54 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA 



diet of athletes. This lesson we should utilize in the 

 case of hard-worked horses. Unfortunately our choice 

 in the matter of food is here but small, when we are 

 limited in the matter of expense, except in the case of 

 linseed, which is a thoroughly suitable article. We might, 

 however, in some cases, supplement it with milk, eggs, 

 ghee (clarified butter), and goor (unrefined sugar). 



We find that, for the maintenance of health, a man 

 requires, in his food, a supply of fat as well as of starch, 

 and that the former cannot be replaced altogether by the 

 latter. The horse, it appears, is far more independent of 

 a supply of fat in his diet, than is man ; but whether it 

 can be dispensed with altogether or not, is a question I 

 am unable to answer. The fact, however, of the existence 

 of a certain, though varying proportion of fat, in the 

 natural food of the animal, indicates its value, if not its 

 absolute necessity. In the daily diet, given by Dr. Parkes, 

 for a man performing very laborious work, we find that 

 the fat is to the starch and sugar, as one is to four. The 

 proportion for a horse, on a full supply of oats and hay, 

 is about one to sixty. 



In food for horses, it appears that sugar may be 

 entirely replaced by starch, though the converse of this 

 does not hold good. 



Heat Supply. — The constant oxidation of carbon and 

 hydrogen — attended by the formation of carbonic acid 

 and water — in the various tissues, is accompanied by the 

 evolution of heat, which serves to sustain the internal 

 temperature of the body of the horse at about 100*5 F. 

 During exercise, there is a proportionate increase in the 

 amount of tissue broken up by these chemical combinations 



