Breedinz. 8 1 



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tlie teats. The first symptoms are generally 

 restlessness, then sweating, with the birth of the 

 foal immediately after if all goes well. These 

 are the general premonitory symptoms, but as 

 each animal generally behaves in a manner pecu- 

 liar to itself, all slightly differ. Previous to foal- 

 ing the mare should be put into a comfortable 

 and roomy loose box, and assistance kept at hand 

 to give her help if necessary. In some mares 

 the umbilical cord is so slender as generally to 

 break at birth, in others it is as thick as a man's 

 wrist and very strong. In cases of this kind it 

 must be tied with a piece of cord close to the 

 foal's belly and cut an inch or two below the 

 binding. In some districts the cord is cut by 

 bruising between two stones, and not tied at all. 

 The rougher a vein or artery is cut, the more 

 readily it shrinks up and stops the bleeding. It 

 is good practice to tie in all cases, as the writer 

 has known more than one foal bleed to death for 

 want of that precaution, because the umbilical 

 cord was slender. In all cases of bleeding throw 

 the colt, and with a dull red hot iron cauterize 

 the umbilical cord, a red hot poker will answer 

 the purpose if a firing iron is not at hand. In 

 our western and northern islands I have seen 

 mares with four and five of their progeny which 

 had never been out of the field in which they 

 themselves have been foaled. Mares living thus 

 in a state of nature require little or no assistance 

 when foaling, and the cord is almost always very 

 slender and never tied. An hour or so after 

 the birth of a foal, or sooner if a strong one, it 



