FEEDING 93 



being fed for any length of time on beans without exhibiting 

 symptoms of heat of body .somewhere — generally by greasy 

 or cracked heels, or by scurf and surfeit. With a horse of 

 this description you must every now and then — say three 

 times a fortnight — adopt the plan of giving half a pailful of 

 bran mash instead of a feed of corn, giving him at the same 

 time half an ounce of nitre in his water ; or you may add 

 a double handful of dry bran to his oats every day, or 

 whenever the state of his bowels requires it. 



Peas. — Peas are a very good substitute for beans, and, 

 according to the analysis which has been made of both, con- 

 tain rather more nutritious matter than oats in a given 

 quantity. They are not, however, in general use. A small 

 quantity of barley added to oats is by many recommended 

 as excellent food for horses ; we can say nothing respecting 

 it from personal experience. 



Barley. — Barley is still a common food of the horse on the 

 Continent, and, until the introduction of the oat, seems to 

 have constituted his ordinary stable food. It is more nutri- 

 tious than oats, containing nine hundred and twenty parts 

 of nutritive matter in every thousand. There seems, how- 

 ever, to be something necessary besides a great proportion of 

 nutritive matter, in order to render any substance wholesome 

 and strengthening. Except where horses are very hardly 

 worked, barley does not seem in our country to agree with 

 them so well as oats ; they are more subject to inflammatory 

 complaints, and particularly to surfeit and mange. When 

 barley is given, the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. 

 It should be always bruised, and the chaff should, consist of 

 equal quantities of hay and barley straw, and not cut too 

 short. If spotted barley is given, it will probably produce 

 serious illness among them. For horses that are recovering 

 from illness, barley, in the form of malt, is often serviceable, 

 as tempting the appetite and recruiting the strength. It is 

 best given in mashes ; water, considerably below the boiling 

 heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel or pail kept 

 covered for half an hour. 



Grains. — Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone or 

 mixed with oats or chaff, or both, may be occasionally given 

 to horses slow at work ; they afford very insufficient nourish- 

 ment for horses who are called on for smart exertion. 



Wheat is in Great Britain rarely given to horses. It 

 must always be bruised and given in chaff. Wheat contains 



