190 FEEDING. 



work ; because exercising a horse sooner than two hours, or 

 putting him to fast or severe work sooner than three hours, 

 after he has had a full feed, would be apt to interfere with his 

 digestion, as we may generally see by his dung becoming 

 unusually loose. Colic from this cause will not often occur. 

 If work has to be early, and if the proper interval between it 

 and the giving of a full feed cannot be observed, we should 

 content ourselves by giving only half a feed, or even less ; for 

 food that causes digestive derangement does a horse injury, 

 and should consequently be withheld. 



Having fixed the times for the first and last feeds, we 

 should divide the interval as evenly as circumstances will 

 allow. Taking the racehorse as the one animal above all 

 others to which exact methods of work and feeding can be 

 applied, we may suppose that he is fed at 6 a.m., n a.m., 

 2.30 p.m., 6.30 p.m. and at 10.30 p.m. or n p.m. Exigencies 

 of work prevent an exact division of the time, as we shall see 

 later on. Not much difference need be made between the 

 routine of feeding during summer and that during winter. 



The hours of feeding a hunter which is being brought into 

 condition, or which is kept in exercise on off days during 

 the season, may be the same as that for a racehorse, under 

 which term I may, for purposes of feeding, include chasers, 

 hurdle racers, and match trotters. The order of feeding will 

 naturally have to be altered when the hunter goes out with 

 the hounds. Supposing that the meet is at eleven o'clock, 

 and that he will be ridden or led out to it by the second 

 horseman at a quiet walk of two hours' duration ; we might 

 with advantage give him his first feed at five o'clock and 

 his second one at eight, so that he may be ready to start at 

 nine. We may take for granted that the galloping and 

 jumping will not begin before noon. If the animal has to go 

 to the meet at a trot, he will cover the distance in about 

 half the time he would do at a walk, and consequently the 



