156 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



IIYGIENK OF THE PREGNANT MARE. 



The preg-nant inarc should not be exposed to teasing- by a 3'oung and 

 ardent stallion, nor should she be overworked or fatigued, particularly 

 under the saddle or on uneven ground. Yet exercise is bcnelicial to 

 both mother and offspring, and in the absence of moderate work the 

 breeding mai'e should be kept in a lot where she can take exercise 

 at will. 



The food should be lil)eral, but not fattening— oats, bran, sound ha}', 

 and other foods rich in the principles which form flesh and bone being 

 especially indicated. All aliments that tend to indigestion are to be 

 especially avoided. Thus rank, aqueous, rapidly growing grasses and 

 other green food, partially ripe rj^e grass, millet, hungarian grass, 

 vetches, peas, beans, or maize are objectionable, as is overripe, . 

 fibrous, innutritions ha}', or that which has been injured and rendered 

 musty by wet, or that which is infested Avith smut or ergot. Food 

 that tends to costiveness should be avoided. Water given often, and 

 at a temperature considerably above freezing, will avoid the dangers 

 of indigestion and abortion which result from taking too much ice-cold 

 water at one time. Very cold or frozen food is objectionable in the 

 same sense. Severe surgical operations and medicines that act violently 

 on the womb, bowels, or kidneys are to be avoided as being liable to 

 cause abortion. Constipation should be corrected, if possible, by bran 

 mashes, carrots, or beets, seconded by exercise, and if a medicinal 

 laxative is required it should be olive oil or other equally bland agent. 



The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow so as to 

 cramp her when lying down, or to entail violent efforts in getting up, 

 and it should not slope too much from the front backward, as this 

 throws the weight of the uterus back on the pelvis and endangers pro- 

 trusions and even abortion. Violent mental impressions are to be 

 avoided, for though the majority of mares are not affected thereby, 

 yet a certain number are so profoundly impressed that peculiarities 

 and distortions are entailed on the offspring. Hence, there is wisdom 

 shown in banishing particolored or objectionably tinted animals, and 

 those that show deformities or faulty conformation. Hence, too, the 

 importance of preventing prolonged acute suffering by the pregnant 

 marc, as certain troubles of the eyes, feet, and joints in the foals have 

 been clearly traced to the concentration of the mother's mind on cor- 

 responding injured organs in herself. Sire and dam alike tend to 

 reproduce their individual defects which predispose to disease, but the 

 dam is far more likely to perpetuate the evil in her progeny which was 

 carried while she was individually enduring severe suffering caused 

 by such defects. Hence, an active bone spavin or ringbone, causing 

 lameness, is more objectionable than that in which the inflammation 

 and lameness have both passed, and an active ophthalmia is more to 

 be feared than even an old cataract. For this reason all active dis- 



