For the Ladies

[posted to MorganList, Christmas Day, 1997]

We all have our holiday traditions; one of mine is to give the horses a sweet mash with beer and sing and play for them (and anyone else in the barn,) on Christmas day, in thanks for their work and company. Being the sort of person for whom one thought is inevitably connected to seven other things, I cannot mix bran without thinking of the foaling season, (another occassion to mix lots of mashes) and I cannot think of bran mashes and foaling without thinking of Kevin Powell, my father's business partner, best friend, and a significant influence in my own life.

This is an Irish recipe that we fed mares after foaling. Kevin (the Irishman who provided this) contended that this was to help prevent the mare from retaining the placenta. While the following may not meet the standards of modern nutrition science, I think it has value in the restorative effects of sugars, fats, a little protein, a small bit of alcohol, the bowel clearing effects of bran, and of course, loving attention... Quoted from childhood memory:

"Take 2-4 pound of ¹red bran, depending upon the size of the mare. To this add 1/2-1 pound of ²white bran, mix well in a tub with a cup or two of ³sulphured black treacle and a cup of ⁴good oil. Go the ⁵pig boiler and ladle up enough ⁶butter milk to make a thick meal of your tub of bran, and eat a potatoe if there is one the boiler. Mix the buttermilk well in -- you should be sweating a little now. Let this all stand up for a bit while you go admire the foal. Cool the mixture with enough strong, dark ale to make it up as a soft mash. Pour yourself a pint and give a pint of ale to all the grooms, as well as a silver dollar to the ⁷man who ⁸wisps the foal. Crack and egg (2 or 3 if she has bled much) shell and all into the mash and mix it in. Take the tub and your ale into the stall. Hand feed the mash to the mare until she eats on her own. Keep her standing so the foal can suck his fill. Sup your ale, and let the cats have as much of the mash as they've a mind to eat. If there is aught left after the mare passes her ⁹membranes, and she isn't keen to finish, put the rest in the pig trough, but offer it to the cats first. If there is time enough, eat a bowl of porridge and have a rest. Otherwise, start the morning feeding."

Sláinte to you all, and the foals to come!

¹ wheat bran
² rice bran
³ blackstrap molasses
⁴ usually corn or linseed oil
⁵ pig feed that included scraps from the food preparation was boiled in a giant, closed kettle. Not only does this prevent the spread of disease (and is still required in the case of pigs raised for sale,) it makes the feed more palatable to the pigs. We always put the leftover bits from the dairy into the boiler, as well as a variety of field grade root crops; carrots, beets and potatoes, notably
⁶ in this case, the whey left after making butter or cheese
⁷ or girl! I think this is a Kerry tradition -- I imagine that that once upon a time the currency counted was shillings
⁸ rubs down -- originally done with a twist ('wisp') of straw
⁹ placenta