NATURAL HISTORY. 139 



advance in age, and they are kept in the stable as 

 long as they seem to retain any desire to return to 

 the mare ; but when this desire ceases, they are suf- 

 fered to go out in fine weather, and led to pasture. 

 Care, however, must be taken not to suffer them to 

 go out to pasture fasting. They must have bran, and 

 be made to drink an hour before they are suffered to 

 graze, and are never to be exposed to great cold or 

 rain. In this manner they spend the first winter. In 

 the May following, they are not only permitted to 

 graze every day, but are suffered to lie in the fields 

 all the summer, and even to the end of October, only 

 they must not be allowed to eat the after-grass ; for 

 if they accustom themselves much to it, they will 

 grow disgusted with hay, which ought, however, to 

 be their principal food during the second winter, to- 

 gether with bran mixed with barley, or oats wetted. 

 They are managed in this manner, letting them graze 

 in the day time during winter, and in the night also 

 during the summer, till they are four years old, when 

 they are taken from the pastures, and fed on hay. 

 This change in food requires some precaution ; for the 

 first eight days, the colt should have nothing but straw 

 and it is proper to administer some vermifuge drinks, 

 as those insects may have been generated from indi- 

 gestion, and green food. 



Great attention must be paid in weaning young 

 colts, to put them into a proper stable, not too hot, 

 for fear of rendering them too delicate arid sensible to 

 the impressions of the air. They should frequently 

 have fresh litter, and be kept very clean, by rubbing 

 them often down with a wisp of straw. But they 

 should not be tied up or curried till they are two 

 years and a half, or three years old; for this gives 



