182 FEEDING. 



should be exercised in its selection ; because serious mortality 

 is often brought about in a stud by the injudicious feeding of 

 such forage, in which case, as a rule, the grain, and not the 

 hay, unjustly gets the blame. A few years ago, great mor- 

 tality was produced amongst horses in this country by the 

 importation of a large quantity of Algerian hay. As long as 

 the chop is sound, its composition is of little moment, because 

 it is merely the vehicle for facilitating the assimilation of the 

 grain, which is the essential force-producing material. 



" During the hay famine which occurred some years since, 

 I witnessed a six months' experiment of giving chop, con- 

 sisting entirely of straw, to a hundred horses in a large work- 

 ing stud, the remainder being supplied with hay chop, in 

 which there was a small percentage of straw, but no change 

 was made in the grain. During the allotted six months, the 

 hundred experimental horses performed their work quite as 

 well as the hay-fed animals, and at the end of this period 

 were in equally good condition. 



"With horses that are inclined to waste their food by 

 throwing it out of the manger, there is economy, without 

 injurious results, in damping the food." 



SCALES OF DIET. 



In all cases I assume that the horse gets at least 3^ oz. of 

 salt (p. 101) daily in his food, or that he has a lump of rock 

 salt constantly in his manger. 



i. Idle Horses. The experiments of Grandeau and Leclerc 

 show that an average horse, when in a state of idleness, can 

 maintain his weight on 17^ lb. of hay, or on 5 Ib. of oats 

 and 5 lb. of hay. We all know that an ordinary horse 

 turned out to grass can keep in health on simply the natural 

 herbage of the field ; but on such a ration his muscular 

 powers will gradually decrease down to his grazing require- 

 ments. Hence, if we want him to maintain his strength, as 



