CHAPTER XXXIV 



GRAIN AND CONCENTRATES FOR THE HORSE 



The ration of the horse usually lacks variety. If we 

 study the ration for horses in a locality we find it com- 

 posed of one or at most two kinds of grain and one kind 

 of forage. The owner insists that this is the most prac- 

 tical and economical ration he can feed with safety to 

 his horses. We need not travel far, however, to find the 

 list of foods more or less changed, sometimes entirely so, 

 yet with the same claim of superiority or necessity as 

 before. Thus in one section the most common feeds for 

 the horses are oats for grain and timothy hay for rough- 

 age ; in another section corn serves as grain and clover 

 hay as roughage ; in another, crushed barley is the com- 

 mon grain, while the hay comes largely from the wild- 

 oat and barley plants; and in still another section corn 

 serves mainly as the grain, with corn fodder for the 

 roughage. In fact, the range of foodstuffs that may be 

 fed the horse with safety and success is rather large. 



THE CEREAL GRAINS 



Most of the grain fed to the horse comes from the 

 cereal plants — oats, corn, barley, rye and wheat. The 

 cereal grains are very similar in composition. They con- 

 tain a fairly low water and protein content and a con- 

 siderable amount of nitrogen-fee extract, fiber and fat. 

 They are palatable and digestible. The question of a 

 choice of cereal grain for feeding the horse will be largely 

 determined by the relative cost. 



Oats.— There is no other grain so safe for horse feed- 

 ing as oats, the animal rarely being harmed if by acci- 

 dent or otherwise the feeder gives an oversupply. This 



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