234 THE HORSE IN SERVICE 



Nutritive Requirements of the Horse. — The horse's daily 

 nutritive requirements, according to the Wolff-Lehmann feed- 

 ing standards, are as follows. The amounts are for one thousand 

 pounds of live weight : 



Dry Carbo- Nutritive 



matter Protein hydrates Fats ratio 



Light work 20 lb. 1.5 lb. 9.5 lb. .4 lb. 1:7 



Medium work 24 1b. 2 lb. 11 lb. .6 1b. 1:6.2 



Heavy work 26 lb. 2.5 lb. 13.3 lb. .8 lb. 1:6 



Smith * concludes, however, from the investigations of Lang- 

 worth, of the United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 others, that the protein standard is too high ; that the majority 

 of American work horses are doing their work acceptably, with- 

 out loss in condition, on a ration of 1 to 8 instead of 1 to 6. 



Three Types of Feed. — A ration may be composed of three 

 types of feedstuffs, — concentrates, roughage, and succulence. 

 The relative amounts of each, which the ration should contain, 

 will be determined by the class of horses fed. The horse is an 

 automobile in that he moves by his own power, and is not a sta- 

 tionary engine, as are cattle, sheep, and hogs, so far as their pro- 

 ductiveness is concerned. It is important, therefore, that he 

 expend as little as possible of energy available, in simply trans- 

 porting the mass of his o^vn body. Hence, the horse at work must 

 carry his ration in more or less concentrated form, according to 

 the nature of the work. But some bulk in the digestive tract 

 is necessary, for physiological reasons. A horse would prac- 

 tically starve to death on concentrates alone. Roughage should 

 be allowed but its amount regulated according to the nature of 

 the work, and it should be fed mostly at night, when it will cause 

 least interference. An idle horse can take a greater proportion 

 of his ration in roughage than one at work, and the drafter 

 moving at a walk, with weight an advantage, can be allowed 

 more roughage than the race horse, in whose case weight is a 

 handicap and bulk an impediment. 



Succulence is useful in the ration, not only for the nutrients 

 it contains but for the palatability which it lends and its physio- 



* Profitable Stock Feeding. 



