76 THE VETERINARY SCIENCE 



ing around by watching the flank closely. The mare car- 

 ries her foal eleven months, but in some cases an aged mare 

 has been known to carry her foal over twelve months. In 

 rare cases young mares may lack a few days of eleven months. 



IV. — HOW TO TELL WHEN A MARE IS WITH FOAL. 



The first sign of pregnancy or being in foal is her ceas- 

 ing to come in season at the end of three weeks. If felt at 

 the flanks she will be peevish and cross, and also ugly to 

 other horses. She usually feeds and thrives better at this 

 period. At the end of three or four months she begins to 

 get larger at the flanks, and gradully continues getting larger 

 until foaling time. Mares that are fed on hard feed and 

 worked do not usually get as large as mares fed on rough 

 feed and not worked. At about the fifth or sixth month the 

 foal begins stirring in the womb. This may be detected by 

 watching the flank closely, especially after the mare has had 

 a drink of cold water. The movement of the foal may also 

 be felt by pressing the hand against the flank on the left 

 side. At about the sixth month in the young mare the mam- 

 mary glands, or bag, begins to get large, and gradually gets 

 larger until the time of foaling. 



V. SIGNS OF FOALING. 



The muscles and ligaments gradually become relaxed until 

 there is quite a hollow at each side of the tail. The vulva 

 gets quite large at foaling time and wax usually runs from 

 the teats of the mare a few days before. A few hours before 

 foaling she walks around and acts quite uneasy until the 

 labor pains come on, when her restlessness increases to get- 

 ting up and down and forcing. This continues until what is 

 known as the water bag comes out and breaks. The labor 

 pains then increase, and she lies down, forces violently, until 

 the front legs and head of the foal appear. It then soon slips 

 out, the cleaning generally coming with it. Sometimes the 

 foal comes backward. This is harder on the mare. If the 

 mouth of the foal is examined immediately it is found to 

 contain what is known as the melt, which resembles a piece 

 of liver. 



