272 EAELY LESSOIsS. 



necessary to extract the foal after it has been put in position, it 

 must be given whilst the labour pains are on, and at no other 

 time. 



TREATMENT OF FOAL. 



6G5. — Handle the foal a good deal during the first day, 

 whilst it is not likely to run avray from you, and get both it and 

 its mother to understand that you cau do so without hurting it. 

 If frequently handled during the first few days it will lose all 

 fear of man. It will also save future trouble if at a week old 

 you put a small, soft, leather halter on it, and gently show it that 

 yon can hold it in spite of all its efforts. If this is well done, it 

 will always give you credit for the same relative strength, and 

 believe that you can hold it when you have no power to do so. 

 It will also save all farther trouble about tying up. An hour or 

 two spent in this way will save a great deal of time afterwards, 

 and produce a more gentle reliable animal than any after work 

 will do. 



G6G. — The mare will generally receive the horse some time 

 between the seventh and twelfth day after foaling, and it is 

 important to attend to that, as she does not remain in season 

 long when suckling, and is more safe to conceive at that 

 period than at any other time. 



GG7. — Whilst suckling the mare should do no hard work 

 and if she is taken off her pasture at all, she should be well fed 

 at very short intervals, and the f6al fed with her, and allowed to 

 suck very often. The mare has no large retentive udder like the 

 cow, no capacious stomach to hold a day's supply of food, no power 

 at any time to go long without food safely, so that when she has to 

 eat and digest for two, al) her wants should be very liberally and 

 very frequently supplied. It is in every way better to leave her 

 for the first few months in a good pasture to attend to her own 

 requirements. The foal can be weaned at four months old, but 

 it will tell against its growth and size, so that unless it is a pony 

 that you want to keep small, it is better not weaned until six 

 mouths old. 



