56 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



it. Besides giving the horse physical exercise 

 and stimulating the action of the liver, intestines, 

 etc., and stimulating his spirits, it has a most 

 beneficial effect on the horse's coat. Clean sand 

 makes an excellent rolling bath ; peat moss or 

 tan bark, as used in riding schools, will also do. 

 Idle horses should be turned loose for at least 

 half an hour a day so that they can exercise 

 themselves by rolling, etc. It is a good plan to 

 allow a horse, when he comes in hot, to have a 

 roll. If a horse, when turned loose in a sand 

 bath, strains his legs at all by jumping about, 

 bandages should be put on. The sand bath 

 should be twenty feet square, the sand being 

 one foot deep. Great care must be taken to 

 brush all sand thoroughly from the horse's coat 

 before putting on the harness or saddle ; if any 

 sand is left in the coat it will be sure to cause 

 a sore back. 



Sand rubbed in lightly to a wet back for a 

 few minutes, and then brushed out again, will 

 dry the coat and remove a great deal of dirt. 

 Sawdust is very useful for drying wet backs. 



221. Bedding. Bedding is necessary in a 

 stable to prevent chill (which would result from 

 lying on a cold stone floor), to add to the horse's 

 comfort, to prevent injuries, for the purpose of 

 absorbing wet, and for neatness. Bedding also 

 affords a soft material for the horse to stand on 

 during the day, which becomes more necessary 

 when the horse is left standing for any length 

 of time in the stable. The various forms of 

 bedding are straw, old hay, peat moss, sawdust, 

 shavings and sand. Leaves, ferns and branches 

 are sometimes used, but are not healthy. Tan 

 bark should never be used, as it destroys the 

 feet. Peat moss will absorb about six times its 

 own weight of water, tan bark nearly as much, 

 and straw between two and three times its own 

 weight. Barley straw will absorb most, wheat 

 straw least. (See "Impurities," Sec. 368.) 



222. Bedding must absorb fluid, absorb gases, 

 be free from odour, be soft, be a bad conductor 

 of heat, be cheap, be easily procurable, be free 

 from any properties that harm the horse's feet, 

 and be free from any properties that will harm 

 the coat. It should also be unpalatable to the 

 horse. Any bedding, as peat moss, tan bark, 

 sawdust or sand, that will clog in the feet is not 

 the best of bedding. Tan, containing tannic 

 acid, has a particularly bad effect on horses' feet ; 

 therefore a horse on returning from the riding 

 school should have his feet well picked out. 

 Urine has a very bad effect on horses' feet, so any 

 of the above materials that will become clogged 

 in the feet are far inferior to straw, etc. 



Straw forms by far the best bedding. Wheat 

 straw is the best, because it is less liable to be 

 eaten ; it is stiff, and keeps cleaner and lasts 

 longer. Oat straw is liable to be eaten, soon 

 becomes soiled and matted in lumps. Barley 

 straw may cause a skin irritation. Actinomy- 



cosis is caused by a fungus that is not uncommon 

 on barley straw. The long straw sold in England 

 makes the best bedding ; the grain separators 

 in Canada and the United States, unfortunately, 

 break up the straw into such short lengths that 

 it is very dirty and dusty and far less economical. 

 Wheat straw undoubtedly looks the nicest. 



223. If peat moss is used, it should contain a 

 large amount of fibre and cork-like lumps, and 

 should not be close like soil. The only ad- 

 vantage of peat moss is its great power of absorb- 

 ing liquids and gases ; therefore it requires to 

 be renewed more frequently than is otherwise 

 thought necessary, because it quickly becomes a 

 saturated mass of harmful chemicals, such as 

 ammonia. A few years ago the British Service 

 used it entirely, but, upon finding that their 

 horses' frogs became damaged, soon discontinued 

 it. The great advantage of it is that it is almost 

 fireproof. It is very convenient on board ship or 

 on the train, as it makes a splendid footing, is 

 not blown about, and takes up less room in 

 stowage. When used, the wet portions must be 

 continually removed and the feet well looked 

 after. Tan bark is worse than peat moss for 

 damaging the feet. Sawdust, wood shavings, 

 and sand are fairly good when they can be pro- 

 cured cheaply in a clean state ; but they must 

 be kept clean, which is not an easy matter. 

 They are not suitable for private use, or for 

 horses with fine coats. The shavings should con- 

 tain no pieces of wood. Sawdust makes a very 

 good bedding if plenty of it is used, and if re- 

 placed frequently. Some large commercial 

 stables use it entirely. The horses shown in 

 P. 29rf, e, f are bedded entirely on sawdust. 

 Sawdust is valuable in all stables that are not 

 drained. 



224. The army horse is allowed eight pounds 

 of wheat straw per day for bedding. The bed- 

 ding should be taken outside the stable early 

 every morning, and spread on a wooden plat- 

 form, or put into a wire cage made for the 

 purpose of preventing the bedding from blowing 

 about ; this is necessary thoroughly to air the 

 bedding. The manure and the wet portions of 

 the bedding must be thrown away, and not left 

 anywhere near the stable. The manure heap 

 should be cleared away every day, especially 

 during the fly season. A rainproof roof should 

 be provided to protect the bedding from the 

 wet while it is airing. (See P. 89e.) This shows 

 the usual type of bedding roof used in army 

 stables ; great economy of bedding results by 

 airing it outside during the daytime. Bedding 

 should never be left in the stable during the day, 

 except on Sundays, when the horses are usually 

 left bedded down. A most foolish practice is 

 that of pushing the bedding to the front of the 

 stall, so that all the harmful gases are breathed 

 by the horse, and affect his eyes, lungs, and 

 general health. 



