good hay a day. It is a mistake of many to think that horses at light
work can be kept entirely on hay. Such horses soon become potbellied,
fall off in flesh, and do not thrive. The same is true of colts; unless
the latter are fed with some grain they grow up to be long, lean, gawky
creatures, and never make so good horses as those accustomed to grain
with, or in addition to, their hay.

STRAW.--The straws are not extensively fed in this country, and when
used at all they should be cut and mixed with hay and ground or crushed
grain. Wheat, rye, and oat straw are the ones most used; of these, oat
straw is most easily digested and contains the most nourishment. Pea and
bean straw are occasionally fed to horses, the pea being preferable,
according to most writers.

CHAFF.--Wheat and rye chaff should never be used as a feed for horses.
The beards frequently become lodged in the mouth or throat and are
productive of more or less serious trouble. In the stomach and
intestines they often serve as the nucleus of the "soft concretions,"
which are to be described when treating of obstructions of the digestive
tract.

Oat chaff, if fed in small quantities and mixed with cut hay or corn
fodder, is very much relished by horses. It is not to be given in large
quantities, as I have repeatedly witnessed a troublesome and sometimes
fatal diarrhea following the practice of allowing horses or cattle free
access to a pile of oat chaff.

GRAINS.--Oats take precedence of all grains as a feed for horses, as the
ingredients necessary for the complete nutrition of the body exist in
them in the best proportions. Oats are, besides, more easily digested
and a larger proportion absorbed and converted into the various tissues
of the body. Care must be taken in selecting oats. According to Stewart,
the best oats are one year old, plump, short, hard, clean, bright, and
sweet. New oats are indigestible. Kiln-dried oats are to be refused, as
a rule, for even though originally good this drying process injures
them. Oats that have sprouted or fermented are injurious and should
never be fed. Oats are to be given either whole or crushed--whole in the
majority of instances; crushed to old horses and those having defective
teeth. Horses that bolt their feed are also best fed upon crushed oats
and out of a manger large enough to permit of spreading the grain in a
thin layer.

In addition to the allowance of hay above mentioned, the average horse
requires