CHAPTEE XXXII. 



FEEDING AND STABLE MANAGEMENT. 



Value of different foods — Neatness and cleanness — Change of food necessary 

 — Treat kindly — Indian corn — Watering — Corn meal — Flax seed — 

 Roots — Light and ventilation — Blankets. 



ALMOST any man can work around a horse-barn, but to 

 properly understand feeding and the best care of horses 

 in the stable, is a trade of itself, and one which has but few ex- 

 perts. 



The lack of proper knowledge of different foods fpr horses 

 under peculiar conditions, as well as lack of judgment under 

 circumstances relating to the care of horses when they are out 

 of condition, added to carelessness, inattention, and poor treat- 

 ment when disease attacks the vital portions of a horse, is a 

 source of much fatality among them, and annually shortens the 

 lives of many good ones. 



Among the vast horde of horses that die every year there 

 are only a few that are really worn out. The most of them die 

 from some cause or other, and these causes are what horsemen 

 should look after if they desire to have their animals live to " a 

 green old age." It is generally easier and cheaper to preserve 

 horses once procured than to obtain new ones. Aside from 

 accidents, a sound horse should be as good at eighteen or twenty 

 years old as at any other age, yet we find but a few who, 

 having lived to that time, are still able to do even a few days 

 work without great fatigue. 



Owners of horses should study the care of them in order to 

 get the greatest amount of service out of them, if for no other 

 reason. Eemember that with your horse, as with yourself, 

 every time you do an imprudent thing you will have to pay 

 dearly for it. If the results of poor care and bad management 



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