CHAPTER II. 

 Feeding and Care. 



Gknerai, requisites, watering horses when warm, quantity of 

 water required, kinds of food, digestion of two kinds, feed 

 oats after hay, common error, horse has a smai,d stomach, 

 ten pounds of hay a day, straw, chaff, grains, wheat, rye, 

 bran, corn, linseed, potatoes, beets, carrots, grasses. 



EEEDING and care of an animal have much to do with its gen- 

 eral health. Animals not at hard work and running in well wat- 

 ered pastures, are seldom ill, but horses coniined in stables and 

 6) fed and watered, and worked according to the notions of the care- 



taker, are very liable to diseases of various kinds. As much pains 

 should be taken to feed, water, and care for the animal properly, in 

 health as would be taken to cure it, if sick. 



Watering Horses Wlien "Warm. There is a common notion 

 among users of horses, that if a horse is warm he should not be allowed 

 to drink, many claiming that the "first swallow" of water eithar "foun- 

 ders' ' the animal or produces colic. This is not true. It does not mat- 

 ter how much heated the horse may be, it is always safe to give him a 

 half-dozen swallows of water. If this water is given just before being 

 put in the stable, the animal should be immediately supplied with a few 

 pounds c " hay, and should not be fed grain until the animal has rested 

 about an hour. The danger is not in the "first swallow" but is always 

 due to the large quantity which the animal will take when warm, if al- 

 lowed to drink without restraint. Over one-half of the digestive dis- 

 orders are undoubtedly caused by improper feeding and watering, hence 

 one can readily see the importance of a proper understanding of these 

 subjects. 



Quantity of Water Required. When horses can get water when- 

 near they wish it, they never drink enough at one time to injure them. 



