934 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



countries, is easily reconcileable : a mare goes eleven months and a few days with foal ; 

 and the great object with all farmers, where practicable, is to have her covered at such a 

 period as to ensure abundance of grass, and the return of warm and comfortable 

 weather at the period of foaling. An early colt is always to l)e preferred to one that 

 falls late in the season. It is generally understood, and is an opinion that is believed to 

 be well founded, that a mare may be covered on the ninth day after she has foaled, with 

 a greater degree of success than at any other period. This practice is, of course, often 

 followed ; but in such cases the mare ought, Donaldson thinks, to be fed in an extraor- 

 dinary manner, otherwise it is impossible she can do justice to her present and her 

 future foal. But modern farmers would jjrobably, he says, come nearer their purpose, 

 were they to follow the example of the Romans, and content themselves with one foal 

 in the two years. 



5968. At the season of parturition, there should be a suitable supply of food for the 

 mother and young. The time of covering mares ought, therefore, to be partly regu- 

 lated by a due regard to this circumstance, and may be earlier in the south than in the 

 north, where grass, the most desirable food both for the dam and foal, does not come so 

 early by a month or six weeks. In Scotland, it is not advantageous to have mares to 

 drop their foals sooner than the middle of April ; and as the period of gestation is about 

 eleven months, they are usually covered in May, or early in June. But if mares are in- 

 tended to bring a foal every year, they should be covered from the ninth to the eleventh 

 day after foaling, whatever may be the time ; and the horse should be brought to them 

 again nine or eighteen days afterwards. 



5969. In breeding horses on a large scale, it is easy to contrive so that all the foals may 

 be brought forth at a time when there is plenty of grass. About the end of May the 

 mares are to be put into an enclosure capable of feeding them as long as the stallion is to 

 be with them, or that they are in season. In this enclosure all the mares are to be put 

 together, as well those which are barren as others. The stallion*s hind shoes are to be 

 taken off, but the fore shoes should be left, or tips put on to preserve his feet ; then lead 

 him forth, and let him cover a mare twice in hand, to render him more tame and gentle. 

 After this take off the bridle and turn him loose among the rest, where he will become 

 familiar with them, and not one of them will l)e horsed but when they are in season. 

 There should be a little lodge built up in some part of the enclosure, and peas, beans, 

 oats, bread, and other good food, put into the manger in it, that the horse may retire into 

 it in the scorching heats, and eat what lie likes best. He must be thus entertained 

 during the whole time he is with the marej, which is to be about six or seven weeks. 

 Mares that are very fat and gross do not hold well ; but those which are moderately fat 

 conceive with the greatest success and ease. 



- 5970. To bring a mare in season, it is a common thing to glA^e her a quart of hemp-seed, or twice that 

 quantity, night and morning, for eight days before she is brought to the horse. If she refuse it alone, it 

 may be mixed with beans or oats, and will go dowr. j and if the stallion eat of it also, it will force him 

 also ; but it must be remembered that these provocatives are unnatural, and often defeat their own pur- 

 poses. They are therefore seldom now resorted tc among intelligent breeders. Still more improper is it 

 to attempt an early horsing, by injecting stimulating fluids up the vagina as is sometimes done; for when 



it succeeds, the future progeny seldom answers the expectation. 



5971. The treatment of a pregnant mare is in general little different from that of any 

 other horse. Mares of draught are worked in summer as usual, and more moderately 

 in the ensuing winter, till near the time of foaling; when, if the season be somewhat 

 advanced, even though the pasture be not fully sufficient for their maintenance, they 

 should be turned out to some grass field near the homestead, and receive what addi- 

 tional supply of food may be necessary under sheds adjoining. It is both inconvenient and 

 dangerous to confine a mare about to foal in a common stable, and still more so to leave 

 her loose in a close stable among other horses ; and confinement is not much less objection- 

 able after dropping her foal. 



5972. Breeding mares are usually tvorked through the greatest part of the year, laying 

 them aside only for a week or two before foaling, and during the summer season, when 

 giving suck to the young foal. In this way. Brown observes, the strength and vigor 

 of the mother is not only weakened, but the size and power of the foal stand a great 

 chance of being diminished, by the exertions of the mother when kept at work. Under 

 these impressions we are led to consider the working of breeding mares as an unprofitable 

 practice. Were they suffered to remain at ease, to roam U{)0n coarse pastures, where 

 sheds were erected in which they might find shelter during inclement weather, we are 

 almost certain that their progeny would enler upon action with increased abilities. The 

 expense of a breeding mare kept in this way would not be great, whilst the advan-, 

 tages would be innumerable. In Yorkshire, and in those midland counties where the 

 breeding and rearing of horses is better uriderstood than in any other part of the island, 

 they are often worked till the very time of ibaling. Great care, however, is necessary in 

 working and managing a mare heavy with foal; ah over-heat, too severe exercise, a 

 fright, or a sudden and violent jerk, are very apt to cause an untimely birth, whereby 

 the foal is lost, and the life of the mare very much endangered. 



