HORSES AND MULES 



neglect of the feeder, it may be well 

 to give some form of so-called condition 

 powder or condimental feed. A feed of 

 this sort, which has given excellent re- 

 sults, wherever tried, and which may be 

 compounded by any farmer, contains a 

 mixture of linseed meal, flaxseed, mo- 

 lasses and corn meal, in the proportion 

 25, 10, 20, 40, with small amounts of 

 turmeric root, ginger, caraway seed, gen- 

 tian, cream of tartar, sulphur, coriander 

 seed and common salt. This condimental 

 feed contains about 20 per cent of mo- 

 lasses, and according to nearly all feed- 

 ers, who have tested molasses, this ma- 

 terial has, among other effects, that of 

 improving the appetite and digestion of 

 horses. 



Horses may not only get off feed or 

 lose appetite to some extent as the re- 

 sult of careless feeding, but more se- 

 rious diseases may be due to the same 

 cause. Thus, irrational feeding may 

 cause abortion, heaves, swelled legs, 

 founder, scratches, urticaria, sore mouth, 

 choking, bloat, colic, constipation, dysen- 

 tery, azoturia, diabetes, bloody urine, etc. 



It should be remembered in this con- 

 nection, that boiled grains are somewhat 

 harder to digest than when raw. Colic 

 may also be caused by watering the 

 horses heavily at too long intervals. A 

 safe and easy rule to remember is, that 

 horses should be watered about half an 

 hour before or after feeding. It may 

 be laid down, therefore, as a general 

 proposition, established beyond doubt, 

 that by means of a systematic course of 

 feeding work horses and mules, the best 

 prevention of various diseases is se- 

 cured. 



Water — The amount of water re- 

 quired by horses appears to be affected 

 in a quite pronounced manner by the 

 kind of feed which they receive. In 

 Utah, it was found that horses fed al- 

 falfa hay drank about 4 pounds of water 

 per day more than those which received 

 timothy. This test was made in April. 

 In February, horses on timothy drank 

 62 1 /2 pounds of water per day, while 

 those on alfalfa required 70 pounds per 

 day. The extra amount of water taken 

 when the coarse part of the ration con- 

 sisted of alfalfa, was excreted in the 

 urine. In Florida, a number of tests 

 of this matter has shown that the aver- 

 age horse or mule varies greatly in his 

 water requirement, drinking from 50 to 

 110 pounds of water per day. On most 



farms it is customary to water the 

 horses after feeding in the morning, be- 

 fore and after feeding at noon and be- 

 fore feeding at night. This practice is 

 perfectly safe and satisfactory if the 

 water is not given in large quantities 

 too soon before or after receiving grain 

 or hay rations. As a matter of fact, the 

 caution just expressed in this matter is 

 often not necessary, since it is well 

 known that many horses may be watered 

 immediately before or after feeding 

 without any serious results. 



In New Hampshire, also, it has been 

 found that the feed exercises an influ- 

 ence on the amount of water consumed 

 by horses. A ration of corn and bran 

 seemed to cause the horses to drink 

 most water, while a ration containing 

 corn, linseed meal and hay had the ef- 

 fect of causing the horses to drink the 

 least water, which was observed in any 

 of the rations tested at the New Hamp- 

 shire station. During a period of 17 

 days, the amount of water consumed 

 by the horses varied from 3,625 to 4,000 

 pounds, showing a great difference in the 

 individuality of horses. While the kind 

 and quality of feed may exercise a con- 

 siderable influence on the amount of 

 water taken by horses, the amount of 

 Water appears not to influence the di- 

 gestibility of different elements in the 

 feed, particularly the mineral matters. 



Cost of rations— The cost of horse ra- 

 tions is as important a matter as the 

 cost of rations of other farm animals 

 and recent experiments have shown that 

 many of the rations fed to horses on 

 farms, in the stables of transportation 

 companies and elsewhere, are altogether 

 too expensive for the amount of energy 

 which they provide. It is often possible 

 to diminish the cost of the ration greatly 

 without lowering its effectiveness. The 

 economy in such a practice is self-evi- 

 dent. In New Hampshire, Burkett 

 studied the cost of different horse ra- 

 tions and found that the expense varied 

 according to the market price of mate- 

 rials in that state, from 17 to 22V2 cents 

 per day per horse. 



On account of the many substitutes 

 which have already been suggested for 

 a part of the oat ration, there is no 

 further excuse for feeding oats as the 

 exclusive grain ration to work horses, 

 when such materials as corn, cottonseed 

 meal, brewers' grains, bran, barley, etc, 

 are to be conveniently obtained. In the 



