Care of Farm Horses.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 859, 17 August 1888, Page 19

Care of Farm Horses.

M. MORGAN. The general appearance of the farm horses throughout the country furnishes convincing proof that the great fundamental principle, that feed and work are to one another in inverse ratio, is widely ignored. The care and feed of a horse whose work is slow, should differ entirely from the care and feed of a horse required to put forth his strength in rapid action. The difference does not consist in neglect of the one nor in oversolicitude for the other. Quite the contrary, us both animals require treatment based on sound judgment. The slow-worked horse can with perfect safety be given a more bulky ration than it is possible to expect a fast-working animal to thrive upon. It must be born in mind by horse owners that it is not the quantity nor even the quality of a horse’s ration which alone keeps him in health, rather is it the quantity of proper food which is fully digested and then assimilated which sustains animal life and insures its most vigorous tone. The losses by death have been very heavy this year, even in farm stables, where the horses were not called npon to put forth unusual exertion, but where a secret danger lurked in evils incident, or unusually lengthened hours of idleness, and where no change in feed was observed. When a horse stands idle his daily ration must immediately be reduced in quantity and varied in substance. No grain should be fed, except sparingly and in a full cooked state. The allowance of hay should be diminished, and light mashes easy of digestion should replace the solid food held back. Absolutely no cold water can be allowed, as to swallow a sufficient quantity of cold water and take no exercise would chill the stomach, reduce the normal heat of the system, thus inducing indigestion, a frequent forerunner of colic. Water which stands at blood-heat is always safer thau cold water, in that it is more readily absorbed ; in hot weather it thins and cools the blood, mixing rapidly with it, and in cold weather it does not chill the stomach. A oomforting drink of oat-meal gruel, or of linseed gruel, one pint of meal or of linseed to a gallon of water, will be of greater value to the fatigued or idle horse, than would be a bushel of grain. Another source of danger to the farm horse is the practice of feeding roots in their raw state. Roots, such as carrots, potatoes, etc., given in very small quantity, when chopped fine and mixed with cut hay and bruised oats, act as mild laxatives, and with some horses give tone to the stomach.; these roots mentioned should never, when fed raw, be washed, as when properly housed or pitted there will adhere, to them more or less of the soil in which they grew. These earthly particles are wholesome for our domestic animals, none of which need this condiment more than those constantly fed by hand. When on pasture and grazing, quite a goodly share of earth is taken up. Now we are careful to request horse owners and grooms to distinguish between earth and dust; this latter is most hurtful. Thus dusty hay causes various affections of the lungs and respiratory organs. Grain in a dusty state also causos serious troubles, one of the most deadly forms being calculus, a disease to which miller’s horses are subject. It is noteworthy how slow to shed their winter coats are farm horses. This delay in the action of the skin is generally ascribed to the coldness of stabling, as contrasted with the warmth of city stables. True warmth is a recognised factor in early coating, but good, nourishing, easy digested, and readily assimilated food, has far more to do in the matter. •