When hay is steeped in boiling water, it is said to be masked. The juice, and perhaps all the nutritive matter, is extracted from the hay and dissolved in the water. This liquor, termed hay-tea, is seldom given to horses, and indeed horses do not appear to be very fond of it. Some, however, have tried it, and they say that it makes a lean horse put up flesh very rapidly. Perhaps it might be useful after a day of extraordinary exertion, when the horse is more disposed to drink than to eat. It might be tried as a substitute for gruel. For this purpose clover hay is better than ryegrass. It should be of the best quality; the water boiling, and the vessel closely covered till the tea be cool enough for use.

Mashing is nearly the same as masking; but both the solid and the fluid are given. A warm bran-mash is made by pouring boiling water upon the bran and covering it up till cool. Tepid water, it is supposed, does not answer so well; does not render the bran so digestible and mucilaginous as it becomes by steeping in boiling water. A cold mash is made at once, by pouring cold water upon the bran; but if it be true that the bran is improved by heat, hot water should be used, and the mash exposed till cold. After all, there may be no difference. Barley and oats are each occasionally made into mashes; that is to say, they are steeped in water, hot or boiling, and the water is given with the grain. When the surgeon orders the horse to be put on mashes, he always means those made of bran.