ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAE BOOK— PART XI 709 



and later on he may need the supply of milk temporarily reduced and 

 perhaps a little boiled milk given from a bottle to correct the laxative 

 effects of too much milk or milk of bad quality. Since the foal is fed 

 by the mare, her feed must be intelligently chosen. If she is given too 

 much rich feed, or turned too suddenly to pasture, or brought in very hot 

 and tired from work to her hungry foal, trouble is sure to follow. An 

 evenly regulated supply of milk of uniform quality is needed by the 

 foal, and the way to secure that is to regulate the feed of the mare to her 

 evident needs, avoiding sudden changes of any kind and shielding her 

 from the most exhaustive work. 



There is no set rule for raising foals successfully, even when they must 

 be raised by hand. Different circumstances frequently call for quite 

 various treatment. If the foal is comfortably sheltered while the nights 

 are cool, and is protected from chilly rains, and is not allowed to wear 

 himself out following the mare in the field, he should thrive if the feed 

 is right. If there is no apparent digestive disturbance, and he keeps 

 thin and lank, the probability is that he does not get milk enough. In 

 such a case the mare needs more oats, bran, clover hay and pasture, 

 with possibly a pound of oilmeal a day, and less of corn and timothy 

 hay and hard work. Corn and timothy do not furnish in suitable amounts 

 the ingredients for making milk and hard work cuts down the milk-flow 

 of some mares. If a foal must be raised by hand, the cow's milk must 

 be sweetened a little and thinned somewhat with limewater. Then it 

 must be fed warm, in small quantities and often. Splendid foals have 

 been raised in this way. Sometimes it happens that a mare gives only 

 half or two-thirds as much milk as is needed, and if the foal can be in- 

 duced to take a couple of feeds a day from the bottle or bucket, its growth 

 and health may be greatly advanced. Few foals get too much feed. Oc- 

 casionally a mare may give too much milk at first when fed heavily 

 on rich feeds, but a reduction of the milk making factors of the ration 

 will speedily correct that. Often the foal could use more feed than the 

 mare furnishes even before it is old enough to nibble at grain, hay and 

 grass. It should be encouraged to eat as soon and as much as it desires. 

 The youngster will not eat much before it is a month old. It will take 

 an interest in the grain in the mare's feedbox while she is eating before 

 any notice will be taken of grain anywhere else. Then is the time to 

 put up a low feedbox just out of her reach and give the foal grain reg- 

 ularly. Crushed oats and bran make a good feed to begin with, and 

 probably nothing is better at any time during the first summer and fall. 



The foal must be encouraged to eat heartily, and to exercise, rest 

 and grow. If the mare is running in the pasture the exercise and rest 

 may be naturally well regulated. If she works in the field, the foal 

 must be kept in the barn or turned in a pasture to prevent its attempt- 

 ing to duplicate every mile of travel taken by the mare. The foal cannot 

 do such work as that and also grow as it should. If allowed to follow 



