204 STABLE ECONOMY. 



Satiety takes place before the stomach is overloaded, and 

 time is given for the commencement of digestion, before fer- 

 mentation can occur. In this way chaff is very useful, espe- 

 cially where the horses receive large meals after long fasts. 



Consumption of Damaged Provcjider Promoted. — When the 

 hay is not of the best quality, the bad is rejected and lost ; 

 but by converting it into chaff, the horse must either eat the 

 whole or leave the whole. He can make no selection. This 

 is a favorite argument, and often urged on the side of cutting. 



When the fodder is damaged in only a slight degree, the 

 mowburnt or musty hay may be eaten by some horses with 

 impunity ; and, to make them eat it, they may have it cut 

 down and mixed with a better article. But this will not do 

 for horses in constant and laborious employment. In coach- 

 ing stables, the hay, if cut into chaff, must all be of the best 

 quality ; if bad, it is cheaper to convert it into litter than to 

 make the horses eat it. If eaten, the horses are in a manner 

 poisoned ; if rejected they are starved. The bad being mixed 

 with the good, the horse has no power of selection. He eats 

 some, but he does not eat so much as if it were all good ; 

 and his work requires all that he can eat of the very best. 



Chaff quickly eaten. — It is eaten in less time than an equal 

 quantity of hay. For old horses, having bad teeth, and for 

 those that work all day, it is desirable that the food be easily 

 eaten, in order that they may have as much rest as possible. 

 When the hay is given long, the horse has to do with his 

 teeth all that is done by the machine when it is made into 

 chaff. The time and labor saved to him is not a great deal ; 

 perhaps half an hour, or, at the most, a whole hour, makes all 

 the difference, supposing the hay easily taken from the rack, 

 and all so good that the horse need lose no time in selection. 

 Horses having bad teeth, particularly heavy draught-horses, 

 seldom eat a large allowance of fodder. Their teeth are so 

 ineffective that the jaws tire before the horse is satisfied. 

 These, under all circumstances, except when out of work, 

 should have both grain and fodder broken down. 



But for horses that perform their daily work in two hours, 

 and perhaps in less time, it is not an advantage to have the 

 food easily and quickly eaten. From the long time they 

 stand in the stable, these horses require something to engage 

 their attention. They are apt to get troublesome, pawing the 

 ground, breaking loose, eating the woodwork and the litter, 

 and teazing their neighbors. A little hay, in a close-sparred 

 rack, gives them something to do. As they have plenty of 



