ARTICLES USED AS FOOD FOR THE HORSE. 267 
and given in a bran mash, to whicli two or three ounces of 
coarse sugar may be added. 
Oil-Cake, ground and given in the boiled meat, when not very 
rich, consisting chiefly or entirely of roots, is much stronger than 
bran, and stronger, perhaps, than oatmeal seeds. Two to four 
j)Ounds j)er day is the usual allowance. It makes the hair glossy. 
Horses seem to tire of it soon, but the farmer will find it useful 
for helping his horses through the winter. 
H E M PS E E D used to be given to racers a few days before running. 
It was supposed to be invigorating and “good for the wind.” 
I believe it is not now employed, except occasionally to stallions, 
during the travelling season. Some give four or six ounces every 
night. 
Sugar, Mr. Black, veterinary surgeon to the 14th Light Dra¬ 
goons, informed me that sugar was tried as an article of horse 
food during the Peninsular war. The experiment was made at 
the Brighton depot, upon ten horses, during a period of three 
months. Each got eight pounds per day at four rations. They 
took to it very readily, and it was remarked that their coats be¬ 
came fine, smooth, and glossy. They got no corn, and only seven 
pounds of hay instead of the ordinary allowance, which is tw’elve 
pounds. The sugar seemed to supply the place of corn so well, 
that it would probably have been given to the horses abroad. 
But peace came; and the circumstances which rendered the use 
of sugar for corn desirable, ceased. The horses returned to their 
usual diet; but several of those who were the subjects of this 
experiment became crib-biters. 
That the sugar might not be appropriated to other purposes, it 
was slightly scented with asafoetida, which did not produce any 
apparent effect upon the horses. 
Fruit, as gourds, and sweet potatoes, in America; figs and 
chestnuts in Spain and Italy; apples in some parts of France; 
and numerous other fructihed exotics are occasionally employed 
as food for horses*. Horse chestnuts, it is said, would probably 
form a valuable article of medicinal food for horses. In Turkey 
the nuts are ground, and mixed with other food ; and they are 
regarded as a remedy for broken wind, and seviceable to horses 
troubled with couglisf. 
Haws, thefruitof the hawthorn, have been employed by West, 
of Hampshire, as an article of food for farm horses, with what 
profit I have not learned. ‘^The people of Medjid feed their 
liorses regularly on dates. At Deyrach, in the country of the 
* Blaine’s Vet. Outlines, p. 94, London, 1832 
t Comp. Grazier, p. 529, 1833. 
