G34 THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 



speed up to the eighth month of gestation, and perhaps later, 

 without harm. 



JMares seldom have any difficulty in foaling, but it is prudent to 

 attend to the foal, and see that it is assisted to stand up while suck- 

 ing, if it needs to be, for a few times. 



The erotic heat occurs in mares about every twenty-one days, 

 and usually continues about seven days; but many show it only on 

 the last day, and some never at all, unless a stallion is brought 

 near. To secure an opportunity to breed such mares, have them 

 tried twice every week, and whenever they do show it, send them 

 to the horse that day, unless it is known that they will show it for 

 several days. About one-half of the mares taken to the horse 

 were in heat the day before, but will not take him when tried. 



After foaling, a mare will take the horse and breed on the third 

 and the ninth days; and probably on any day between the third 

 and ninth. I never knew a mare to refuse on the ninth day after, 

 though they often do on the tenth. It is better to attend to it a 

 day or two before the ninth, for fear of detention on that day. It 

 is said, on good authority, that a brooding mare is more likely to 

 breed if served at four weeks after foaling than at any other time. 

 It would, therefore, be prudent to try her to the horse again at 

 that time if she had been served at the ninth day. Some mares — 

 a few — will never breed while a colt sucks them. 



The surest way to get a mare with foal is to turn her and the 

 horse together in an enclosure, and allow them to remain together 

 during the heat. As the horses thus used are usually colts, 

 unbroken, it has become a common belief that a colt is more potent 

 than an older horse, but that is not true. The same success 

 attends coupling a mare with a mature stallion in the same manner. 



Various plans are used to insure a catch. The commonest is to 

 throw a bucketful of cold water on the mare immediately after 

 copulation ; but the wider the departure from Nature's plan the 

 worse. Eeason suggests that after copulation she should be allowed 

 to remain undisturbed for some time, and nothing be done to inter- 

 fere with her natural inclinations and actions. 



When a mare is known to be difficult to impregnate, she should 

 have several chances in the same heat. It is a common belief, and 

 may be true, that they are more likely to catch near the last of 

 the heat. 



If the two sexes were at large together, these rules would not be 

 called for; but where restraint is imposed on them, it becomes 

 necessary to study their nature and habits, that we may know to 

 what extent that restraint may be carried, and how much must be 

 yielded to the demand of the laws that govern their being. 



A foal should be allowed to suck the dam until the grass grows 



