, 1886-02-03
THE CARE OF FINE HORSES.
The Trouble Is that Many Rich owI rra
Treat their Horses UnwiseIy.

Treat their Horses Unwisely.
"The great trouble said Mr.. Robert
Bonner lis that so many men who are
able to buy fine stock do not know how
their horses should b1 taken care Of, and
are unable TO watch and see whether
those whom they employ thoroughly
understand their business. There is a
great deal in what is said there about the
feeding OF horses. Nothing is more i'm
portant at this season Of the year. Their
eating should helooked after as carefully
rs you would after the feeding Of n man
unable 10 care for himself.
IF a man sits all day at a desk and
writes, without taking exercise, he can
not cat half Us 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 Tarrytoyvn,
going half a mile in one direction, two
miles in another. and using up their
strength in climbing over those hills.
They need from twenty to twenty-four
quarts Of oats n day, and they would eat
even more if they could get it. But trot-
ting horses, even in the t%rotting season,
will not eat OF an average more than
twelve quarts a 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
almost nothing. and if allowed TO eat
what they want to, they take on fat and
get themselves into a very bad condition.
Nov, taking Maud s., for example.
Well, she is "A glutton, if ever there was
one. As Bair said to me the other day,
she was never known to leave around a
mouthful Of anything TO eat. She would
eat twelve quarts of oats a day now if l
would let her. but | give her barely six
quarts, and let her grumble to herself
about my stinginess if she wants to. As
1t is, she keeps in fine condition, Just nice
and right. If | let her eat her fill she
would get rs fat as a porpoise; and even
If nothing worse happened, | should have
the hardest kind of work TO get her back
into condition when spring came around
again. of course economy or an idea as
that has nothing to do with it. When |
give $40. 900 for a mare | don't care how
much she eats. II 100 quarts Of oats a
day would do her any good I'd only be
too glad to give it to her. That is the
great trouble with n man who has a fine
animal; he is likely to be too indulgent
and kill the horse with kindness. Firm
ness is what a 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 hat | bought
of Mr.. Paul Dana for $4,000; you can't
get that horse fat, no matter how much
you may feed him. He is a kind OF
horse that won't fatten, just ike some
men who are always lean and lank, no
matter how good a cook they have.
One 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 a man, and it is just
ns dangerous for a 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 10 cool off gradually and
slowly, AS the mir does when the sun sets,
not like n bottle of wine stuck into n
freezer. And then, too, you can't be too
careful in exercising and driving horses
ut this time of the year. They should
be taken out every day without fail
when the weather. nEmits, but be very
careful. If you speeTS3rr horse in the
face Of a cold wind, Gall that cold air
pouring into his lungs is likely to injure
him very much, and give him lung fever,
And even when it is fine you can't bs
too careful about the surface on which
your horse is trotting. | wouldn't for
for $4,000 let Maud S. go out and fly for
half a mile at top speed on the hard roads
Central park, and yet lots of men send
their best stock flying over such roads
daily. A nan who knew anything and
saw such "A 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 is
very painful to the legs, and they should
he worked up to it gradually New
York Sun.