The Stable Handbook 



horses and to delicate feeders. The danger of 

 having beans in your stable is that grooms are 

 fond of giving them too often and too many at a 

 time. The stimulating effect of the bean being 

 proverbial, they think the more they give the 

 greater results may be looked for. Beans should 

 be split before being used. For young horses I 

 prefer split peas, and I think a small allowance, 

 about 3 lbs. between the four feeds, is useful to 

 young horses in very hard work. The moment 

 that, for any reason, a horse is not working really 

 hard the beans and peas should stop. That is, to 

 a horse doing three days a fortnight in the hunt- 

 ing-field, I would allow 2 lbs. beans if he was over 

 eight years, 3 lbs. peas if he was under that age. 

 In other cases I would give them occasionally, 

 if particularly hard worked, or in very severe 

 weather ; but perhaps they are not sufficiently often 

 used to be kept in the bin. Beans if used when 

 they are not required do so very much more harm 

 than they do good if wanted, that I am unwilling 

 to keep them except in a hunting-stable. 



Then comes linseed, and about the value of 

 this I have no doubt whatever. I have used it 

 rather freely in my own stables for more than 

 twenty years, and believe that I have found it most 

 beneficial. The one point to be careful about is 

 to obtain the best linseed. It is my custom to boil 

 the grain to a jelly and use it with the bran 

 mashes. The late Captain Hayes had a theory 

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