392 



FOOD. 



fatigued ere half his labor is accomplished, and, if he is pushed 9 

 little too far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How often, nev 

 ertheless, does it happen, that the horse which has stood inactive ir 

 the stable three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty mile? 

 in the course of a single day I This rest is often purposely given tc 

 prepare for extra-exertion ; — ^to lay in a stock of strength for the 

 performance of the task required of him : and then the owner is 

 surprised and dissatisfied if the animal is fairly knocked up, or 

 jjossibly becomes seriously ill. Nothing is so common and so pre- 

 posterous, as for a person to buy a horse from a dealer's stable, 

 where he has been idly fattened for sale for many a day, and im- 

 mediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and then to 

 complain bitterly, and think that he has been imposed upon, if the 

 animal is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled 

 to be led home suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and 

 gradually increasing exercise would have made the same horse 

 appear a treasure to his owner. 



Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the 

 horse. A young horse requires more than an old one. Nature 

 has given to young animals of every kind a disposition to activity , 

 but the exercise must not be violent. A great deal depends upon 

 the manner in which it is given. To preserve the temper, and 

 to promote health, it should be moderate, at least at the beginning 

 and the termination. The rapid trot, or even the gallop, may be 

 resorted to in the middle of the exercise, but the horse should be 

 brought in cool. 



FOOD. 



The system of manger-feeding is becoming general among farm 

 ers. There are few horses that do not habitually waste a portion 

 of their hay ; and by some the greater part is pulled down and 

 trampled under foot, in order first to cull the sweetest and best 

 locks, and which could not be done while the hay was enclosed 

 in the rack. A good feeder will afterwards pick up much of that 

 which was thrown down ; but some of it must be soiled and ren- 

 dered disgusting, and, in many eases, one-third of this division of 

 their food is wasted. Some of the oats and beans are imperfectly 

 chewed by all horses, and scarcely at all by hungry and greedy 

 ones. The appearance of the dung will sufficiently evince this. 



The observation of this induced the adoption of manger-feeding. 

 or of mixing a portion of chaff (i. e., cut feed) with the grain and 

 beans By this means the animal is compelled to chew his food • 

 he cannot, to any great degree, waste the straw or hay ; the chafi 

 is too hard and too sharp to be swallowed without sufficient mas- 

 tication, aad while he is forced to grind that down, the oats and 



