THE ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 47 



the first hair appears on the lips and the tip of the tail ; between 

 the thirty-fifth and fortieth week the foal begins to show signs of 

 life, and is completely covered with hair. After this time the foal 

 grows very rapidly and can be seen moving around by watching 

 at the flank. The mare carries her foal eleven months, but in 

 some cases in aged mares they have been known to carry their 

 foal over twelve months, and in rare cases in young mares they 

 lack a few davs of eleven months. 



How to Tell When a Mare is With Foal.— The first thing that 



is noticed is that she does not come in season at the end of three 

 weeks, and if felt at the flanks she will be noticed to be peevish 

 and cross, and also ugly to other horses. The mare usually feeds 

 and thrives better at this period, and at the end of three or four 

 months she begins to get larger at the flanks, and gradually 

 continues getting larger until foaling time. Mares that are fed on 

 hard feed and worked do not usually get as large as mares fed on 

 rough feed and not w'orked. At about the fifth or sixth month 

 the foal begins stirring in the w-omb, which can be seen at the 

 flank ; this is noticed mostly after the mare has had a drink of 

 cold water ; it also can be felt by pressing the hand against the 

 flank on the left side. At about the sixth month in the young 

 mare the mammary glands, or bag, begins to get large, and 

 gradually gets larger until the time of foaling. 



Signs of Foalin§:. — The muscles and ligaments gradually be- 

 come relaxed until there is quite a hollow at each side of the tail. 

 The vulva gets quite large at foaling time and wax usually runs 

 from the teats of the mare a few days before. A few hours before 

 foaling she is noticed to be walking around and acting quite 

 uneasy until the labor pains come on, when her restlessness 

 increases to getting up and down and forcing, until what is known 

 as the water bag comes out and breaks ; the labor pains increase, 

 and she lies down, forcing violently, until the front legs and head 

 of the foal appear, when it soon slips out, and the cleaning 

 generally comes with it. Sometimes the foal comes backwards, 

 which is harder on the mare. If the mouth of the foal is examined 

 immediately it is found to contain what is known as the melt, 

 which looks like a piece of liver. 



