AND WATERING. 



One of the most useful foods whether green or hayed is 

 oats and peas. The crop is easily raised in large quantities on 

 rich land well prepared, where one-half bushel of peas are 

 sown with two and one-half bushels of oats per acre. As soon 

 as the peas are in full bloom the fodder is ready for use, and 

 all should be cut for feeding or drying before the peas are 

 ripe. If it should happen to be dull weather and the crop 

 matures, no harm has been done, because it can be cured, 

 run through the threshing machine and straw cutter, moist- 

 ened, and the ground oats and peas sprinkled over it. 



Experienced horsemen understand that with a heavy feed 

 of oats, at night, and a light breakfast, a horse gets a 

 reserved stock of muscular strength laid in in advance, and 

 travels faster and further than one having a hearty morning 

 feed. 



A warm bran mash does good occasionally. Don't let the 

 bowels of any horse become constipated. 



A night pasture for work horses will help to cool their 

 blood. Give them their grain ration just the same. 



There are a few horses whose stomachs will not tolerate 

 rye in any form ; will either get colic or staggers. Rye is 

 always a dangerous feed when given alone. 



Spasmodic salting is all wrong for any animal, and espe- 

 cially for horses. It may cause colic, and often does. The 

 horse eats too much salt at a time, if only salted now and 

 then, and when this is the case the coats of the stomach and 

 the bowels are irritated, and congestion takes place and ex- 

 cessive thirst. The horse then drinks too much and a chill 

 follows, and this makes more congestion and inflammation 

 may follow, and colic and a set-back, if not death. What 

 is the use of such doings ? It is just as easy, and easier, to 

 be more sensible, and to keep salt before the horse all the 

 time, and then it will partake as directed by its instincts, and 



