BREEDING 199 



Advisable as it is at all times to disinfect the penis of the 

 stallion immediately after covering, it is most important to 

 do so after serving a mare who has recently aborted, lest he 

 carries infection with him to succeeding mares. For this 

 purpose it is not sufficient to inject the disinfectant into the 

 sheath with a syringe. The penis itself must be carefully 

 drawn out by hand to its full length, and then washed with 

 wadding soaked in j,h,o solution of Chinosol. 



Though the stallion may show irritation at first, he very 

 soon becomes accustomed to the operation, and takes no 

 notice of it. 



Joint Evil, till quite recently, has been looked upon as 

 so serious a complaint there was but scant hope of success- 

 fully combating it, for even when the foal lived it was quite 

 a wreck. Now, thanks to increase of knowledge regarding 

 microbes and antiseptics, it no longer inspires the dread 

 it formerly did. A mare, whose foal shows symptoms of 

 Joint Evil, should have her uterus cleansed at once with the 

 Chinosol solution, and instead of being covered when she 

 comes into use (about the seventh day) she should have the 

 solution injected daily throughout the period, and not go to 

 the stallion until the next oestrum occurs. 



Joint Evil is the term applied to a lameness, which usually 

 occurs with a foal or calf between the fifth and twenty-first 

 day after birth. Since a joint (or joints) becomes greatly 

 swollen and inflamed, the appropriateness of the designa- 

 tion will be conceded. At first the attendant is apt to think 

 the dam has trodden upon her offspring, if he has had no 

 experience of the disease ; but the high fever which is a con- 

 comitant of Joint Evil will speedily enlighten him as to the 

 true diagnosis of the attack. It is a dirt disease, and in the 

 vast majority of cases the microbes effect their entrance 

 through the lacerated end of the umbilical cord when severed 

 after birth. It is to prevent their intrusion that the necessity 

 arises of applying a ligature to the navel-string immediately 

 after birth, and of dressing the raw surface with some 

 suitable antiseptic, than which nothing is more useful than 

 the Chinosol solution or carbolised collodion. This should 

 be applied to the whole of the remainder of the cord up to 

 the belly, besides the raw surface of the wound. 



