332 



MANAGEMENT AND BREEDING OF HORSES 



portant is this nutrient that rations are balanced accord- 

 ing to the proportion of it they contain. Thus we have 

 the nutritive-ratio, which is defined as the ratio between 

 the digestible protein on the one hand, and the digestible 



carbohydrates and 

 fats on the other 

 hand. The nutri- 

 tive-r3tio is ascer- 

 tained by multi- 

 plying the diges- 

 tible fats by 2;^, 

 adding the prod- 

 uct to the diges- 

 tible carbohy- 

 drates '' divid- 

 ing th sum by 

 the digestible pro- 

 tein. Since the 

 fat contains more 

 energy than the 

 other nutrients, it is multiplied by 234 to reduce it a 

 carbohydrate equivalent. 



The method of calculating the nutritive-ratio of corn, 

 the digestible nutrients of which are, protein 7.8, carbo- 

 hydrates 66.8 and fat 4.3, is as follows: 



9.675 

 76.475 

 = 9.8 



Nutritive ratio i : g.8. — This means that for each pound 

 of digestible protein in corn, there are 9.8 pounds of diges- 

 tible carbohydrate equivalent. 



Computing rations. — To illustrate the method of cal- 

 culating a ration for a given purpose we will assume the 

 case of a horse weighing approximately 1,000 pounds and 

 at light work. In order to compare the Wolff- Lehmann 

 and Armsby standards we will take the same kind and 

 amount of food in each computation. Let us choose from 



FiG. 153. — Shire Stallion "Dan Patch" 



