64 Stable Servants and 



Gruel is made by mixing oatmeal in cold water; and 

 about a pint of meal will make four quarts of gruel. This 

 is enough for ordinary occasions, but for a very exhausted 

 horse, two pints should be mixed with about the same 

 quantity of water, and boiled for ten minutes, carefully 

 stirring it the while. It should be given with the chill 

 just taken off. 



Bran is the outside coat of wheat, removed in the dress- 

 ing after grinding. It is only used in private stables for 

 mashes and poultices, though sometimes it is given with 

 beans as a regular article of food, just as is the case in 

 cart stables. With their addition it answers pretty well in 

 slow work, but not nearly so well as oats, and its price 

 alone is a temptation to its use. 



The bran mash is one of the most valuable kinds of 

 food for sick horses, or for preparing horses in pretty good 

 health for physic, or for cooling down those which are to 

 be turned out to grass. It is made either as a cold mash 

 or as a hot mash — the former being merely bran, with the 

 addition of as much cold water as it will absorb. The 

 hot bran mash is made by pouring enough boiling water 

 to saturate it, and then covering it up till sufficiently cool 

 to give the horse. As the bran swells considerably, one- 

 third of a bucket of bran is enough to make half-a-bucket 

 of mash, which is the usual quantity given. Most horses 

 on hard and dry food are the better for this once a week ; 

 and it should be given on the night before their rest day, 

 which all horses ought to have ; and when so used, it may 

 be allowed to supersede the use of their evening feed of 

 corn ; but if it is given more frequently to a costive horse, 

 it must be in addition. 



Carrots, turnips, and potatoes are useful to horses doing 

 slow work, and bare of flesh * but they do not answer for 

 fast work, nor for horses which are apt to scour. Of the 

 three, the first is the most suitable to horses ; and when 

 they are to be made up for sale, and got very " fresh," as 

 the dealers call it, a few carrots boiled with linseed will 

 effect the object much quicker than any other kind of food, 

 especially in the early spring, when vetches are not to be 

 had. This food is also useful in chronic cough, and will 



