/194 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



mare should be returned to the horse as recommended, so that the time may 

 not run over when the mare should receive the horse. Forty-four weeks 

 being the usual time the mare goes with foal, if the service of the stal- 

 lion is delayed it will bring the birth of the next foal too late, perhaps, in 

 the next year ; and, possibly one year may have to be intermitted in breed 

 ing. 



XVI. The Period of Gestation. 



Gestation, the carrying of the young, continues, on an average, eleven 

 months or forty-four weeks. This period ma}^ however, according to 

 the observations of Mr. Youatt, be diminished by five Aveeks, or extended 

 by six weeks. Thus it will be seen that there is a variation of nearly 

 eleven weeks, or nearly three months. M. Fessier, a French observer, 

 counting 582 mares, finds the longest period 419 days, the shortest 287 

 days and the average 330 days. In an observation by M. Gayot on 

 twenty-five mares,the average was 343 days, the longest period 367 days and 

 the shortest period 324 days. Small marcs, as a rule, go a shorter time 

 than large ones, and a mare is apt to carry a horse colt longer than one 

 which is a female. The observations of M. Fessier may be taken aa 

 the most conclusive, since they were extended over a period of forty 

 years. 



Treatment During Gestation. — The mare should not be worked imme- 

 diately after being served. Once quieted, it is proper that she have ordi- 

 nary work until within about three months of the time of foaling. After 

 this she may do light work, not fast work, with benefit to herself and the 

 foal. Care, however, must be taken that she do not slip or strain herself, 

 nor fall down 



XVll. Treatment After Foaling; 



After foaling, and until the colt is a month old, the mare should do no 

 work. In fact, no valuable mare should do any work, certainly not more 

 than enough for exercise, until the colt begins to eat grass and grain 

 freely. There are more colts dwarfed, and mares injured, by the dam 

 being worked hard while sucklingthe colt, than at any other time, and by 

 all other means Avhatever. She is then weak, liable to become overheated, 

 and any disability experienced by the mare will surely be participated in 

 by the foal 



XV 111. How to Know if a Mare is in Foal. 



As already stated, if the mare refuse the horse upon the third trial, on 

 the twenty-first day after service, she may be considered to be with 

 foal. Between these trials, however, if the mare be not gravid, or in 

 foal, the lips of the vagina will be moist, bright, and of a fresh florid 



