136 HOW TO FEED A HOBSK. 



"It is tlie object of tTie stage proprietors to get all the 

 work out of their teams possible, without injury to the 

 animals. Where the routes are shorter, the horses conse- 

 quently make more trips, so that the different amounts 

 and proportions of food consumed are not so apparent when 

 the comparison is made between the different lines, as 

 when it is made also with the railroad and livery horses. 

 The stage horses consume most, and the livery horses least. 



" The stage horses are fed on cut hay and corn meal wet, 

 and mixed in the proportion of about one lb. of hay to two 

 lbs. of meal, a ratio adopted rather for mechanical than phy 

 Biological reasons, as this is all the meal that can be made 

 to adhere to the hay. The animals eat this mixture from 

 a deep manger. The New York Consolidated Stage Com- 

 pany use a very small quantity of salt. They think it 

 causes horses to urinate too freely. They find horses do 

 not eat so much when worked too hard. The large horsea 

 eat more than the small ones. Prefer a horse of 1,000 to 

 1,100 pounds weight. If too small, they get poor, and 

 cannot draw a stage ; if too large, they ruin their feet, and 

 their shoulders grow stiff and shrink. The principal 

 9 And 6 quarts oats at nooa. 



