Feed and Care of the Horse — Rations. 291 



times a day, and they need food just as often. The best way is to 

 keep plenty of mixed food for them, using cracked corn and oats, also 

 unthreshed oats run thru a cutting-box, then mixed with bran and 

 water enough to moisten it to make the bran adhere to the oats." 



460. After weaning. — Foals are nondescripts, for the rearing of 

 which no definite directions can be given, but success will come if 

 common sense, alertness, and patience prevail. A fair allowance of 

 grain for the colt, measured in oats, is: 



Up to 1 year of age, from 2 to 3 lbs. 

 From 1 to 2 years of age, 4 to 5 lbs. 

 From 2 to 3 years of age, 7 to 8 lbs. 



Good bone and muscle are of first importance with the horse, and 

 feeds which tend to produce these should be chosen. Nothing is 

 superior to blue-grass pasture and oats. Among the concentrates, 

 wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, linseed meal, buckwheat middlings, 

 wheat middlings, soybeans, cowpeas, and Canada field peas are rich 

 in nitrogenous matter, which goes to build muscle, and in phosphorus, 

 a prime requisite of the skeleton. All the leguminous hays, alfalfa, 

 clover, cowpea, etc., are rich in lime, the principal mineral compo- 

 nent of the bones. A combination of such concentrates and rough- 

 ages as these should furnish abundant bone- and muscle-building 

 material. 



The young horse which is not developing the proper skeleton may 

 be fed substances especially rich in phosphorus and lime, such as 2 

 or 3 ounces daily of high-grade tankage containing ground bone, or 1 

 ounce daily of ground bone, ground rock phosphate (floats), or pre- 

 cipitated calcium phosphate. These recommendations are based on 

 the results obtained with other farm animals. Unfortunately there 

 are no definite experiments Avith horses to guide us at this 

 time. (89, 90, 95) 



461. The stallion. — The following from Sanders^ is replete with 

 good counsel in rt4ation to the stallion : 



"The food should mainly be good, sound oats — nothing is better; 

 but this should be varied by an occasional ration of corn or barley : 

 for horses, like men, are fond of a variety in their food, and an occa- 

 sional change of diet is conducive to health. Wheat bran is an in- 

 valuable adjunct to the grain ration, and can never be dispensed 

 with. It is the cheapest, safest, and best of all regulators for the 

 bowels, and is especially rich in some of the most important ele-l 



^ Horse Breeding, pp. 144-46. 



