212 PRACTICAL HINTS ON STABLE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 
sign of the mischief that is brewing within from this excessive 
rate of feeding; the feces, instead of being passed in healthy 
balls, usually become soft and sticky, of an unhealthy light, 
clayey colour, and having a sour and sometimes very offensive 
odour. 
This abnormal condition demands an immediate change of 
diet, and is one in which bran, with linseed, will prove emi¬ 
nently beneficial in aiding to restore to a healthy state the 
feculent matter, and when this condition has been regained, it 
will be advisable for a time to reduce the quantity of grain ori¬ 
ginally allowed by half, supplementing it by that weight of bran 
daily. Towards the end of the rainy season horses (especially 
those which have been cut off their corn during it and the previous 
hot months) are liable to fall away in condition, and should, 
under those circumstances, be allowed their full ration of grain, 
for the grass at this period being watery, is less nutritious than 
usual. 
Issue of ration ,—Let the weight of the daily ration of corn for 
each horse be what it may, the rule of issue in vogue is to appor¬ 
tion it into three feeds or portions, giving one in the morning, 
the second at noon, and the third in the evening. To this 
custom, I believe, many of the cases of indigestion which occur 
may be imputed, and should therefore rejoice to see these three 
portions or feeds divided into six, and given at the following 
periods, viz. one at daylight (or before starting for drill, &c.), 
one at morning stable hour, one at noon, one at 3 p.m., one at 
6 p.m., and the last at 8 p.m., and am confident that this change 
in the routine of feeding would be attended by a perceptible and 
rapid improvement in the condition of a vast number of those 
horses which are now declared by their attendants and others 
never to carry flesh; for under this arrangement the stomach 
(which is very small in the horse in comparison with the size of 
his frame) would not be overloaded with an immense bulk of 
grain suddenly taken into it, wdiile the smaller quantity would be 
the more surely and easily digested; and as the intervals between 
the hours of feeding are too short to render the animals inordi¬ 
nately hungry, the liability to such accidents as rupture of the 
stomach, choking, and to colic, would be reduced to a minimum, 
and the last, though not the least, of the advantages to be gained 
by adopting this plan is that it keeps horses always ready for 
work without inconvenience to themselves, or being liable to 
damage their health from working when the stomach is distended 
with food. 
In order to further assist digestion, it is a good plan to mix 
from a quarter to half an ounce of salt in each feed. 
Grasses — clhoop .—The grasses consumed as fodder in most 
