CHAP. vii. EXPERIENCES IN HORSE MANAGEMENT. 457 



Foals should be handled from the day they are born, and for this 

 purpose a small halter should be put upon them to enable them to be 

 held and walked about. Throughout their first winter it is advisable 

 to stable foals at night, giving them the same food as that for mares. 



3. Feeding of Stallions, &c. I am quite sure, if men were only 

 good enough judges, it would be far better to keep stallions only in a 

 fair "store" condition on mixed meal and soft food; but as, unfor- 

 tunately, the rarity is to find a man who can judge a leanish horse, for 

 the sake of getting custom the horse has to be fattened up. To do 

 this he should be fed five or six times a day not much at once, and 

 with as much variety as possible. When on service, he should have 

 more hard feeding, and vice versa during the off season the hard 

 feeding being proportioned to the travelling and work he has to do. 



4. Management of Young Stock. This is in every way similar to 

 what I have written under the head of mares, as far as fillies are 

 concerned, and colts until they are one year or one and a half years 

 old. At that age these latter are taken into boxes with courts 

 attached, in which they are allowed to run about, each colt having a 

 separate box and court. They are then also regularly exercised. As 

 a rule, each two-year-old colt has fifteen or twenty mares, and, while 

 this pays for his keep, it does him no harm. One point I am very 

 particular about with all my stock, especially the young ones, it is 

 that their feet be pared down level with the sole once a month in 

 summer, and once in two or three months in winter, allowing always 

 the frog to touch the ground ; thus, without shoes, and the frog 

 touching the ground always, there is no fear of contracted feet. 



Mr. Henry Moore, Burn Butts, Cranswick, says : The questions 

 are difficult to answer, as the quantity of food required varies so much 

 according to the horse or mare that has to be fed, and this can only 

 be decided by the feeder of the animal. (1.) With regard to treat- 

 ment of brood mares, I may remark that they should sleep in the box 

 they are expected to foal in a week, at least, before foaling. We 

 generally feed them as usual until they have foaled ; then we give 

 them two feeds of oats, a few carrots, and beans for the first week or 

 two, as we think best ; then the same quantity of oats, about a quarter 

 of a bushel a day, mixed with wheat chaff, or chopped clover, and of 

 course get them out to grass in the day as the weather will allow. 

 (2.) We wean our foals about the second week -in October, and as we 

 accustom them to eat corn with the mother, we do not change the diet 

 much, but make it as liberal as possible until we can get them turned 

 out to grass. (3.) The feeding of stallions during service I think 

 almost impossible to give an opinion upon, as different treatment is 

 required for different horses. I think it the best plan to give oats 

 mixed with beans, a few carrots, and a very small quantity of good 

 dry white peas; the beans and oats we always give damped with a 

 little water. We never give cold water to drink, but always add a 

 little warm water to take off the chill. (I think this most important.) 

 In the off-season we give chaff and oats twice a day, and any green 

 food we can get in summer, and carrots in winter. (4.) Of course 



