134 LADIES ON HOESEBACK. 



fond. The carrots are given whole, either 

 from my hand or put loosely in the manger. 

 I never suffer them to be cut up, unless it be 

 done very finely, either by myself or under my 

 supervision, to induce a dehcate feeder to 

 taste his food through which the chopped 

 carrots are rubbed. Grooms, with their 

 accustomed ignorance, are almost always in 

 favour of the *^ cutting up," but I regard it as 

 a most dangerous practice. If the carrot be 

 left whole the horse will nibble at it, and will 

 bite off just such pieces as he knows he can 

 chew and swallow, but there is more than 

 one instance upon record of horses choking 

 themselves with pieces of cut carrot, and very 

 many who have nearly done so. I can feed 

 my horses upon this system for very little 

 more than half the sum which my neighbours 

 are expending, with advantages which are 

 certainly fourfold. I consider it an excellent- 

 plan to vary horses' feeding, as it tells quite 

 as beneficially upon animals as upon ourselves ; 

 — and for this purpose there cannot, in my 

 opinion, be anything better than the forage- 

 biscuits, manufactured by Spratt & Co.^ 



