Both yard and shed should be kept littered, if straw is plentiful, but if not the shed should contain a good bedding of peat-moss litter. No overhead racks should be used, but one on the same level as the manger, so that no seeds drop out of the rack into the colt’s eyes.
It will be found that foals reared in this way are healthy and ready for their feed, and they will often prefer to lie full length in the open than to rest in the shed. To see them lying quite flat and fast asleep, looking as if dead, is a pretty sure sign that they are thriving. They will often snore quite loudly, so that a novice may consider that they are ill.
Rock salt should be within reach for them to lick, together with good clean water. If a trough is used for the latter it should be cleaned out at intervals, and if a pond or ditch is the drinking place, there should be a stone mouth so as to avoid stalking in the mud. A healthy horse is a hungry horse, therefore the feed should be cleaned up before the next is put in. This must be noted in the case of foals just weaned. Any left over should be taken away and given to older horses, so that the little ones receive a sweet and palatable meal.
Condition and bloom may be obtained by adding a small quantity of boiled barley or a handful of linseed meal to the food above mentioned, while horses lying in should have a boiled linseed and bran mash about once a week.
It should be remembered, as before stated, that horses are not like cattle, sheep, or pigs, being fattened to be killed. They have a comparatively long life in front of them, so that it is necessary to build up a good constitution. Then they may change hands many times, and if they pass from where cooked foods and condiments are largely used to where plain food is given they are apt to refuse it and lose flesh in consequence, thus leading the new owner to suppose that he has got a bad bargain.
Reference has already been made to the pernicious system of stuffing show-animals, and it is not often that farmers err in this direction. They are usually satisfied with feeding their horses on sound and wholesome home-grown food without purchasing costly extras to make their horses into choice feeders.
It is always better for the breeder of any class of stock if the animals he sells give satisfaction to the purchasers, and this is particularly true of Shire horses. A doubtful breeder or one which is not all that it should be may be fattened up and sold at more than its market value, but the buyer would not be likely to go to the same man if he wanted another horse, therefore it is better to gain a reputation for honest dealing and to make every effort to keep it.
It might be here mentioned that it is not at all satisfactory to rear a Shire foal by itself, even if it will stay in its paddock. It never thrives as well as when with company, and often stands with its head down looking very mopish and dull, therefore the rearing of Shires is not a suitable undertaking for a small holder, although he may keep a good brood-mare to do most of his work and sell her foal at weaning time.
In the absence of a second foal a donkey is sometimes used as a companion to a single one, but he is a somewhat unsatisfactory playfellow, therefore the farmer with only one had far better sell it straight from the teat, or if he has suitable accommodation he should buy another to lie with it and rear the two together. Of course, two will need more food than one, but no more journeys will be required to carry it to the manger. Care should be taken, however, to buy one quite as good, and if possible better, than the home-bred one.
If they are to make geldings the colour should match, but if for breeding purposes the colour need not necessarily be the same. Except for making a working gelding, however, chestnuts should be avoided. It is not a desirable colour to propagate, so one can breed enough of that shade without buying one. A remark which may be also made with regard to unsound ones, viz. that most horse-breeders get enough of them without buying.