Sugar cane is not often used as an actual food, but horses are very fond of it, and on my visits to the stable I usually had some pieces carried after me in a basket when it was in season. It ripens at the end of the summer, and lasts into the winter. It is sold in long sticks, and should be chopped up into pieces; but the servants will steal it, as they eat it themselves as a sweetmeat.
Turnips (shalgham).
The ordinary white turnip grows all over the Punjab in the winter, and when carrots are not to be procured, I have used them in their place, preparing them in the same manner. Horses soon learn to eat and relish them.
Salt (nimmuk).
Salt is required by all animals in a certain quantity in their food to keep them in health. There are three different varieties sold in the native shops. Rock salt (“putter ke nimmuk”); ordinary salt, which is merely the rock salt crushed and powdered; and black salt (“kali nimmuk”). On the coast sea salt can also be obtained, but it is not to be found far inland. The common custom in India is to give powdered salt in the food, the usual daily allowance being about an ounce. I prefer to leave a lump of rock salt in the manger for the horse to lick when he likes. Some owners have a lump of it hung by a string to the wall, but I do not think this is advisable, as I have known more than one horse turn a wind-sucker from getting into the habit of licking and playing with it.
Tonics.
It is a common supposition, deeply rooted in the minds of horsemen, that, when a horse loses condition, he at once requires a tonic; and an immense number of these and “condition powders” are advertised. There is no better paying speculation in the world than the sale of these articles, as the majority of them consist of a few cheap and simple ingredients, that are retailed to the public at a hundred per cent. their original cost; and the best that can be said about these nostrums is that some of them are innocent and do no harm, while they serve to amuse the owner. The action of a tonic is to stimulate the appetite, and if the horse is feeding well they are certainly useless, if not actually harmful. If the horse feeds, and continues to fall off in condition, the chances are that there is something wrong in the stable management, which should be carefully inquired into. If this only occurs once with one animal, the inference is that medical advice is required, but if several are in the same state, or it is a matter of constant occurrence, then in most cases a change of “syce” is required, and it will be usually found better and cheaper than having recourse to any of these various advertised “cure-alls.”