166 TRAINING IN INDIA. 



animal on a full allowance of corn will eat far less hay 

 than what is commonly supposed. General Fitzwygram 

 states that " practically it will be found that horses 

 which are not limited in regard to oats, will not usually 

 consume above six pounds of hay per diem." 



In concluding this subject, I may remark that the 

 trainer, while supplying the horse with food suitable 

 for the requirements of his system, when undergoing 

 severe work, should never lose sight of the fact that 

 the proper assimilation of such food can only be 

 ensured as long as the functions of digestion are in a 

 healthy state. To maintain this all-important condi- 

 tion, he should study the general question of diet, and 

 the various peculiarities of each individual horse ; 

 should preserve a sufficient variety in the food, so that 

 the animal be not disgusted by a never-ending mono- 

 tony ; and should supplement the hard fare, from time 

 to time, with a handful of carrots or parsnips, a bunch 

 of lucern, of freshly-picked green grass, or of young 

 oats or wheat, a piece of sugar-cane, a linseed mash ; 

 anything, in fact, to keep the appetite from palling on 

 corn, which is, after all, the chief source from which to 

 obtain muscle. 



