The first day you take a lean horse, and wish to put him in a situation,
as quick as possible, to be able to perform a journey or any other
fatigue: give him, in the morning, twelve ears of corn, soaked twenty
four hours in clean water. Scatter half a spoonful of fine salt over it;
then let him eat hay or fodder for one hour. At noon, give him eight
ears more, and a little fodder. Let him stand till five o’clock, if the
weather is warm, and then bathe him: feed him as in the morning, and
give him hay, grass or fodder, not quite so much as he would eat. The
second day, bleed him by one or two slight incisions in the mouth, and
give him sixteen ears of corn in the morning, and what grass or fodder
he will eat in half an hour, and no more than four ears of corn at noon.
Feed him in the evening as in the morning, after having bathed him as
before, and augment the quantity of fodder. If the weather is cool,
curry him and rub him well, instead of bathing. Third day, give him as
much corn as he will eat, and fodder at discretion all night. Feed him
as above, at seven or eight o’clock in the morning, and give him no hay
or fodder, and nothing at noon: continue in this manner, observing to
scatter a little salt upon his corn every third day. It will be
necessary, after the third or fourth day, to ride him a mile or two
twice a day. A horse managed in this manner, will be fatter at the end
of ten or twelve days, than one fed in the common way will be in a
month. A horse upon a journey, from September till April, requires no
feeding, from the time you start in the morning till you stop at night.
He will stand the journey better, and lose less flesh. I have travelled
thousands of miles in the Mexican states, and have always found it to be
the case, with the exception of those hot countries bordering on the
Pacific Ocean, where I fed a little at noon--started a little early, and
rode late, on account of the heat, which is equally great at all seasons
of the year. A horse fed as I have directed for fifteen days, may then
eat his corn without being soaked; and, though these directions are more
particularly intended for this country, and for horses taken from the
prairies, still, the directions will hold good in all countries and all
climates: allowing something, however, for the different length of days
in different seasons and climates. When on a journey, let a horse drink
as often as he wishes.