88 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



brute. Many stallions become partially insane under the 

 common treatment, and are a pest to their owners, dangerous 

 to grooms, and beget vicious stock. A stallion should be 

 kept in good health and moderate flesh. His box should be 

 where he can have the constant company of other horses, 

 or in sight of his mares. He should have a paddock to run 

 in, or have plenty of cut grass during his season. He should 

 be exercised in double harness, or under the saddle accom- 

 panied by other horses, as often as convenient. His exercise 

 should be brisk and blood-stirring, with occasional sharp work 

 so as to get a good sweat. Under such treatment, a stallion, 

 unless he is naturally a vicious brute, will be as cheerful and 

 pleasant to keep as any mare is. 



Breeding-mares must be kept in good condition, — the best 

 of pasture, oats and hay in winter, and warm quarters. 

 Work will not hurt them. Some of the best foals have come 

 from mares that worked moderately up to a week before 

 foaling. 



When a breeder, by the union of suitable parents, has pro- 

 duced a foal, it then rests with him to bring it to the full 

 perfection of power. To do this, common sense, or what is 

 sometimes called "horse-sense," is all that is required. A 

 well-pastured or well-fed mare will provide all the nourish- 

 ment the suckling requires. If it is a fall foal, it may be 

 allowed to run with the dam until spring; but, if it is a 

 spring foal, four or five months is the usual time. Foals are 

 easily weaned, but must never be turned back to pasture. 

 This is a critical time. The foal must be kept growing. He 

 must therefore be kept in a convenient paddock, fed regularly 

 with sweet hay and bruised oats, and continually handled 

 all over from head to feet. Now is the time to train and 

 break him. The lessons taught at this stage will never be 

 forgotten, and he can be made perfectly docile and obedient. 

 His feet must be carefully looked to, and not allowed to grow 

 too long either at toe or heel. There is a common idea 

 among farmer breeders that a colt should not be allowed 

 grain ; and nine out of ten men who show you a colt will 

 boast, truly or falsely, that he has had no grain. I have lis- 

 tened to the remonstrances of my neighbors against my 

 practice of training colts; they insisting that it was the 

 occasion of various forms of bone disease. New England 



