The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-04-13
How High Shall the Manger Bet

The popular answer to this question is
that nature made the horse to eat from |
the ground, and therefore the fodder |
should be placed on the floor. Per con-
ira, the usual style of construction is .
rack as high up as the horse can con-
veniently reach, and sometimes higher
yet. The popular idea of settling dis
pute is to strike an average-or, as the
phrase goes, ''split the dif'erence"-and
in this particular case this is just about
what ought to be done. The manger
should be neither high nor low. The
idea that because in the olden times,
when there were no stables and no man.
gers, the horse took his food from the
ground, therefore he must ever continue
to do so, is as absurd as that of the old
curmudgeon who told his wife and chill
dren that as fingers were made before
forks, they should eat with their fingers
instead of with forks. The tastes, habits
and other general characteristics ofzthe
horse have by breeding and cultivation
become highly artificial, and wholly un-
like those of his progenitor ts in a state
of nature" and they should be care
fully studied, and as far as possible
gratifed. In the artificial condition of
affairs which now prevails the world
over, there is little virtue in the theory
that nature is to be followed in any
thing. The truth is, nobody at this late
day is qualified to say what is natural for
any beast, unless he has been intimately
acquainted with the breeding and habits
of its ancestry for many generations.
1t has sometimes been suggested that
questions of this character might with
propriety be referred to q jury of the
animals interested. However this may
be, horses individual choice in the
matter might very easily be determined.
In one case large box-stan was fitted
up with spout at one corner for putting
down hay from the loft above, with a
low opening on the floor; in the opposite
corner a common hay-rack was after
| wards placed; and subsequently between
them a breast-high manger. When the
fodder was placed in the two first-named
| receptacles, the horse frequently passed
back and forth between them, showing
| little if any preference. But when the
three were supplied with hay in moder-
ate quantities, he would always empty
the breast-high one first. Possibly an
other horse with different breeding might
have chosen otherwise. This was most
certainly not the result of individual
habit, for this horse had been foddered
| on the floor at the foot of chute for
several years before the experiment, and
never saw a manger or rack till he was
five years old -..... =.
The cruel habit of compelling horse
to pull his fodder from high rack in
order to improve his figure is wholly in
defensible. It may be that a well-con-
structed rack of moderate height is bet
| ter for some horses which have vicious
habit of throwing their fodder out of the
manger. I could never see any other
rational excuse for its use.
| A feed-manger, too, should be breast
high, and so large that the feed can be
| spread out very thin. Most horses are
disposed to gormandize when fed grain,
and the best remedy for it is to feed the
| grain, of whatever kind, dry, and SO
Scattered that only little at time may
be taken. Dry feed is always better mas
tic1ted, and more thoroughly digested.
| A manger four feet long, sixteen OF
eighteen inches wide, and six inches
deep, is the best size and form. 1t will
hold hay enough for afoddering, is easily
brushed out when wanted for grain-feed-
| ing, and serves to correct tendency to
excessive or irregular foddering. 11tni Fl
The use of the same manger for both
fodder and feed is better than to have
one for each, because it compels the fire.
quent clearing of it out. Where deep
managers are used, and separate feed
boxes, the fine refuse of the fodder is
generally suffered to accumulate in the
managers until it become musty, often.
sive and injurious mass.-Cor. N. Y