260 Western Live-stock Management 



therefore may cause sickness and loss due to impactions. 

 The ration is benefited either by feeding some wheat 

 bran, oil meal, or alfalfa hay. In some of the more remote 

 sections, the horses work largely on either grain hay or 

 wild hay. Under these conditions, they cannot perform 

 the amount of work that they could if fed on more concen- 

 trated feeds. In the humid valleys of the north coast, a 

 large amount of oats is fed with clover, timothy, cheat or 

 grain hay. These make ideal feeds for horses, and many 

 of the best horses are produced here. In the northern 

 irrigated valleys, oats and some barley usually comprise 

 the grain feed, with timothy, timothy and clover, or 

 alfalfa for hay. In the southern valleys, especially Cali- 

 fornia, the horse feed is largely barley with alfalfa or 

 cereal hay. 



WATER, SALT, CONDIMENTS 



The principal point to consider in the watering of horses 

 is that they receive their water at regular periods, so as 

 not to drink too much. It is usually better to water before 

 than after feeding, but regularity is more important than 

 the time of watering. Salt should be kept before the 

 horses where they can have access to it, or it should be 

 given to them often so that they will not desire too much 

 of it at one time. Condiments are feeds that are used 

 for special purposes, such as special stock foods, and are 

 used to tone a horse up for some special purpose or to 

 keep him in good condition. Usually these are not advised, 

 as the best condiment that the horse can have is good feed 

 and care. Occasionally a worm medicine or something of 

 the kind may be needed, and if so, should be prescribed 

 by a reliable veterinarian. 



