1056 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER BOOK xn. 



lions as to general care of the animals, given under the months of 

 October and November, apply equally well to the present month, and 

 should be as carefully attended to. As in the case of cattle, strict 

 attention should always be paid to the general health of the horses, 

 especially as regards the condition of the bowels. In truth greater 

 attention is required in their case than in that of cattle, as horses are 

 subject to a wider range of complaints and diseases, and are much 

 more liable to be attacked by them. Attend therefore to the slightest 

 symptoms of anything " being wrong," and do not rest satisfied with 

 the idea too prevalent that " it will soon be all right." Diseases as a 

 rule do not pass away without attention being paid to them ; but 

 rather go on quickly from bad to worse. Whenever horses have been 

 unwell it is a mistake to put them into full work too soon. They 

 should be fed on the most easily digested foods, an occasional bran 

 mash being very useful, as indeed it is at all seasons. 



MARCH. 



Work being now, under usual circumstances, " in full swing," as the 

 phrase is in the fields, preparing the land for spring crops, and getting 

 in such as are yet to be sown, and the horses therefore in constant 

 work, they must not be stinted in their feeding, oats and corn again 

 forming the staple, as the most sustaining of all the foods given to 

 them. Beans are more nutritious, but their fault is a tendency to 

 make the animals constipated. This with some horses is so decided 

 an effect that they cannot be given to them, or ought not, unless asso- 

 ciated with some food having a corrective or opposite tendency. Given 

 with a full allowance of oats, two bushels a week or thereabout, they 

 will suit the generality of animals, especially if carrots, some twenty to 

 thirty pounds daily, be given with them. A warm mash at night 

 has a good influence upon the bowels. Feed regularly, and with short 

 intervals between the feeds. In wet weather rub down with dry straw, 

 and have the lower extremities thoroughly clean and dry, and the 

 animals comfortable in every way before bedding them. There is 

 much to be done in finding out the likes and dislikes of animals as 

 regards food, and horses are no exception to this common-sense rule. 



APRIL. 



Hard work being still more the rule this month than even last 

 month, increased food rations, both in the bulk and the quality of the 

 materials of which they are composed, must be the rule also. This 

 does not, however, mean, as some feeders injudiciously think it does, 

 heavy feedings at each " meal." On the contrary, remembering what 

 we have before said as to the smallness of the stomach and digestive 

 organs of the horse, the meals must be comparatively light, and the 

 intervals between them correspondingly short. They should be pro- 

 portioned to the " yoking," or periods during which the animals are at 

 work, the two being arranged accordingly. The system universally 



