136 THE FAMILY HORSE. 



■weight of com. They should be fed judiciously when available. The 

 amount of grain to be fed should vary from six to ten quarts, accord- 

 ing to the work done and the requirements of the horse. The idea 

 prevalent among many horse owners, that a large animal needs an 

 amount of feed proportional to his size and weight, is erroneous. 

 The writer's horse, weighing eleven hundred and ten, keeps fatter, 

 and in hotter condition every way, on six quarts of grain a day and 

 seventy pounds of hay a week, than does the horse of a friend, 

 weighing only eight hundred, on a larger quantity of both. 



All the fresh water desired by the horse should be given, except 

 when too warm, but always before eating. By the examination of a 

 horse's receiving stomach it is shown to be much too small to hold 

 an ordinary meal of grain and hay, and a pail or more of water after 

 it. Hence, when the water enters, some of the food must be forced 

 out undigested. A French horseman, in order to prove this point to 

 some doubting friends, fed three horses with a kind of coarse bean 

 of which they were fond, and as soon afterward as they would 

 drink gave them all they wisbed. In less than half Eta hour after- 

 ward they were killed, and some of the beans, whole, partly chewed, 

 and finely ground, were found in the intestines, fifteen feet from 

 the stomach, where they bad been carried by the water. It is a 

 common practice for some good horsemen, at night, when they 

 think the horse has finished eating, to go to the bam and give a pail 

 of water, which wiU almost invariably be taken by the horse. 

 Many a case of colic, fatal in some cases, had its origin, pure and 

 simple, in the water given after the supper. No water should ever 

 be given in less than an hour after the meal is ended, and two hours 

 are twice as good an occasion. It is better, when possible, to feed 

 the hay before the grain, for if either is to enter the bowels undi- 

 gested it is much better to have hay there. A lump of rock salt 

 should, of course, be a part of the stable outfit. 



Before the morning meal, and, unless sweaty, before that of the 

 evening, the horse should be well groomed. With a curry-comb, 

 card, or corn-broom brush, rub the hair the wrong way till the dirt 

 and dandruff are started from the skin, then with a brush or bunch 

 of split cane rub tiU the glistening of the hair shows that the dirt is 

 rem^oved. An old woolen cloth or apiece of old carpet will complete 

 the operation. The use of an ordinary house broom which has been 

 about half worn out will be found very efficacious in cleaning the 

 legs, and in fact the whole body. The mane and taU should be 

 occasionally washed out, and, of cotu-se, brushed out daily. The taU 

 ought always to be tied up where there is mud, or melted ice, or snow 

 on the ground. Eubber coverings, in cold stormy weather, except 



