162 THE STUD. 



commendation of his ale, " strong, aye ! it should 

 be strong, or how should they be strong who 

 drink it." It may, therefore, with truth be said 

 of horses, that they should eat heartily, or how 

 can they work heartily. This is in a great de- 

 gree a perfectly correct idea ; but a delicate feeder 

 may still consume on the average quite as much 

 as may be necessary for him, and, with a good 

 groom as his attendant, would be more likely to 

 do well than a glutton would. 



It is true that some hunters, some race-horses, 

 and most stage-coach horses consume an enormous 

 quantity of oats. Why is this ? It arises from the 

 cause, that voracious appetites must, to keep their 

 possessors quiet and satisfied, be filled with a 

 large quantity of something, and as, for fast work, 

 horses must be limited as to hay, we are com- 

 pelled to give them oats, to make up a certain 

 wei^rht or bulk to be consumed : a coal-carrier 

 may consume half a dozen pots of porter, and his 

 two pounds of beef-steaks during the day; but we 

 have no record of the running-footman or mes- 

 sengers of old performing gastronomic feats com- 

 mensurate with their pedestrian ones. 



I am by no means certain that a horse refusing 

 his oats after an unusual hard run has not saved 

 many a one from inflammatory attacks of some sort. 

 I am quite certain that a moderate sized race-horse, 

 who will daily eat his five honest quarterns of 



