BREEDING. ^5 



mare communicates the principal of life. This is considered to 

 be the case in all red-blooded animals. 



SIGNS OF PREGNANCY. 



The first well-marked sign is suppression of menstruation, or 

 period of heat. As a rule, when the mare conceives the desire 

 for the male is no longer observable; and on being led to the 

 horse she not only refuses to receive his caresses, but assumes the 

 offensive, viciously striking and biting at him until led away. 

 In the first stages of pregnancy the coat becomes sleeker and the 

 mare becomes quieter in disposition. This disposition changes 

 near the end to a crabbed one. Enlargement of the mammary 

 glands is a more uniform and reliable symptom. The mamma, 

 soon after conception, becomes more hard and movable, while 

 the teat is more prominent and frequently painful or tender, 

 and the veins of the glands enlarge. These changes may occur 

 in two or three weeks, or not until two or three months after 

 conception. Enlargement of the abdomen is apparent in the 

 third month of pregnancy, but a similar appearance may result 

 from dropsy or from a tumor. The abdomen gradually enlarges 

 as pregnancy advances, the right side being a little larger than 

 the left. This enlargement is especially well marked in the cow. 

 In some cases the beating of the fetal heart may be heard with 

 the assistance of the stethoscope. After the eighth month well- 

 marked symptoms of pregnancy are manifest, the abdomen at 

 this time being considerably distended, the back sinking, etc. 

 To be certain of pregnancy when there are no well-marked signs, 

 such as enlargement of the udder, secretion of milk, enlarged 

 vulva, etc., we must examine per rectum. It is also recom- 

 mended by some practitioners to make an examination through 

 the vagina, but such a procedure is objectionable. 



DURATION OF PREGNANCY. 



The period of utero-gestation in the mare is forty-eight weeks; 

 in the cow^, forty; in the sheep, twenty-one or twenty-two; in 



