178 THE HORSE. * 



an hour, which will keep him fasting from eight and a half to ten 

 hours according to the distance, while the other is travelled fast 

 enough to do it in six or seven hours, the latter will be less ex- 

 hausted than the former, though even he would be all the better 

 for a feed in the middle of the journey, the time devoted to this 

 act being easily picked up by the increased energy which would 

 be given by the corn. No horseman of experience is ignorant of 

 these facts, and after a long day the hunting man who knows what 

 he is about will always be seen on the look out for a feed of corn 

 or a pint of oatmeal for his hunter, before he attends to his own 

 wants. The human stomach will bear hunger far better than that 

 of the horse, and if the rider feels his appetite pretty keen, he may 

 be satisfied that the animal which carries him is still more in want 

 of food. The kind of work which the horse is intended for affects 

 not only the quantity of food required, but also its quality. Thus 

 very fast work, as in racing and hunting, strains the muscular 

 system as well as the heart and lungs to the utmost, and therefore 

 the food which is best fitted for the development of the former to 

 the highest degree consists of those kinds which present the ele- 

 ments contained in the muscular tissue in the largest proportions 

 consistent with the due performance of the digestive powers. These 

 are found in oats and beans, but nature herself teaches every ani- 

 mal instinctively to keep within such limits as are safe, and hence 

 it is found that though every horse will greedily devour a peck or 

 a peck and a half of corn daily, yet he will not go beyond this 

 quantity even though it is not sufficient for his wants, and in spite 

 of his being deprived of every other kind of food. The demands 

 of his muscular system are supplied by the corn, but there are 

 pertain saline matters in hay which are not found in the former, 

 and being necessary for the performance of several important func- 

 tions the stomach receives its warning through the appetite and 

 no more corn is received into it. On the other hand, the hard- 

 worked horse fed on hay alone craves for corn, and will greedily 

 devour almost any quantity put in his manger until he upsets his 

 digestive powers, when the appetite for it ceases. It is found by 

 experience that a certain proportion of hay and corn is best adapted 

 to each horse according to the work he has to do, and his own par- 

 ticular constitution, so that in laying down rules for feeding it is 

 necessary first of all to ascertain what demands will be likely to be 

 made upon the system. Few owners of carriage-horses would like 

 to see them driven to the door with their muscles showing the 

 lines between them as they ought to do in a race-horse when fit to 

 run. Such a state of high training as will put the latter in con- 

 dition would be impracticable for the former without wearing his 

 legs out, and not only destroying his rounded and level appearance 

 but taking away the air of high spirit and life which tsnds so 



