484 THE HORSE BREEDING 



eaves to carry off the rain water. In a mining country like 

 Lancashire, where iron is destroyed in a year or two by 

 furnace and pit fumes, | in. white pine boards may be sub- 

 stituted, costing id. per square foot, and creosoted or painted 

 with Pilchers' " Stoprot," costing 35. 6d. per gallon, sufficient 

 to cover 400 superficial feet of new boarding (address, 

 Carlisle). The floor of the shed and an entrance way is 

 formed of a thick layer of gravel, furnace slag, or burnt clay. 

 Such shelters prevent chills till genial weather comes, and 

 are also a valuable protection from flies and a scorching sun 

 in summer. The period of gestation is about eleven months. 

 Small but increasing amounts of green food should be given 

 for a few days before the mare goes out to the field, to 

 accustom the digestive system to the change, and thus to 

 prevent colic a rule to be observed with all classes of animals 

 about to be changed from hard food to grass. 



A farm-mare should continue till the day of foaling to do 

 a moderate amount of light work, such as ploughing, but 

 should not be put between shafts for some months before it, 

 as, owing to the enlarged size of the belly as parturition 

 approaches, there is risk of injury from the shafts. The 

 quantity of concentrated or rich food ought to be restricted 

 in the case of a mare in high condition some little while 

 before her time is up. A roomy loose-box is the best place 

 for the mare to occupy, beginning two weeks before foaling. 

 Within twenty-four hours of foaling, and at times earlier, 

 wax-like little scales, becoming at last bright and nearly 

 transparent, are seen on the tips of the teats. These are two 

 in number, laterally flattened, and provided with two openings 

 or milk passages. After the wax appears the mare should be 

 regularly watched day and night by an attendant, who can 

 see without being seen, to prevent her doing injury to the 

 foal at birth by lying down with her tail too close to the 

 wall. In the event of a false presentation or other serious 

 difficulty professional aid is necessary. When natural 

 parturition occurs, the act is more rapid than in the case of 

 horned cattle, or other farm animals, and the danger of 

 strangling the foal during delay greater. After a prolonged 

 delivery the mouth of the exhausted foal should be cleared 

 of slime, and air blown down its throat, to aid the first 

 inflation of the lungs. In nature the tearing of the umbilical 



