The Portland daily press., 1869-09-04
q Care of Horses.

After more than twenty years experience
as horse owner, correspondent OF the
Colonial Farmer undertakes TO set down a
little of his experience concerning the man
agement of that noble animal:
Commencing when the foal is day or two
old, go to it and pass my hands down its
face, along its back and down its legs to the
hOofs, hind and fore, not to mesmerize or
charm the animal, but to accustom it to being
handled, a thing which cannot be commenced
too soon. Foas are animals, that when quite
young, have more sagacity, and are more
tractable and easily taught than any other an
imal, so whatever you want them to learn
commence before they are old enough to make
resistance and depend upon it they will never
| forget it. Put halter on it and lead it about
| but be careful not to let it break away from
you. Be very kind and gentle to it, but show
| that you are its master. .'a ''I 't
next proceed to the horses feet. Hors
es' hoofs are of the greatest importance, for
who would want to follow lame horse either
at work or for pleasure? Many things ruin
| the feet of horses, which cannot touch on,
but will try to point out few errors which
| any man might see and correct, the greatest
| of which is leaving their shoes on too long.
| This hurts the hoofs, strains the leg, and
causes lameness in every shape. In Winter
| in Summer they are wet, and the mud ana
heat of Summer will rot the hoofs and cause
| the shoes to fall Off have known horses
shoes nailed on in the FALL and not taken off
until next Summer, when they would fall off
| in the pasture, practice which seldom fails
10 bring on lameness. A horses shoe should
never be on longer than three months, and
| two months, are very often too long
Horses hoofs were meant by Nature 10 go
/ l. tl,n arfI in. fhait ottaral
state, and as long as we drive them on such,
they need no shoeing; but when we drive
them on paved streets, hard roads, &C., we
have to shoe them and stop the wear that
Nature meant should be on their hoofs. The
consequence is, that the shoe binds the hoof,
and often causes contraction, and many other
evils. when nailed too far to the heel, left on
too long, or when the hoot is not sufficiently
pared down between the shoeings. See that
| the shoe is not nailed too far to the heel.
| ANY intelligent man can see when a shoe has
| been on long enough, and take it off, when it
may be left off day or two, or longer, as the
| case NAV be. A drive over soft snow, few
| days' blowing or narrowing, or the like, would
i spread the foot and help to counteract the ef-
| fects of shoeing. Always see that the hoof is
properly pared down, before the shoe is again
| put on. have often seen the hoois OF old
| horses greatly improved by being left bare
| few weeks in pasture. There are many other
things that hurt horses feet--as poor feed, too
| high feed, too hard driving.
| The most natural feed for the horse is what
| he can pick up for himself, but as we cannot let
him run and pick mis- own living, let his feed
| be as near natural as possible. Too high or
too low feed hare both bad effect, but as
different individuals will form very different
notions of what high and low feed are, will
| try and point out what consider the middle
course to be. Hay alone, be it ever so good,
| is not fit feed for horse, whether working or
| idle. They need grain with an occasional
feed of roots, bran mash. or something to
| keep their bowels open. Horses need regu-
lar feed. The feed generally find best tor
horses is about twelve pounds OF hay and
from nine to twelve quarts OF oats, given In
three regular feeds, with feed OF raw pota-
toes once a week when idle or at gentle work,
and small increase when at hard work. The
practice OF feeding horses all the hay they
can eat when idle has many bad effects
whereas if they get three small ieeds .ney
will stamp about in the stall, and take exer-
else between feeds, which will keep their legs
from swelling, &c. But remember, do not
advocate small feeds of hay without gram.
A very cheap way of feeding horses, and
not a bad way, is on straw, with ialr aiow-
ance of oats. i have tried great many ex-
periments, and have found horses always 70
do better ON straw than horned cattle. Horses
will do better on straw, provided it be good
than they will on hay only, without grain IN
both cases, but of course they must net bt
stinted. The main point with farmer who
keeps horses, is to use them in such way as
will give them all the strength and agility the
animal is capable of, and to work them al
they can stand without injuring either. The
poor, half-starved horse is the animal that any
man ought to be ashamed of; but on thu
other hand, the pampered and over-fed an'
half-worked horse, though he may look nc'
to some, is an animal would not advise th'
farmer to keep, as such animals are more liza
BILE to lose than any other.