FEEDING AND WATERING. 35 



only a lick will be eaten. Prepare the horse for the con- 

 stant supply by giving it a little every day for a week, and 

 then no harm will come. 



Teamsters should feed their own horses, and every team- 

 ster who takes pride in his team should handle the measure 

 himself, and should make appetite and digestion of food a 

 subject of study. 



Horses refuse their feed because of overwork, too little 

 exercise, or because the food is not right in some way, sore- 

 ness of mouth or teeth, or general faulty management. If 

 the trouble is due to overfeeding, short rations for a day or 

 two will remedy it. Food that is not eaten within a reason- 

 able time should be removed from the manger and the ration 

 correspondingly reduced. No animal should have more 

 than he will eat up clean. When a horse refuses to eat and 

 becomes thin and weak for no apparent reason, he should 

 have some condiment to increase the appetite. A good 

 combination is the following : Ground oats and corn, of 

 each five pounds ; oil meal, four ounces; salt, two ounces j 

 a dessertspoonful of powdered gentian, and a small tea- 

 spoonful of dried sulphate of iron. If the animal refuses 

 the ration a little starvation will make him taste it, when his 

 dislike will cease at once. Begin with a small quantity of 

 this mixture for each meal, and increase it gradually until a- 

 full ration is being fed. 



Water your horse before you give him hay. Give hirrr 

 hay before you give him grain. Give the concentrated food 

 last. His stomach is not large enough to hold all at once. 



The digestion of food is frequently badly retarded or pre- 

 vented by mistakes in watering. Water should always be 

 offered the horse twenty minutes before he is fed, and neves 

 less than two hours after feeding. The drink is rapidly 

 taken from the stomach by the intestines, and the time meik- 



