CHAPTER XIX 



FEEDS FOR HORSES 



I. Carbonaceous Concentrates 



in most localities the usual ration for horses is restricted to but 

 one or two kinds of grain with no more variety in the roughages. 

 Due to custom and prejudice many insist that these particular feeds 

 are by far the most economical and satisfactory ones which can he 

 fed. Yet in traveling from one district or country to another we find 

 a large number of feeds all successfully used for horses. In the 

 northern Mississippi valley the ration is quite generally corn and 

 oats, while in the South corn is the chief concentrate, with dried corn 

 leaves, legume hay, and other roughages. On the Pacific coast crushed 

 barley is the common grain used, with hay from the cereals. In 

 Europe various oil cakes and beans are often fed. In Arabia, Persia 

 and Egypt barley is the only grain, while in sections of India, a kind 

 of pea, called gram, is the usual food. In some districts horses are fed 

 such unusual feeds as the leaves of limes and grapevines, the seeds 

 of the carob tree, bamboo leaves, and dried fish. 



As further shown in this chapter, a long list of feeds are well- 

 suited to horses. Hence, to feed these animals economically, due atten- 

 tion must be given to the prices of the various feeds which are locally 

 available, and a combination selected which will maintain them in good 

 condition at a minimum expense. 



Oats. — This grain, so keenly relished by horses, is the standard with 

 which all other concentrates are compared. Oats are the safest of 

 all feeds for the horse, due to the hull, which, tho furnishing little 

 nutriment, gives the grain such bulk that not enough can be eaten 

 at one time to cause digestive trouble from gorging. Oats form a 

 loose mass in the stomach, which is easily digested, while such heavy 

 feeds as corn tend to pack, causing colic. It does not pay to crush 

 or grind oats except for horses with poor teeth, for foals, and possibly 

 for horses worked extremely hard. New or musty oats should be 

 avoided, as they may cause colic. 



Substitutes for oats. — Due to the widespread demand, oats are 

 quite commonly so high in price that they are not an economical feed. 

 Fortunately, both science and practice show that other single grains or 



236 



