I 1 6 Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 



of the mare. When the mare is kept on dry, hard food, the foal is 

 more likely to suffer from costiveness, so it is important that at this 

 time the mare should be fed judiciously, and in the absence of grass 

 or other green food, there is nothing better than bran mashes, with 

 which she should be liberally supplied. The bran mashes will keep 

 both mare and foal right in their bowels, and will induce a greater 

 flow of milk. 



A foal may also be troubled with diarrhoea, the result of a cold, 

 or the result of picking up something that has upset its stomach. 

 A good cure for that is to give it first about half a tablespoonful of 

 castor oil. When the oil has operated, follow with a glass of port 

 wine, in which is mixed a little powdered chalk, and give it three 

 or four times a day till the bowels assume their normal condition. 



It seems all the fashion now to have the heavy horse docked, a 

 fashion which has some reason at the root of it. It is decidedly 

 very inconvenient when working heavy horses to have a long tail 

 swishing in one's face, and getting entangled in the reins and 

 harness. If the tail is docked, the hair that remains can be plaited 

 and fastened up tidily out of the way, and it certainly improves 

 the appearance to do so, by the better showing off of the muscular 

 development of the hind quarters. When the foal is about eight 

 days old the operation of docking may then be performed with the 

 minimum of pain to the colt, and the minimum of trouble and risk 

 to the owner. A piece of string and a sharp knife are all the 

 implements required. The hair must be tied up firmly around the 

 tail above the point of severance, and then with the knife snip it 

 off at one of the joints of the tail, leaving the length of stump 

 considered desirable. The disadvantages of this plan are felt 

 during the summers of colthood when the young horses are being 

 pastured, and no long tail is available to drive away the swarms of 

 troublesome flies. For this reason some breeders postpone the 

 operation till the horse is ready for work, and will presumably 

 spend less of his time on the pastures among the flies. At that age 

 docking is not quite so simple an operation, but requires a specially 

 constructed knife and a searing iron, whilst the risk and the pain are 

 doubled. 



ARTIFICIAL REARING 



The foaling time is always an anxious time for the farmer and 

 for his horseman, and when the mare has foaled all right, and the 

 foal got to run about and suck, both master and man feel relieved 

 and thankful. Serious losses, however, sometimes occur at that 

 time, and when a mare dies and leaves an orphan foal, the difficulty 



