822 THE HORSE. 



sufficiently developed, and with the development of which this early 

 breeding will mateiiaily interfere. If she does little more than farm-work, 

 she may continue to be bred from until she is nearly twenty : but if she has 

 been hardly worked, and bears the marks of it, let her have been what she 

 will in her youth, she will deceive the expectations of the breeder in her 

 old age. 



The mare comes into heat in the early part of the spring. She is said 

 to go with foal eleven months, but there is sometimes a strange irregu- 

 larity about this. Some have been known to foal five weeks earlier, while 

 the time of others has been extended six weeks beyond the eleven months. 

 We may, however, take eleven months as the average time. In running- 

 horses, that are brought so early to the starting-post, and whether they are 

 foaled early in January or late in April, rank as of the same age, it is of 

 importance that the mare should go to cover as early as possible : in a 

 two or three-year old, four months would make considerable difference in 

 the growth and strength ; yet many of these early foals are almost worth- 

 less, because they have been deprived of that additional nutriment which 

 nature designed for them. For other breeds, the beginning of May is the 

 most convenient period. The mare would then foal in the early part of 

 April, when there would begin to be sufficient food for her and her colt, 

 iviihout confining them to the stable. 



From the time of covering to that of foaling, the mare may be kept at 

 moderate work, and that not only without injury, but with decided advan- 

 tage. The work may be continued up to the very time when she is 

 expected to foal ; and of which she will give at least a day's notice, by the 

 adhesive matter that will appear about the teats. When this is seen, it will 

 be prudent to release her from work, and keep her near home, and under 

 ihe frequent inspection of some careful person. 



AVhen nearly half the time of pregnancy has elapsed, the mare should 

 have a little better food. She should be allowed two or three feeds of corn 

 in the day. This is about the period when they are accustomed to slink 

 their foals, or when abortion occurs : at this time, therefore, the eye of the 

 i,owner should be frequently upon them. Good feeding and moderate 

 exercise will be the best preventives against this. The mare that has once 

 slinked her foal is ever liable to the same accident, and therefore should 

 never be suffered to be with other mares about the time that this usually 

 occurs, which is about the fourth and fifth months ; for such is the power 

 of imagination or of sympathy in the mare, that if one of them suffers 

 abortion, the greater number of those in the same pasture will share the 

 same fate. Farmers wash, and paint, and tar their stables to prevent some 

 supposed infection : the infection lies in the imagination. 



If a mare has been regularly exercised, and apparently in health while 

 she was in foal, little danger will attend the act of parturition. If there 

 be false presentation of the foetus, or difficulty in producing it, it will be 

 better to have recourse to a well-informed practitioner, rather than injure 

 the mother, by the violent and injurious attempts which are often made to 

 relieve the animal. 



As soon as the mare has foaled, she should be turned into some well- 

 sheltered pasture, with a hovel or shed to run into when she pleases : and 

 as, supposing she has foaled in April, the grass is scanty, she should have 

 a couple of feeds of corn daily. The breeder may depend upon it, that 

 nothing is gained by starving the mother and stinting the foal at this time. 

 It is the most important time in the life of the horse; and if, from false 

 economy, his growth bo arrested now, his puny form and want of endu- 

 rance will ever afterwards testify the error that has been committed. The 



