FEEDING. 
339 
saddle kinds. During the time foals are sucking, the great¬ 
est caution is necessary not to overheat the dams, as this 
is sure to affect the milk, and proves most injurious to the 
colt. 
To save the heavy expense of corn-feeding in young horses, 
clover, lucerne, and tares, are substituted; carrots have 
also been successfully used. But no species of food is so 
nourishing as pease, half a feed of which is about equal to 
a feed of oats. Young horses should invariably be plenti¬ 
fully fed; and a want of attention to this has been the 
cause of many of them acquiring the practice of biting 
their racks, and thence called crib-biters. To prevent this 
practice, a little hay or straw should be constantly kept in 
the rack. 
SECTION II.—FEEDING. 
Hay and oats being the chief food of horses, it is highly 
necessary that the owner should be, at least, a tolerable 
judge of their quality. The best kind of hay for horses is 
that which grows on upland meadows. It should be bright 
in its appearance, of a greenish cast, possessing a fragrant 
smell, and not too dry ; for when it is so, and crackles 
when squeezed in the hand, it is a sure sign that its nutri¬ 
tive qualities have been dissipated by too long exposure to 
the sun and air after it has been cut. It would, however, 
be proper occasionally to vary the quality of hay by giving 
white clover and also rye-grass in limited quantities. Care 
must be taken that it is not too new, as in that state it 
is apt to produce acidity and flatulence. Eighteen pounds 
of hay is sufficient for any ordinary-sized horse per day, 
with six pounds of oats and two of beans. The cart or 
agricultural horse will require about eight pounds of oats ? 
with two of beans, added to twenty-four pounds of chaff or 
