Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-01-30
THE CARE OF FINE HORSES.



Treat their Horses Inwisely.
.'The great trouble" said Mr.. Robert
Bonner lis at 81 manv men who are
able To- buy Ne stock d. not know low
their horses sholi,d be- taken care of. and
are unable to watch aud see whether
those whom tliey employ thoroughly
understand their b,isin 81. There is n
great deal in what is said there about the
feeding Of horses. Nothing is more int
pprtant at this season of the year. Their
eating should he looked after as carefully
an You would after the feeding of a man
unable To care for himself.
IF a man sits all day at IA desk and
writes. without taking exercise. he can
not eat half as much as a laborer who
handles a pick and shovel. II is just the
same with horses. You take the hack
horses that run around up at Tarrytown,
going half mile i'm one direction. two
miles in another. and using up their
strength in climbing over those hills.
They need from twenty 10 twenty-four
quarts of oats day, and they would eat
even more if they could get il. But trot-
ting horses, even in the trotting season.
will not eat on AN average more than
twelve quarts day: you cant make
Them, because the work they do does not
wear away their strength as does the
slow plodding of the hack horse. In this
season of the year the trotting horses do
what they want to. they take on fat and
get themselves into very bad condition.
Now. taking Maud s.. for example.
Well, she is glutton, if ever there was
pne. As Bair said 10 me the other day,
she was never known To leave around
mouthful Of anything to eat She. would
eat twelve quarts of oats a day now if
would let her, but give her barely six
quarts, and let her grumble to herself
about my stinginess il she wants to. As
il is, she keeps in fine condition. just nice
and right. II let her eat her till she
would get as fat as porpoisc: and even
If nothing worse happened, should have
the hardest kind If work to get her back
into condition when spring came around
again. Of course economy or AN idea as
that has nothing % do with it, When |
give $4e.O for 1 mare | don't care how
much she eats. II 100 quarts of oats a
day would do her any good Id only Ire
too glad to give it Ia her. That is the
great trouble with man who has a fine
animal; he is likely to he too indulgent
and kill the horse with kindness. Firm
ness is what man must have. no matter
how much he may think of his horse.
-Of course. there are exceptions to
every rule: some horses will not get fat,
no matter how much You feed them.
There is Keene JIM a horse that bought
of Mr.. Paul Dana for $1,000: you can't
get that horse fat. no matter how much
you may feed him. He is kind of
horse that won't fatten. just like some
I1en who are always lean and lank, no
matter how good cook they have.
Zone thing that may cause the loss Of
many valuable horses at this time of the
year is ignorance, or carelessness. that
results in their catching cold. Horses
are exercised too violently. perhaps. and
then allowed To stop and grow cold sud-
denly. That is all wrong: such treat
ment is likely To kill man. and il is just
as dangerous for horse. After my
horses are exercised they are warmly
blanketed and my boys lead them around
my stables more and more slowly. A
horse wants To cool off gradually and
slowly. as the air does when the sun sets,
not like a bottle of wine stuck into a
freezer. And then. too. you can't be too
careful in exercising and driving horses
at this time Of the year. They should
be taken out every day without fail
when the weather permits. but be very
careful. II you speed your horse in the
face of cold wind. all that cold air
pouring into his lungs il likely to iniure
him very much. and give HIM lung fever.
And even when it is fine you can't be
too careful about the surface ON which
your horse is tutting. | wouldn't for
for SO, 900 let Maud $. go out and fly for
half mile at top speed on the hard roads
of Central park, and yet lots of men send
their best stock flying over such roads
daily. A man who knew anything and
saw such thing done would take the
horse away from the driver and say he
was crazy. The best chance YOU can get
TO drive in winter is on the soft snow
That won't hurt any horse. Only be care
full and not drive them too much at first
The slipping of their feet before they
become accustomed to the icy surface il
very painful to the legs, and they should
he worked up to it gradually. New
York Sun.