22 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
stallion should be taught to come by the left side of the mare and to 
avoid kicks he should be taught to place his shoulder against the mare’s 
flanks. He should learn to mount on the groom’s command. When he 
is mounting the two men detailed by the mare’s sides should hold him 
in place until the service is through. This will teach the young sire a 
good beginning which would obviate the behavior many stallions exhibit 
by coming off readily and often causing the throwing of the semen on 
the outside. 
Carlson 6 finds the breeding chute a fitting structure in a horse breed¬ 
ing establishment. Among the advantages which he claims the 
chute has over the ordinary way of breeding mares are: It is considered 
beneficial to undersize mares in that they are relieved of the heavy 
strain resulting from the excessive weight of mature stallions. It fur¬ 
nishes means of protecting the man handling the mare from young or 
badly broken males during copulation. The chute also minimizes the 
danger of the stallion getting kicked. Should the mare be rather low 
Carlson suggests that a board be placed on the ground to raise her up. 
In this connection it is hinted that by placing the mare a little higher 
than the stallion better services are obtained. The chute, according to 
Carlson’s illustration, faces a wall, so that a mare placed in it may be 
tied close to the wall and high up on a ring purposely bolted to the wall. 
Carlson dislikes holding the mare during service, whether in the chute 
or in the open. Instead he insists that she should be tied securely. 
It is also considered by Curryer 4 * a safer way to lead the stallion to¬ 
ward the side of the mare, even as far as the shoulder, as the approach 
is made for service. He desires that the man holding the mare should 
hold the mare’s head up at the time the stallion mounts up for the 
reason that she will in such a position be less liable to kick. While in 
dismounting it is also suggested that the heads of the two be pulled to¬ 
wards each other to prevent again any possibility of their kicking one 
another. 
6. Systems of Feeding and Watering. Salting 
Smith, 49 in his discussion of the method of feeding, writes: “If a horse 
be fed first with hay, followed by oats, the presence of the oats causes 
the hay to pass out more rapidly than it would have done had it been 
given alone. When given in this order, according to Ellenberger, a por¬ 
tion of the oats may pass into the bowel by the lesser curvature with¬ 
out entering either the left sac or fundus of the stomach. When oats 
followed by hay are given, the oats commence to pass out first, but the 
presence of the hay hurries the rate of progress, and the oats pass more 
quickly into the intestines than they otherwise would have done. 
“According to Ellenberger, when foods are given in succession the 
lease albuminous should be given first. This appears distinctly to reverse 
the English practice of giving oats first and hay afterwards, but per¬ 
haps only apparently so, for experiment shows that the longer digestion 
is prolonged, the more oats and the less hay pass out, so that some hay 
(under ordinary circumstances a moderate quantity) is always left in 
the stomach until the commencement of the next meal. The presence of 
this hay from the previous feed may prevent the corn of the succeeding 
meal from passing out too early. According to Ellenberger, in order that 
horses may obtain the fullest possible nutriment from their oats, hay 
should be given first and then water; this carries some of the hay into 
the bowel and after a time the oats are to be given. The remaining hay 
now passes into the bowel, and the oats remain in the stomach. This 
does not accord with English views of watering and feeding fast-working 
horses, views which have stood the test of prolonged practical experience.” 
Smith 49 says that the effect of watering after feeding is to disturb the 
