Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 117 



of rearing that foal has to be faced. If another mare can be found 

 within reasonable distance that has lost her own foal, and is willing 

 to take the orphan, that is the simplest way of overcoming the 

 difficulty. Or if another mare foals about the same time, and the 

 orphan is smeared over with the mare's discharge and taken to her 

 first, she will usually take to it at once, and if her own foal is 

 allowed to get to her immediately after, she will generally acknow- 

 ledge it and feel proud to be the mother of twins. The mare, if fed 

 liberally and judiciously, will rear them well, and they will soon 

 learn to help her at the manger. This is a much more successful 

 plan, if it is carried out properly, than that of rearing on cow's milk, 

 the next best alternative. When a foal has to be reared on the milk 

 of a cow, the milk should be diluted with water and sweetened with 

 sugar to convert it as near as possible to the character of mare's 

 milk ; a small quantity of bicarbonate of potash should also be dis- 

 solved in the milk. The foal should be fed with this very frequently 

 during the day, and sometimes during the night, as the stomach of 

 the foal is small, and it can only take a small drink at a time. 

 This work involves a lot of time, trouble, and patience, and should 

 be entrusted to someone who has the patience, can spare the time, 

 and will take the trouble. 



Around a farm in summer work sometimes becomes pressing, 

 and the foal is apt to be forgotten or neglected. It is possible, 

 however, to save a lot of this work, by teaching the foal to suck the 

 cow. And a cow will rear the foal in this manner almost as well as 

 a mare. The writer can vouch for two instances where that plan 

 was adopted successfully. A quiet-tempered, upstanding cow was 

 selected, one that had been accustomed to suckle a calf. As the 

 foals in both instances had learned to suck before their mothers 

 had died, matters were considerably simplified. The plan adopted 

 was to tie up the cow in a place by herself, take the foal to her 

 frequently, and stand by the cow meanwhile to prevent her using 

 her heels or her horns. As soon as the foal discovered where the 

 milk was to be had, which he did simply by exploring round, he 

 quickly learned to help himself to it. After the first day the foal, 

 being left in the same place with the cow, gradually got to stealing 

 a drink, and she gradually became reconciled to allowing him the 

 privilege. In about two days she got so used to the foal that she 

 wanted him to come to suck. After this they were turned to the 

 field together and accompanied each other all summer, the cow 

 looking after him as carefully as if it were her own calf As the 

 foal gets older it may be helped on in growth and condition by a 

 little manger food. 



