BKEEDlNa.J 



THE HORSE, AND 



[BKEEDrNG. 



are not, for many generations, eradicated. 

 The good qualities of both are occasionally 

 neutralised to a most mortifying degree. On 

 the other hand, it is the fact, however some 

 may deny it, that strict confinement to one 

 breed, no matter how valuable or perfect, pro- 

 duces gradual deterioration. The truth here, 

 as in many other cases, lies in pursuing the 

 middle course. Crossing should be attempted 

 with great caution, and tlie most valuable 

 points of the same breed should be preserved, 

 but varied, by being frequently taken from dif- 

 ferent stocks, with reference to either one or 

 more excellences which these may have been 

 discovered to possess. This is the secret of 

 the turf. The pure south-eastern blood is 

 never left, but the stock is often changed with 

 manifest advantage. 



A mare is capable of breeding at three or 

 four years old. Some have injudiciously com- 

 menced to breed at two years old, before the 

 form or strength of the mare is sufficiently 

 developed, and with the development of which 

 this early breeding will materially interfere. 

 If she does little more than farm work, she may 

 continue to be bred from, until she is nearly 

 twenty ; but if she has been severely worked, 

 and bears the marks of it, let her liave been 

 what she might in her youth, she will deceive 

 the expectations of the breeder in her old age. 

 The mare comes into " season" about Feb- 

 ruary, and continues "horsing," at intervals, 

 until the end of June or middle of July. Her 

 term of gestation is from eleven to twelve 

 months ; but some have been six weeks beyond 

 the eleven months. We may take, however, 

 eleven months as the average. In running 

 horses that are brought so early to the starting- 

 post, and whether they are foaled early in 

 January or late in April, rank as of the same 

 age, it is of importance that the mare should go 

 to cover as early as possible. For other breeds, 

 the beginning of May is the most convenient 

 period. The mare would then foal in the early 

 part of the following April, when there would 

 begin to be sufficient food for her and her colt, 

 without confining them much to the stable. 



From the time of covering to a few days be- 

 fore the expectation of foaling, the drauglit 

 mare may be kept at moderate work, not only 

 without injury, but with decided advantage. 

 Her labour may be continued up to the very 

 140 



time when she is expected to foal — of which 

 she will give at least a day's notice, by the ad- 

 hesive matter that will appear about her teats. 

 "When this is observed, it will be prudent to 

 release her from work, and keep her near home, 

 and under the frequent inspection of some 

 careful person. 



"When nearly half the time of pregnancy has 

 elapsed, the mare should have a little better 

 food. She should be allowed one or two feeds 

 of corn in the day. This is about the period 

 when mares are accustomed to slink or abort 

 their foals, or when abortion occurs. At this 

 time, therefore, the eye of the owner should be 

 frequently upon them. Good feeding and mo- 

 derate exercise will be the best preventives 

 against any mishap that may be likely to occur. 

 The mare that has once sliuked her foal is 

 liable to a similar accident again, aud 



ever 



therefore should never be suflered to be with 

 other mares about the time that this usually 

 occurs, which is between the fourth and fifth 

 months ; for such is the power of imagination 

 or of sympathy in the mare, that if one sufters 

 abortion, several others in the same pasture 

 will be certain also to prove abortive and share 

 the same fate. Farmers wash, paint, and tar 

 their stables to prevent some supposed infec- 

 tion. The infection lies in the imagination. 



If a mare has been regularly exercised, aud 

 apparently in health while she was in foal, little 

 danger will attend the act of parturition. If 

 otherwise, and any signs of danger, it will be 

 better to have recourse to a well-informed 

 practitioner, rather than run the risk of injur- 

 ing the mother by the violent, and frequently 

 injudicious attempts which are often made to 

 relieve the animal. 



So soon as parturition has taken place, the 

 mare should be turned into some well-shel- 

 tered pasture, with a hovel or shed to run into 

 when she pleases; and as, supposing she has 

 foaled in April, the grass is scanty, she should 

 have a couple of feeds of corn daily. The 

 breeder may depend upon it, that nothing is 

 gained by starving the mother and stinting 

 the foal at this time. It is the most important 

 crisis in the life of the horse; and if, from 

 false economy, his growth is arrested, his puny 

 form and want of endurance will ever after- 

 wards testify to the error that has been com- 

 mitted. The corn should be given in a trough 



