WEANING. 163 
foal will allow its feet to be picked up, and its head and ears to be rubbed, 
without taking offence. Grooms are sometimes in the habit of showing 
off their powers in this way, by taking the foal up in their arms ; but this 
can do no good, and may possibly lead to injury of the walls of the 
abdomen. About the fourth or fifth month, and before weaning is com- 
menced, a light head-collar should be put on ; and after the foal is accus- 
tomed to its pressure, by repeatedly handling the part on successive days, 
a leading-rein should be buckled on, and the young thing enticed to follow 
the groom without any absolute coercion. At the same time, it must be 
made to feel that resistance is useless; and if it begins to pull, it must on 
no account be allowed to get away, the groom yielding as long as the foal 
pulls straight back, but coercing it gently with a side strain. A carefully 
handled foal will rarely give any trouble in this way; but there is an 
astonishing variation in the power which different men have over the 
animal creation. Some will gain control without using the slightest vio- 
lence, while others will be always fighting with their charge, and after all 
will not be able to do nearly as much with them as their more quiet and 
clever rivals. The latter class should never be allowed to have anything 
to do with young horses ; and though there may be occasional exceptions 
which require severe measures, yet if once a man is found resorting to 
violence with a foal which he has had the management of from the first, 
he should, in my opinion, be removed from his post; or, at all events, he 
should be carefully watched, and a repetition of the offence ought to be 
considered as a notice to quit. Long before the coming among us of 
Mr. Rarey, this was recognised amongst the most extensive breeders of 
horses in this country; and though cruelty was not unknown among 
them, any more than it is now, it was fully recognised as not only an. 
unnecessary but an unsatisfactory means of mastering the horse, 
THE WEANING AND AFTER TREATMENT OF THE FOAL, 
THE USUAL AGE FOR WEANING the foal is about the end of the sixth 
month, that time being selected because the dam is generally about 
“half gone” with her next foal, and cannot bear the double drain upon 
her system. Nor does the foal benefit much by the milk after this age, 
the teeth and stomach being quite strong enough to crop and digest the 
succulent grasses that are to be had from August to October, those being 
the months during which the several breeds attain the middle of their 
first year. If the autumn is a dry one, and grass is scanty, a few steamed 
turnips or carrots may be mixed with bran and given to the foal night and 
morning; but, as a rule, unless it is to be highly forced into its growth 
for the purpose of early racing, it will require only the grass which it can 
pick up when it is turned out. Three or four foals are generally placed 
together in the same paddock for company, and in this way they miss 
their dams far less than if confined by themselves. Care should be taken 
that nothing is left within their reach which can do injury, every fence 
and gate being carefully examined to see that no projecting bolt, nail, or 
rail is likely to lay hold of their bodies or limbs as they gallop about in 
their play. Foals of all ages are mischievous animals, and the better fed 
they are the more inclined they seem to lay hold of anything which 
attracts their notice. 
BrsIDES THE SHELTER OF A HOVEL, which I have already insisted on, the 
foal requires throughout its first winter good feeding proportioned to its 
breeding and the purposes for which it is intended. Racing colts are 
m2 
