FOOD 115 



be acknowledged that from a point of view of exactitude 

 they still leave much to be desired. The fact is, that 

 though horses have been made to perform a definite amount 

 of work under conditions of rigid experimental enquiry, in 

 which the urea and carbonic acid excreted, the oxygen 

 and food absorbed, have been carefully estimated, yet the 

 conditions are necessarily artificial, and cannot resemble 

 work naturally performed, either under saddle or in 

 harness. 



Fortunately from a practical point of view the question 

 is not of any serious moment, the owner of horses that 

 work hard knows that liberal feeding is sound economy, and 

 he does not wait to calculate whether the potential energy 

 he is supplying is in excess or not ; he gives his horses as 

 much to eat as they can dispose of, and experience com- 

 pletely justifies him. 



This in fact is the only system to be adopted with horses 

 performing very hard work, whether they are pulling a 

 heavy van, carrying a man to hounds, or used for racing 

 purposes. 



But there is a class of horse performing only moderate 

 work, and for this it is reasonable to expect some recognised 

 standards of diet to be adopted. 



"What experience tells us is that the amount of food con- 

 stituents given must depend upon the character of the 

 work, and that the main constituent to attend to is the 

 proteid. The more severe the work the more proteid 

 required, though as will be remembered from what has 

 previously been said, the proteid is not the source of 

 muscular energy, yet without it no energy is manifested. 



But unlimited proteid will not admit of unlimited work ; 

 muscles are only capable of a certain amount of useful 

 labour, and this amount is probably hardly the same from 

 day to day even for the same individual. There are great 

 differences in the useful effect produced by horses just as 

 there are in men, constitution, temperament, and breed are 

 here important questions, and it is necessary to be reminded 

 of them to avoid the question being considered from too 



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