146 The Management of Light Horses 



best way of ensuring this towards the end of her pregnancy is 

 to have her led out every day. 



During the last few weeks of her pregnancy the mare should 

 be moved into a foaling box, of which there should be one or two 

 on every farm on which horses are bred. There is no necessity 

 for anything out of the ordinary way in this foaling box. One 

 thing necessary is that it should be capacious — 18 feet square is 

 an excellent size — not a bit too big. The foaling box should be in 

 a quiet place, so that the mare may not be disturbed by any outside 

 commotion. Both before she foals and for a few days after she 

 foals the maie cannot be kept too quiet, especially if she is a young 

 mare with her first foal. It is absolutely essential that the door 

 of the foaling box should open outwardly, otherwise it is quite 

 possible that a mare may be laid so that the door cannot be opened, 

 and so perhaps much-needed assistance may be unavailable. I prefer 

 the foaling box to be without mangers — the mare will easily eat her 

 food from a vessel on the floor. The foaling boxes should be so 

 arranged that the attendant can see into them without opening the 

 door and so disturbing the mare. 



Where there are large studs frequently there will be as many 

 as half a dozen foaling boxes. Under such circumstances there 

 is generally a room provided for the attendant. This is situated 

 in the middle of the boxes, and a corridor enables him to go round 

 to see that all is right without being exposed to the wet. This is 

 not necessary on an ordinary farm, but I would emphasize the fact 

 that it is as well to have the foaling box "handy" to the attendant's 

 cottage. The mare will be all the likelier to get properly looked 

 after under such conditions. Besides, it is scarcely reasonable to 

 expect a man to turn out in all weathers and trudge half a mile 

 several times during the night. And unless the mare is looked 

 after pretty frequently it is no use looking after her at all. A happy- 

 go-lucky system is as bad as no system. It must be remembered 

 by every owner of a brood mare that, with a mare, the pains of 

 labour come on very suddenly, and that it is quite possible that 

 a mare may be feeding quietly and within half an hour she may 

 have a foal making more or less futile struggles to get to his feet. 

 So that the visits to the mare during the night and also throughout 

 the day should be frequent. 



