CHAPTER XIX. 



FEED AND CAEE OF THE HOKSE— KATIONS. 



I. Feed and Care. 



At any point of observation we usually find the ration for the 

 horse restricted to one or two kinds of grain and the same limited 

 number of roughages. In the northern Mississippi- Valley states the 

 almost universal feeds for the horse are timothy hay and oats. In 

 the South, Indian corn serves mainly for the concentrates, with dried 

 corn leaves for roughage. On the Pacific Coast crushed barley is the 

 common grain, while the hay comes from the wild oat, barley, or 

 wheat plant. Passing to other countries we find an interesting array 

 of articles in the dietary of the horse, tho still no large number in 

 any one locality. In Loudon^ we read : "In some sterile countries, 

 horses are forced to subsist on dried fish, and even vegetable mould; 

 in Arabia, on milk, flesh balls, eggs, broth, etc. In Persia, barley is 

 a common food for good horses. In some parts of India, salt, pepper, 

 and other spices are made up into balls, as big as billiard balls, with 

 flour and butter, and thrust down the animal's throat. . . . Meat 

 broth (especially sheep's head) is also given to horses. ... In 

 Bengal, a vetch, something like the tare, is used. On the western 

 side of India, a sort of pigeon pea, called gram, is the usual food; 

 with grass in the season, and hay all the year. ... In the West 

 Indies they are fed on maize, Guinea corn, and sugar-cane tops; and 

 in some instances, on the sugar itself in the form of molasses. In 

 Prance, Spain, and Italy, besides the grasses, the leaves of limes, 

 vines, the tops of acacia, the seeds of the carob tree, etc., are used." 



454. Successful horse feeding a skilled art. — With the brief bill 

 of fare usually adopted, the administration of feed to the horse would 

 seem a simple matter. It is, however, far from such. Given two 

 grooms with similar conditions as to horses to be cared for, work 

 performed, and feed bins to draw from. In one case the team 

 emerges from the stable with an action and style which at once an- 

 nounces it in the best of condition. In the other case the lagging 

 step, dull eye, and rough coat tell better than words the lack of 

 judgment in feeding and management. The unsatisfactory condition 



' Encyclopedia of Agr., 1866 : Art., Feeding of Horses. 



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