PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 263 



fevered him, when lameness, fatigue, or sickness, require rest. 

 To horses of keen appetite, it is usual to give a bran-mash 

 once in 8 or 10 days, instead of the customary feed of grain. 

 It keeps the bowels open and prevents plethora, but it is 

 purgative and debilitating, if given within 48 hours of going 

 to hounds. Horses that purge on the road or in the field 

 never need it while able for work. 



The Saddle-Horse is fed in nearly the same manner as 

 hunters. He generally gets more hay and less grain. Three 

 feeds per day, about 10 pounds, is the usual allowance, with 

 12 of hay. Those in full work may be fed in the same way 

 as hunters, or stage-coach horses. When the work is moder- 

 ate, the feeding may be the same as that of cavalry-horses. 



The cost of keeping a horse at livery, varies from 17s. to 

 25s. per week. 



The Cavalry-Horses used to be fed on barley and hay. 

 At present they get 10 pounds of oats, and 12 of hay. They 

 are fed thrice. In the morning they get 3 pounds, at mid-day 

 4, and at night 3. For six or seven weeks in summer they 

 get cut grass. They have no beans, no boiled food, nor chaff. 

 The oats are not bruised. Once a week a bran-mash is given 

 at night instead of oats. Sick horses get bran-mashes, boiled 

 oats, raw potatoes, and hay or grass. Each horse is allowed 

 8 pounds of straw every day for litter. 



Race-Horses. — I have never been at Newmarket, and 

 have had so little to do with race-horses that. I can not say 

 much about them. The few remarks I here make, are not 

 derived from extensive personal observation, and I am not sure 

 that my authorities know any more about the matter than my- 

 self. The account which I offer of what is, and of what 

 should be, in the feeding of racers, can not be the same as if 

 it had been written at the headquarters of racing. I would 

 not'have either the theories or the practice much trusted in. 



It seems that race-horses, when in work, live chiefly upon 

 oats, beans, and hay. The quantity of oats varies from 15 

 to 20 pounds per day ; nobody can tell me how much hay is 

 allowed. The racer appears, however, to get as much as the 

 hunter, if he choose to eat it. Race-horses must have no 

 superfluous flesh about them, yet they must possess great vigor 

 and endurance. Some of them, many of them, are delicate, 

 jrritable animals, always lean, and often not eating sufficient 

 to confer the energy their work requires. These require 

 food that is both tempting and highly nutritious. They may 

 have as much oats as they will eat, and an allowance of beans 



