REARING OF HORSES. 535 



and but sparingly with lime and magnesia. The composition 

 of horse-flesh requires further scrutiny, being commonly taken 

 on trust by analogy with other kinds of muscle. 



Rearing of Horses at the Farm. It is advantageous for 

 the farmer to rear his own horses; and for every six pairs 

 employed upon the farm, two mares may bear foals annually 

 without much encroachment on their share of work, and with- 

 out injury to themselves.* These mares, while with foal, are 

 quite fit for the work of ploughing, almost up to the time 

 when the foal is brought forth. They should not, however, be 

 put into the cart for the highway, or into the horse- course of 

 the thrashing-machine. Any two mares with foal may be 

 advantageously worked together in the plough. 



To bestow some care in the selection of the food for mares 

 with foal will be well worth the farmer's while. There can be 

 no doubt that the chance of obtaining a good foal is in a very 

 high degree increased by the certainty that the food of the 

 mother, during her pregnancy, has been all that it ought to be 

 in point of quality and quantity. It appears to be established 

 that any, even very temporary, failure in the quality or quantity 

 of the food of the mother, at any period of her pregnancy, 

 during the many complicated changes incident to the body of 

 the foal in its development, proves the source of some one or 

 another defect in the organisation of the foal throughout life, 

 and, therefore, perhaps of some serious vice in its permanent 

 constitution. Too much care, therefore, cannot be bestowed 

 to avert any failure of this kind that may be attended with a 

 consequence so serious. 



The materials out of which the body of the foal is con- 

 structed are altogether drawn from the blood of the mare. 

 The food, therefore, allowed to the mare during pregnancy 



* See Book of the Farm,' vol. ii. p. 312. 



