BREEDING. 435 



cannot be good tempered, or long continue very sound. Such usage i? 

 parent to many an ailment and to many a disease ; but, nevertheless, 

 when surrounded by mystery, the stallion may for years continue profita- 

 ble to its proprietor. It may be the means of transmitting malformation 

 to its descendants; yet the attendant who could best describe its real 

 condition has, in the money which is always paid to the groom, a direct 

 pecuniary interest to uphold the public ignorance. 



The thorough-bred mare fares even worse. The animal may get one 

 or two feeds of corn each day; but its chief support is grass, which 

 crams the viscera without satisfying the appetite or nourishing the body. 

 The creature, when "thrown up" for stud purposes, exchanges an over- 

 heated stable for an open shed. From the exhaustion generated by 

 closeness, it has to endure the coldness of all but absolute exposure. 

 The coat is no longer dressed ; the mane is left uncombed ; the animal 

 gradually turns to a pottled deformity, the resemblance of which may be 

 generally witnessed near to every gipsies' encampment. 



All animals which are intended to perpetuate their race should be 

 comparatively young, and only subjected to such easy toil as will repay 

 the difference between the stable and the field. The quadrupeds should 

 be daily groomed, and ought to be supported by fodder of an extra nu- 

 tritious character. Gentle labor and a warm, loose box will only keep 

 the body in good health. When not required to work, the animal should 

 be left at liberty to roam about a piece of bare pasture, especially during 

 the night, when the flies are not abroad, and when the vision of the 

 horse enables it to move with perfect safety. 



This treatment should be continued almost to the time of foaling; 

 when the period is very near, three weeks or a month of perfect rest may 

 be accorded, duration being regulated by the condition of the animal. 

 Rest, however, does not imply that the expected mother is to be turned 

 into a straw yard, or is to be exposed to the inclemency of the season. 

 One month subsequent to birth, the work may be gradually resumed ; 

 but the mare and her foal should not yet be made to travel on the high- 

 roads. The little life may, in the fields, safely gambol by its parent's 

 side. The exercise will benefit the youngster, while its eye will become 

 accustomed to the toil with which it will have to be associated hereafter. 

 But the tender hoof of the newly born is not, at the expiration of the 

 fourth week, so formed or so hardened as to endure the grate of the 

 common highways, although the feet may sustain the wear consequent 

 upon moving over meadow land. 



The foal, before it saw the light, would be sustained by the good food 

 consumed by its mother; the mare would not, by gentle work, be so 

 lowered as to unfit the quadruped for the offices of maternity. By se- 



