The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-21 00:00:00

TURNING HORSES OUT TO GRASS.

Mr. B. Cartledge, Member of the Royai College of
Veterinary Surgeons, writing from Sheffield, has sent
the following letter to The Times for publication:—

Some time since you did me the honour to insert its The
Times a letter on " Watering Home," and It"is to be hoped
that it has had the effect of inducing a more liberal allowance
to those animals.

"Tunsing out to grass" Is a subject of scarcely lees Im-
portance; end the popular belief that the hone la benentted
by "a month's run" is a fallacy that need. exposure.
Now that the pastures are beginning to look green, and
the weather promises to become warm, owners are thinking
of giving their hones a treat by turning them out to grass.
"I have worked my hones hard," say they, "and they need
&summer s run. It will rest their legs and feet; besides,
green food is the natural provender tor bones, and they
will enjoy a few month.' rest at grata and be all the better
for it." This is a very general Impression, but in Its ap-
plication to worn or used hones nothing can be more
erroneoun

It is all very well for the young animal protected by long
hair, lengthy mane and tail, whose time while young has to
be got over one way or another, and it is found convenient to
let him forage for himself. Bat with stale and " groggy "
hones requiring rest, and whose owners turn them out with
this object, the matter Is entirely different. "Rest," pro-
perly so called. is not to be had In the pasture.
In the simple process of gathering his food the horse walk.
many miles during the twenty-four hours if the pasture be
bare, and the same process obliges hlm to throw extra
weight OD his lore lege and I set, which le haa bent the in-
tention of the owner to "reek'

What rest has • horse or any other animal with • fine coat
and sensitive skin when even • single tly is crawling over it
Witham in the summer months the myriads of inmate which
surround all cattle when grazing, and watch the poor horses
huddled together for shelter under trees or hedgerows, ner-
vously tossing their heads, switc.hing the tall, stamping, and
thus Jarring the legs and feet, moving to and fro in the vain
hope of escape from their tormentors, and then ask if this
be' rest r

41.-,;;I:he sun is powerful the feet become hot and parched,
the horn is rendered brittle and breaks off in pieces. Besides,
nothing throws • horse so soon out of condition an green food.
The consequence in eight cues out of ten is that the animal
comes up irons grass in much worse form than when turned
out to rest—if he escape gating staked. or being kicked
by hi, companion..
It is said, and I believe truly, that no hunter ii in condition
before he is seven years old ; which 0101108 that he him had
three years' hard keep and moderate work.
The summering oi hunten is now an altogether different
matter from what it was formerly. H properly treated, the
hunter will at most be allowed • small quantity of green food
sea bonne-Douche, for • week or so. This is gathered for him,
is eaten in his box or in the yard attached, and ills ritualised.
of
.corn are not leuened.

What, then, 4 the best method of dealing with horses In
the summer, when either rest Ins neeessity, or otherwise de-
linable 1

Put them Into a lowa box or eked, well littered with tan,
bark sawdust, or straw, or all combined ; remove kb, shoes,
and rasp off the sharp edges of the crust to prevent them
breaking; supply water without stint; gives liberal allow-
ance of oats, Indian corn, and bran, with cut chaff and hay,
the whole of which will be the better for being made damp
with water.

If on the part of the owner there Is a predilection for
green food, give it in email quantities mixed by hand with
the hay, alwsys remembering that the fat which it invarie-
bly producer Is ex much lumber, not condition, and that
when the horse returns to work the fat is thrown off at the
cost of additional wear in the feet Lod loge.