DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 155 



fifth month is a useful indication of pregnane}". So is a swollen and 

 red or bluish red appearance of the vaginal 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 stiHe. The sudden push displaces the foal toward the opposite 

 side of the womb, and as it floats back its hard l)ody is felt to strike 

 against the hand. If the pressure is maintained the movements 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 maj'' be seen by the eye, but 

 an excess of iced water ma}^ 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 

 dang-erous. The rectum must be first emptied and then the hand car- 

 ried 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 sin- 

 gle rounded tube, dividing in front to two smaller tubes (the horns of 

 the womb). In the pregnant mare not only the body of the womb is 

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

 pression the latter is found to contain a hard, nodular body, floating 

 in a liquid, which in the latter half of gestation may be stimulated 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 the lower part of the abdomen 

 by a sheet passed beneath it. Finally the ear or stethoscope applied 

 on the wall of the abdomen in front of the stifle ma}'- detect the beat- 

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

 a blowing sound (the uterine sough), much less rapid and correspond- 

 ing to the number of the pulse of the dam. It is heard most satis- 

 factorily after the sixth or eighth month and in the absence of active 

 rumbling of the bowels of the dam. 



DURATION OF PREGNANCY. 



Mares usually go about eleven months with young, though first preg- 

 nancies often last a year. Foals have lived when born at the three 

 hundredth day, so with others carried till the four hundredth day. 

 With the longer pregnancies there is a greater probability of male 

 offspring. 



