DISEASES OF HORSES 323 



and flabbiness of muscle, a loss of energy, indisposition for active 

 work, a manifestation of laziness, indeed, and of fatigue early and 

 easily induced, when preceded by service, will usually imply concep- 

 tion. 



Enlargement of the abdomen, especially in its lower third, 

 with slight falling in beneath the loins and hollowness of the back 

 are significant symptoms, though they may be entirely absent. 

 Swelling and firmness of the udder, with the smoothing out of its 

 wrinkles, is a suggestive sign, even though it appears only at inter- 

 vals during gestation. A steady increase in weight (l 1 /^ pounds 

 daily) about the fourth or fifth month is a useful indication of preg- 

 nancy. So is a swollen and red or bluish-red appearance of the va- 

 ginal mucous membrane. 



From the seventh or eighth month onward the foal may be felt 

 by the hand (palm or knuckles) pressed into the abdomen in front 

 of the left stifle. The sudden push displaces the foal toward the op- 

 posite side of the womb, and as it floats back its hard body is felt to 

 strike against the hand. If the pressure is maintained the move- 

 ments of the live foal are felt, and especially in the morning and 

 after a drink of cold water or during feeding. A drink of cold water 

 will often stimulate the fetus to movements that may be seen by the 

 eye, but an excess of iced water may prove injurious, even to the 

 causing of abortion. Cold water dashed on the belly has a similar 

 effect on the fetus and equally endangers abortion. 



Examination of the uterus with the oiled hand introduced into 

 the rectum is still more satisfactory, and if cautiously conducted no 

 more dangerous. The rectum must be first emptied and then the 

 hand carried forward until it reaches the front edge of the pelvic 

 bones below, and pressed downward to ascertain the size and outline 

 of the womb. In the unimpregnated state the vagina and womb can 

 be felt as a single rounded tube, dividing in front to two smaller 

 tubes. In the pregnant mare not only the body of the womb is en- 

 larged, but still more so one of the horns (right or left), and on 

 compression the latter is found to contain a hard, nodular body, float- 

 ing in a liquid, which in the latter half of gestation may be stimu- 

 lated by gentle pressure to manifest spontaneous movements. By 

 this method the presence of the fetus may be determined as early 

 as the third month. If the complete natural outline of the virgin 

 womb can not be made out, careful examination should always be 

 made on the right and left side for the enlarged horn and its living 

 contents. Should there still be difficulty the mare should be placed 

 on an inclined plane, with her hind parts lowest, and two assistants, 

 standing on opposite sides of the body, should raise tho lower part of 

 the abdomen by a sheet passed beneath it. Finally the ear applied 

 on the wall of the abdomen in front of the stifle may detect the beat- 

 ing of the fetal heart (one hundred and twenty-five per minute) and 

 a blowing sound, much less rapid and corresponding to the number 

 of the pulse of the dam. It is heard most satisfactorily after the 

 sixth or eighth month and in the absence of active rurnliling of the 

 bowels of the dam. 



