266 BREEDING 



linseed-cake water, have been recommended. Maize is generally considered 

 unsuitable for pregnant mares. 



Many mares at pasture receive nothing but the grass they pick up, and 

 when there is plenty of this and it is of good quality, the mare may do well 

 and produce a well-developed foal; but during unfavourable weather, or 

 when the pasturage is scanty or poor, a suitable quantity of hay and oats 

 should be allowed, especially for morning feed; indeed at all times an 

 allowance of oats, even if small, is advantageous. 



All food should not only be of good quality, but be also capable of 

 easy digestion. When the mare is near parturition she may beneficially, 

 two or three times a week, have mashes of boiled linseed mixed with 

 bran, and made more enticing by the addition of an ounce or two of 

 salt in each mash. A very excellent adjunct to the diet is a lump of 

 rock-salt placed in a position where the mare can conveniently get at 

 it to lick it. 



Medicines should never be administered to pregnant mares except under 

 skilled advice. 



With regard to drink, the water should be clean and pure, and allowed 

 frequently. If the mare is stabled it should be always beside her, as then 

 there will be no danger of her drinking too much at a time. Soft water is 

 better than that which is hard. 



ACCIDENTS INCIDENTAL TO PREGNANCY 



As will be seen, much of the success that should attend horse-breeding 

 depends upon the care and attention bestowed upon the mare towards and 

 at foaling time, as then not only are her own health and safety at stake, 

 but the welfare of her progeny is also a matter for serious consideration. 

 But if suitable precautions are adopted and intelligent observation main- 

 tained, the mare and foal usually pass through this critical period of their 

 existence in a satisfactory manner. It is certainly true that in very many 

 instances pregnant mares receive little notice beyond that given at other 

 times, and are often hard-worked and exposed to all kinds of unfavourable 

 treatment. This is more especially the case with animals belonging to 

 poor people, and particularly farmers in a small way of business, who exact 

 labour from their mares almost up to the day of foaling, and set them to 

 work again after that event has taken place. But this treatment is not 

 always pursued with impunity, for accidents of a serious kind often occur, 

 and sometimes the foal, sometimes the mare not infrequently both 

 suffer disastrously. And it is no less true that common-bred animals are 

 less predisposed to accidents at this time than those which are high-bred 



