FEEDING AND CARING FOR HORSES 321 



for often a mare will not give birth to her foal when persons are present, 

 if she can delay it. The mare should be given a half bucket of water be- 

 fore foaling, and when on her feet again she will need a drink of water 

 or, better, of gruel made from half a pound of fine oatmeal in half a 

 bucket of lukewarm water. A light feed of bran is good for the first 

 meal, and this may be followed by oats, or by equal parts, by bulk, of 

 corn and bran. After foaling the mare should be confined for a few 

 days, her ration being simple and not too abundant. With favorable 

 conditions, after 4 or 5 days she may be turned to pasture, and in about 

 2 weeks, or even before if work is urgent and the mare has fully re- 

 covered, she may go back to light work, for a part of the day at least. 



516. Fall foaling. Altho the natural and customary foaling time is in 

 the spring, where the mare must do a hard season's work or when she 

 does not get in foal from spring service, she may be bred to foal in the 

 fall. 



517. The foal. It is of the highest importance in horse rearing that 

 the foal start life in full health and vigor, and to this end it should, im- 

 mediately after birth, take a good draft of the colostrum, or first milk, of 

 the dam, which possesses regulating properties that tend to relieve the 

 alimentary tract of fecal matter collected therein before birth. (115) If 

 this result is not accomplished naturally, a gentle purgative of castor oil 

 or a rectal injection is necessary. On account of the great danger from 

 navel and joint disease, the navel cord should receive attention immedi- 

 ately after birth, and the stump be carefully disinfected. To prevent 

 germ infection of the intestinal tract of the foal, which causes scours, it 

 is well to wash the udder of the mare with a lukewarm 2 per ct. solution 

 of coal-tar disinfectant and then rinse it off with warm water before al- 

 lowing the foal its first meal. The tail and hind parts of the mare should 

 likewise be washed once a day for the first week. 



Some dams, more frequently those with their first foal and those too 

 hard-worked, fail to supply the proper amount of nourishment, and the 

 young languish. In such cases the mare should be provided with food 

 which will stimulate the milk flow. Good pasture grass is, of course, the 

 best, but in its absence concentrates should be given in the shape of oats, 

 rolled barley, wheat bran, etc., with an equal weight of corn. Sometimes 

 the foal suffers from an over-supply of nourishment, or because the milk 

 is too rich, and the indigestion resulting may terminate in diarrhea. In 

 such cases the dam's ration should be reduced and some of her milk 

 drawn, remembering always that the last portion carries the most fat, 

 which is usually the disturbing element. 



518. Weight and gains of foals. Allen 6 found from the records for 

 1,071 trotting-bred foals that the weight of the fillies at birth ranged 

 from 74 to 144 Ibs., averaging 109 Ibs., while the males weighed from 66 

 to 152 Ibs., averaging 111 Ibs. The average birth weight was 110 Ibs. 

 During the first year they gained 534 Ibs., or nearly 5 times their birth 



* Allen Farm Catalog, 1905. 



