Thk Brood Mare. 



643 



his mares. The common practice is to return them fourteen to eighteen 

 days after the first service, and to return them each week thereafter 

 for at least one month. 



Causes of barrenness in mares 

 It often happens that mares are served normally yet fail to conceive. 

 Some of the causes of this difficulty are readily understood and easily 

 prevented, while others are not so well understood and perhaps beyond 

 the control of breeders. Mares that are not s"erved till late in life are often 

 difficult to impregnate for the first time. This is often noticed in mares 



l"iG. 7. — Good type of Hackney mare. 



that have spent a good part of a lifetime at hard work. In such cases 

 it is due perhaps to the long inactivity of the generative organs. An 

 excess of rich and stimulating foods is a common cause of non-breeding. 

 This is undoubtedly one of the most frequent causes of barrenness, 

 and the dangers attending parturition are more than trebled in the case 

 of fat animals. Milk fever never occurs in mares that are kept actually 

 at work and are in only moderate flesh at the time of foaling. On the 

 other hand, barrenness may be due to poor feeding and hard work, 

 the system being weakened by the lack of sufficient nutrition. Undue 



