FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



flaxseed jelly each time (that is, if he won^t 

 drink it, which he generally will). Skim milk 

 can be bought very cheap, and with flaxseed 

 (or with that and "hay tea") affords excellent 

 nourishment. Molasses also, the old-time black 

 kind, is a grand appetizer ; may be diluted and 

 sprinkled on hay, etc., or fed clear, and a pair of 

 very old horses were, to the writer's knowledge, 

 kept for a long time on clear molasses, and a little 

 hay, which they mumbled over and rejected after 

 extracting the juice. Apples, carrots, etc., all 

 kinds of flavoring materials, may be cheaply pro- 

 cured and appropriately used, so that there is no 

 excuse for any man to say that he cannot keep 

 his animal in condition, unless his horse has 

 some grave physical ailment. 



Physic — purgative — is rarely or never needed, 

 especially if the subject is well salted, either in his 

 Saturday night feed, or by the provision of Glau- 

 ber salts, or rock-salt, at frequent intervals, and by 

 the weekly provision of a grass-sod (if obtainable), 

 roots, dirt, and all. Very rarely the kidneys need 

 slight stimulation, and occasionally the liver gets 

 sluggish, but if so, the veterinary had better be 

 consulted than to tinker with your horse's inter- 

 nals as your own theories or your man's fancies 



68 



