The Management of Light Horses 145 



should be kept out of the shafts if possible. In the latter case my 

 " preaching " has not been " followed by my practice ", and I have 

 frequently driven pregnant mares, and I cannot say that I have 

 ever had any perceptible loss from so doing. But I have known 

 ill effects happen from it, and if the mare has a foal at foot, she 

 should certainly never do fast work to any appreciable extent. 

 A pregnant mare that is not suckling should be no worse for a 

 little work. In case she is worked, it should only be by her owner 

 or under his eye, and she should never be overdone or excessively 

 heated. Nor should she, when she is lightly worked, be left to 

 the tender mercies of an attendant when her work is over. Her 

 comfort should be seen to by her owner himself if he would have 

 everything go well. 



When the pastures are done, and the frosts and bad weather 

 have come, the mare should have shelter, and, though grass may 

 be sufficient food for her during the summer if she is not sucklings 

 when it begins to lose its nutriment it should be supplemented by 

 good sweet hay and a little corn. A man's judgment should tell 

 him how to apportion her ration better than any generalization 

 in a book. Much depends on her constitution, whether she is 

 a good " doer " or not, and a good deal depends upon her size. 

 What is an ample ration for one mare would perhaps be starvation 

 allowance for another. 



The condition of the mare is an infallible guide. She should 

 be in good condition, for during the later months of her pregnancy 

 the foal will take a good deal of hold of her, and weakness in a 

 foaling mare is a source of considerable danger and perhaps ulti- 

 mate loss. But if the mare should be in good condition, all approach 

 to fatness should be avoided. Internal fat, lending itself to a 

 clogging up of the passages, is frequently a source of danger to 

 the dam or her foal, or both. Exercise is absolutely necessary, 

 especially towards the end of the pregnancy. A paddock, of course, 

 affords plenty of opportunity for this, but unfortunately, on ordinary 

 farms, paddocks arc not frequently found. A mare may be turned 

 out into an ordinary pasture, but if she is, care must be taken that 

 it is one in which no other horses are there to excite her to gallop. 

 A mare will not get sufficient exercise in a fold yard, and indeed, 

 unless she is by herself in a fold, or a loose box with a yard to it, 

 she should not be turned into one at all. I have seen pregnant 

 mares running in a fold with cattle. It is a plan which should 

 never be adopted, and I only mention it to show how careless many 

 men are with their brood mares. It is, as has already been stated, 

 necessary that the mare should have plenty of exercise, and the 



Vol. III. 43 



