22 A COUNTRY READER. 



skin should be well rubbed over with a hard water 

 brush and curry comb. When a horse is out in 

 the open, he will often roll on the hard uneven 

 ground, and thus set up a healthy friction of the 

 skin so necessary to health. He cannot do this 

 in a stall, so 'we are obliged to use a hard brush 

 and curry comb. This helps to keep the skin 

 free from scurf and clean, and stimulates circula- 

 tion and creates warmth. 



The feet ought to be carefully washed and 

 cleaned out every day, and your horse must 

 never by any chance when he is in the stable 

 stand in damp nasty slush or muck. If he does, 

 he will soon get something wrong with his feet 

 and in time go lame. 



A horse ought to be regularly fed, the number 

 of times a day, and the quantity of food depend 

 on each horse, and the amount of work he has 

 to do. Remember that a horse has a small 

 stomach, and therefore he ought to be fed in 

 small quantities and often, especially is it impor- 

 tant that he should be fed early in the morning. 



Generally speaking, the best "feed" for a 

 horse when he is at work is bright- coloured, 

 heavy, old oats ; the oats ought to be crushed 

 and mixed with chaff; then the whole, oats and 

 chaff, damped with water. If you give the oats 

 whole and not mixed with chaff, a horse will 

 swallow many of them without properly masti- 



