268 
ARTICLES USED AS FOOD FOR THE HORSE. 
FlasSae, dates are mixed with the clover. Barley, however, is the 
most usual food in all parts of Arabia* * * § . 
Flesh. —The structure of the horse does not seem adapted 
to the assimilation of animal food. But some seem to have no 
dislike to it; and it is well to know that it may, to a certain 
extent, supply the place of corn. I have seen them lick blood 
repeatedly and greedily. Bracy Clark says he has seen a well- 
attested account in a magazine, of a colt that was in the habit 
of visiting a pantry-window which looked into his paddock, and 
of stealing and eating mutton, beef, veal, and poultry. Pork he 
seemed to reject. In the East Indies, meat boiled to rags, to 
which is added some kinds of grains and butter, is made into 
balls, and forced down the horse’s throat.— Carpenter's Introduc. 
to the Wars of India. Also sheeps’ heads, during a campaign, 
are boiled for horses in that countryf. 
“While at the stable of Mr. Mellings, of Wakefield, the groom 
would let me see a flesh-eating horse. He brought about a 
pound of roasted beef and as much raw bacon, which he warmed. 
I took away the horse, while the groom put the meat in one 
corner of the manger, and a feed of oats in the other. I put in 
the horse and directed his nose to the corn ; but he darted from 
that to the bacon, which he greedily devoured. He then ate his 
corn. The groom said this horse would finish the bone of a leg 
of mutton in a few minutes, and that roasted meat was his 
favourite dish J.” The wealthy people of Medjid frequently give 
flesh to their horses, raw as well as boiled, together with all the 
offals of the table. I knew a man at Hamah, in Syria, who as¬ 
sured me that he had often given his horses washed meat after a 
journey, to make them endure it with greater facility. The same 
person related to me that, apprehensive of the governor of the 
town taking a liking to his favourite horse, he fed it for a fort¬ 
night entirely on roasted pork, which raised its mettle to such a 
height that it became absolutely unmanageable, and could no 
longer be an object of desire to the governor. 
Fish. —In Ireland it is stated by Buffbn,that dried fish is 
made the food of horses ; and my friend, William Bullock, senior, 
lately informed me he saw them in the same practice in Norway^.” 
Eggs are sometimes given to stallions in the travelling season, 
for exciting desire, and to other horses for producing a smooth 
* Comparative View of the past and present State of the English Racer. 
Hookhatriy 1834. 
f Clark, Pharmacop. Equina, Lond. 1833. 
J The Veterinarian, vol. v, p. 25. Letter from Mr. Garland, V.S. Wakefield. 
II Past and present state of the English Racer, 1836. 
§ B. Clark, Pharin. Eq. 
