446 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



filly has raised a fine colt when she has heen well fed and 

 attended to. 



A poor, half-starved mare will bring a puny weakling into 

 the world. The physical* condition of the colt depends upon 

 that of the mother. Not only does he derive from her the 

 principle of life, but the conduct of the vital processes in 

 her constitute the agencies which mold his entire bodily or- 

 ganism — bone, sinew, tendon, muscle, and all. The health 

 of the mother can not be affected without corresponding 

 detriment to the foetus, it is through the medium of her 

 digestion and circulation that the latter is nourished and ma- 

 tured. If she is well fed, the colt receives his share of the 

 benefit, and if she is impoverished, the colt will be the same. 



To feed the mare with foal upon strong, heating diet is a 

 great mistake. What she needs is moist, nutritious food, 

 such as can be easily digested and will keep the bowels loose. 

 In winter-time, or at any other season when she is steadily 

 worked, chopped feed, with provender, is the best. In no 

 case let her be gorged with corn ; but it will be no harm 

 to give her sparingly of corn-meal, as provender, made moist 

 and thoroughly soaked. If it is in time of pasture, she will 

 need no other feed. In the latter months of gestation the 

 food may be increased. She requires more at this period, 

 having both the foal and herself to support, and the former 

 now draws heavily upon the mother for his sustenance; yet, 

 while she should never be allowed to fall off and become 

 poor, a very full, plethoric condition is decidedly objectionable. 

 In fact, it is still more hazardous to her than the reverse. 



Concerning the qualities of the feed, too great care is im- 

 possible. At this time, of all others, the food should be 

 pure, nutritious, and wholesome. Moldy hay or fodder, or 

 injured grain, should be scrupulously excluded from her diet. 

 Possibly the mother might resist its injurious effects, but the 

 foal must inevitably suffer, and might be ruined entirely. 

 Thousands of colts are brought into the world in a diseased 

 condition, induced by the unhealthy food upon which the 

 mother has been ccfmpelled to sustain the lives of both. 



