296 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
“Make your head early, my boy,” was a piece of 
advice solemnly given to me by an old toper, when I 
was about twelve years of age; and if I were to ad- 
monish a colt in the same spirit, I should say to him, 
“ Make your stomach early.” 
Much benefit is often obtained from a change of 
food. Thus, if a horse does not do well on oats and 
hay, he may be tried with provender in place of oats. 
“ Provender,” as the term is used hereabout, means 
oats and corn ground up together; and sometimes 
the mixture is subjected by the miller to a steaming 
or cooking process, with good results. This is of 
course a heavier food than oats, and more fatten- 
ing; but it may safely be given in cold weather. In 
cold weather, also, a little whole corn (cracked corn 
is always to be avoided) can be fed to advantage. A 
pint of corn in two or three quarts of bran, made into 
a mash with boiling water, constitutes an excellent 
supper on a wintry night for horses that are doing 
very little work. But for riding and driving horses, 
the chief reliance in the way of grain, year in and 
year out, must be oats, 
As to the quantity proper to be given, no rules 
can be laid down, because horses differ so much in 
this respect. Here, for example, if the reader will 
accompany me to the end of the row, are two contig- 
uous stalls occupied respectively by a big bay mare 
and a small black one. The bay mare is a handsome 
creature, with an aristocratic head, large mild eyes, 
and hunter-like legs; but her back is too long, the 
coupling is loose, and her constitution is soft, The 
black mare, on the contrary, is a short-backed, com- 
pact, tough, wiry animal, and she will do twice the 
