The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-11-17
Food for Horses.

of Amherst College-now President Of
the Massachusetts, Agricultural College
and published by the Mass. Board of
Agriculture
The best food for roadsters in this
country consists OF hay, oats, and car
rots, or grass, with a moderate supply
of water.
The quantity Of hay depends upon
the size and work Of the horse, but
there is more danger of giving too
much than too little. Many horses be-
come broken-winded and cribbers from
hay. From eight to ten pounds of the
very best and sweetest hay-and moth
ing is better than timothy-is an
abundant daily allowance. IL it is at all
dusty it should be cut and moistened
with water.
The oats should be of the best quality
and the quantity may vary from eight
to twelve quarts per day. Oats and hay
are mnch improved by age and are not
thoroughly ripe and perfect, before they
are twelve months old. One or two
quarts of corn meal will be a valuable
addition to the daily food of such horses
as are inclined TO leaDness; and
hoises Of slow work may be fed upon
half corn and half oats, the amount Of
course depending upon the size of the
horse.
Corn alone is too heating, and pro
duces more fat than muscle, and rye is
thought to be very dangerous food for
roads:ers, inducing condition of the
system which often results in founder,
especially of the feet.
Four TO eight quarts of carrots, either
cut or uncut, fed to horse once day
produce charming effect in improving
the dige stion, preventing disease OF the
respiratory organs, and rendering the
kidneys suitably active and the hair
glossy and smooth. No valuable horse
ought to be wintered without roots Of
some kind, and carrots are by far the
best
Salt should not be given on the food,
but should be offered to the horse once
a week, or lump of rock salt may be
kept in his manger.
Horses should also be allowed, from
time to time, access to chalk, ashes, or
common earth, which they will eat with
avidity in certain conditions Of the sys-
tenn. 1t has been said with some reason
that these substances are the preyen-
tives of cribbing, wind-sucking, &c,
habits which probably result from indi-
geston ir some form.
Glauber's salts are sometimes advan-
tageously given to horses, especially in
the spring, as a mild aperient, and is
readily eaten by them.
Saltpetre and all other medicines
cl ha ol, i,ta
possible, and never, unless absolutely
required by morbid condition of the
! horse.
A bran mash, prepared by pouring
boiling water upon four to eight quarts
of wheat shorts and covering it over to
cool, is an excellent thing for a horse
occasionally, softening the dung and
increasing the tone of the digestive
organs. Many horsemen give a mash to
their horses every Saturday night
instead of their regular food of grain,
and the practice is most judicious. By
the proper use of mashes, the necessity
for physic, formerly so often given, is
almost entirely obviated. When carrots
are fed, mashes will be seldom required.
No horse should ever be allowed to
drink more than pailful Of water at
time, but should have il offered fire.
quently. Nothing can be more injuri-
Gus to horse than to be driven rapidly,
or required to exert himself violently,
when his stomach is distended with
food or water; and the custom prevalent
in most countries of causing the horse
to fast night before hard journey, is
much more sensible than the common
one in New England of stutfing him
with an unusual amount Of good food.
When a horse is excessively fatigued,
or when sufficient time cannot be
allowed him to eat and partially digest
full meal, he may be greatly refreshed
by draught of warm cruel, or in sum
mer, of cold water containing a small
quantity Of meal. In winter weary
horses may be often prevented from
chills by permitting him to drink a
bucket of luke-warm water. 1t hardly
need be mentioned that horse when
in heated and exhausted state should
never be permitted to drink more than
swallow or two Of cold water, unless
the exercise is to be continued at once
and even then, the amount allowed
should he limited. In trotting matches
it is customary to refresh the horse by
rinsing the mouth and nostrils with
cool, fresh water by means of sponge
or cloth.
The amount and kind of food most
economically fed to horses and mules
performing severe, constant labor upon
pavements may perhaps be inferred
from the practice of the Sixth-Avenue
Railroad Company in New York. The
daily allowance Of food consisted of ten
pounds of hay and fourteen pounds of
Indian meal for every horse, and half as
much for each mule. Two pounds of
salt were allowed per month, and water
was given five times per day in winter
and oftener in summer.
As it is not profitable to beep a poor
horse, so it is not profitable to keep a
horse poorly, and it is more economical
to feed horse at work some grain,
than to allow hay only. The practical
difficulty both respecting the quality of
the horse and the food, is that persons
without capital cannot afford to be