ason of green pasture. I have
frequently heard farmers say that their horses did best during the
spring and summer, if kept in the stable at night. I can only say that I
have found the very opposite to be true and I believe I have carefully
and faithfully tested the matter. I have found that when the horses were
allowed the range of a blue grass pasture at night, they endured work
the best because they digested their grain and hay better, and good
digestion made good appetites. In fact, I consider pasture the best food
and the best medicine a horse can be given. If his coat is rough, if he
is stiff and lifeless, if he is losing flesh and strength, turn him on
pasture and he will soon grow better.

Some grasses make far better pasture than others. All in all, I consider
blue grass the best. It comes earliest in the spring, and while very
palatable and easily digested, seems to possess more substance than
other grasses. Next I would place timothy. Clover is good medicine for a
sick horse, but because of its action on the salivary glands is apt to
make work horses "slobber" at certain seasons.

For winter, hay is provided. But how is it provided in a majority of
cases? The grass is cut out of season; is cured negligently, very likely
is exposed to rain; and then piled up to mold and rot. A few tarpaulins
to put over the cocks in case of rain, and barracks or mow to protect
and preserve the hay would give the horse good hay, and be one of the
very best of investments. It should be remembered that the digestive
organs of none other of our farm animals are so easily deranged as those
of the horse. Musty, moldy hay is the moving cause of much disease. The
man who can not provide a good mow should sell his horses to some farmer
who can manage better.

Though blue grass is the best for pasture, timothy is the best for hay.
Clover makes better hay than blue grass. Corn fodder has substance, and
pound for pound contains about two-thirds as much nutriment as hay. But
it is not good forage for the horse. Where hay is procurable corn
fodder should never be fed.

I am convinced that the great majority of farmers do nor feed their
horses enough forage. I know of farmers who do not feed hay at all when
their horses are at work, which is more than half the year. Grain is fed
exclusively. Yet they wonder why their horses lose flesh and have rough
coats. Feeding a horse all grain is like feeding a man all meat. The
food is so oily and