LIVE STOCK. 399 



to perform when ready for marlcqt, will be worth from one to 

 several hundred dollars more. If it will pay to raise horses at all, 

 and this is a question which must be decided by each man for him- 

 self, it will certainly pay, in every case, to raise the best horses 

 that it is possible to produce. 



If blood-horses were only valuable for pleasure-driving and for 

 racing, the case would be quite different ; but they are more valu- 

 able for road-work, for farm-work, for horse-cars and omnibuses, 

 and for all of the uses to which horses are ordinarily put, than 

 are any others ; so that there is no risk in making the experiment, 

 while there is always a chance of securing an animal of extraor- 

 dinary value. 



The mare and the stallion having been coupled, the work of 

 horse-raising is onlv fairly commenced. The success with which 

 it is carried on will depend upon the skill and attention with which 

 every detail is attended to, from this time until the weaning, and, 

 indeed, until the training of the colt is accomplished. It should 

 be remembered that the mare has now, not only to make up the 

 wastes of her own frame, but to carry on the growth of a foetus, 

 weighing at birth probably two hundred pounds ; and she should 

 be allowed such a quantity of nutritious food as will secure the 

 best development of the foal, and as shall keep her in the best 

 condition for delivery, and for the supply of milk to her offspring. 

 She should never be overworked, and she should never be allowed 

 to remain entirely idle ; for exercise and good grooming are as 

 important to the mother as they are to the colt himself. Dur- 

 ing the latter months of pregnancy, when the mare may be too 

 heavy for use on the road, she should be allowed a free range in 

 the fields, or at least a roomy loose box in which she may take 

 the necessary amount of exercise ; and she should never be 

 harassed or teazed, or in any way annoyed. 



After the birth, if it is necessary to work her, as it generally 

 is on farms, the foal should not be allowed to run by her side, 

 nor to draw her milk while she is overheated. Nor should 

 she be so excessively worked that she cannot furnish him always, 

 after having had time to cool off, with an abundant supply of 

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