HORSES AND MULES 



might be used with unsatisfactory re- 

 sults by other persons, who have not 

 had experience with those particular 

 feeding stuffs. There is no reason why 

 one ration should be adopted in a cer- 

 tain locality because it has been found 

 particularly suitable for another locality. 

 No farmer in the southern states, for 

 example, would consider it practical 

 to buy oats and timothy hay for feeding 

 his horses, simply because that ration 

 was found satisfactory in the northern 

 states. There is no one ration for 

 horses. A combination of suitable and 

 economical feed stuffs should be made, 

 according to the abundance of various 

 crops and the prevailing market prices, 

 and various substitutions may then be 

 made in a ration, as indicated above, 

 under the discussion of different feeds. 



Sample rations_It may be well to 

 present a few samples of rations which 

 have given good results in different lo- 

 calities. In Edinburgh, it was found 

 that horses at heavy hauling on a ration 

 of 16 pounds of oats and 21 pounds of 

 Italian rye grass hay, kept in excellent 

 condition, but lost weight when the 

 hay was diminished to the extent of 2 

 pounds. In Kansas City, draft horses 

 have been found to keep in condition 

 on. a ration of 20 pounds each of oats 

 and hay; or on a ration 20 pounds hay, 

 4 x /2 pounds corn and 6V2 pounds oats, 

 morning and noon and 6 pounds of 

 wheat bran at night. In California, a 

 good ration consists of 10 pounds al- 

 falfa hay, 12 pounds barley and 7 

 pounds cracked corn. McLay, a noted 

 breeder of Clydesdale horses, has come 

 to the conclusion on a basis of practi- 

 cal experience, that 10 pounds of oats, 

 5 pounds of corn and 3 pounds of bran, 

 divided into three equal feeds make a 

 ration which cannot be much improved. 

 The amount of corn may be increased 

 during the winter. In addition to this 

 grain feed, about 15 or 16 pounds of 

 hay are allowed for each horse. 



The rations allowed army horses in 

 the United States, are as follows: For 

 cavalry horses, 12 pounds oats and 14 

 pounds of hay; for artillery horses, the 

 same; and for mules, 9 pounds of oats 

 and 14 pounds of hay. In Great Britain 

 very similar rations are allowed for 

 army horses. As a rule, however, both 

 hay and straw are fed, with a similar 

 oat ration to that which prevails among 

 our army horses. In France, oats and 

 hay in similar proportions are the 

 standard rations for army horses, and 



the same may be said of Germany. 

 Omnibus horses, however, in France re- 

 ceive beans, corn, oats, hay and straw; 

 and in England, corn, peas, hay and 

 straw or beans in the place of peas. 

 Fire company horses in various cities of 

 the United States receive oats and hay 

 with straw and small quantities of bran. 

 Express horses usually receive corn in 

 addition to oats, bran and hay; fre- 

 quently, also, both corn and clover meal 

 are fed during the day. 



In Scotland, MacNeilage collected 

 some valuable data regarding the feed- 

 ing of draft and work horses in cities 

 and for farms. In many localities it 

 was found that brood mares were given 

 a mash, composed of mixed ground 

 grains at 5 A. M.; cut corn stalks ait 

 noon and mash again at 6 P. M. Near 

 foaling time a little molasses was added 

 to the mixture. Other horse feeders 

 fed bruised oats, linseed meal and small 

 quantities of Swedish turnips to mares 

 during pregnancy. Before the colt is 

 weaned, the amount of linseed meal and 

 oats was considerably increased. Mac 

 Neilage found that the use of boiled 

 food is dying out in the western part of 

 Scotland, and on many farms has been 

 abandoned entirely. Farmers have found 

 that horses winter better, and are less 

 liable to colic. The general tendency 

 among the most successful of Scotch 

 feeders is to feed the horse at least five 

 and even six times per day. The same 

 feeder considers that a work horse should 

 never be fed less than four times a day, 

 and that five or six times is still better. 

 .Whenever it is necessary to work horses 

 soon after feeding, it is strongly recom- 

 mended that the hay should be fed cut, 

 in order to check the liability to colic. 



Nosebags—With all work horses, 

 whether on farms or in cities, it has 

 been found, as the result of the extended 

 use of nosebags for feeding horses, that 

 this practice is a very commendable one 

 in every way. The percentage of colic 

 is greatly reduced thereby, and the horse 

 kept in better condition. By the use 

 of nosebags it is possible to divide the 

 daily ration up into a number of small 

 meals at more frequent intervals than 

 would otherwise be possible; and ex- 

 perience shows that a horse thrives bet- 

 ter on five or six or even seven small 

 meals per day than two or three heavier 

 meals. 



Feeding brood mares — Previous to 

 foaling, and especially after foaling, 



