PARTURITION. 



487 



IV. Attention to the Foal. 



Inimediatelj^ the foal is born, the mother will clean it, and assist it to 

 the teat. Occasionally it is passed still enwrapped in the membranes, and 

 if these are not soon opened, it is liable to be asphyxiated. A careful in- 

 spection of the various openings of the body should be made to see that 

 they are free; possibly the eyes, rectum, etc., may be imperforate, necessi- 

 tating cutting the skin over them. 



AVhen the mother neglects to clean the foal, it may be rubbed dry with 

 a soft cloth, or by some similar method. If too weak to stand, support 

 and hold it up to the teat; in many instances bandages to aid in strength- 

 ening the legs are of much benefit. Constipation is a frequent trouble in 

 very young animals, but may readily be removed by the judicious use of a 

 little castor oil. 



RIGHT TRANSVERSE POSITION. 



V. Difficult Parturition in the Mare and Cow Compared. 



In the mare there is not often much difficulty in parturition. In the 

 vast majority of instances no aid is needed to bring the delivery to a suc- 

 cessful termination, and parturition is accomplished in a very short time, 

 the whole process being completed within about half an hour. Compared 

 with the cow, the mare's difficult labors have been placed by different 

 authorities at only 1-10 to 1-25 as many. But what she gains by the rarity 

 of her difficulties she loses in the very serious nature that they take when 

 they do occur. Practical farmers and breeders, for whom this book is 

 expressly w^ritten, will be interested in a comparison which has been formu- 

 lated by Donnarieix, as follows : 



