644 APPENDIX. 



positive detriment to young animals intended for labor. They want enough 

 fat to keep them well lubricated and to furnish them with animal heat, but 

 anything boyond this makes them loggy, not to say lazy, and liinders a strong, 

 sinewy development. The herders of most domestic animals make a mis- 

 take in piling on fat at too early an age. It gives the animal a round, sleek 

 look, but does not conduce to its health or perfect maturity. 



If tlie mare is with foal again, she should not be allowed to suckle her colt 

 more than four months, otherwise her energies are divided between the colt 

 and foetus, much to the damage of the latter. Neither should a brood mare 

 be taxed heavily with work. Light exercise will do her no damage, but her 

 main energies should be devoted to the development of the foal, if we wish 

 this development to be perfect. Many a farmer has been made a widower 

 from the overworking of his wife while raising a family of children. The 

 loss of wives and mares, and the unsound constitution of children and colts, 

 must not be attributed to ill luck in such cases. It is the result of ignorance, 

 or disregard of the law of breeding, which requires that the natural energies 

 should be directed mainly to the offspring. 



When the colt is weaned, he should be fed with skimmed milk for a time, 

 to which may be added a pint of oat meal. The latter ration should be con- 

 tinued through the first year of the colt's life, and increased to a quart grad- 

 ually as the colt becomes a yearling. Oats will develop bone and muscle 

 better than corn, and if a few potatoes or carrots are occasionally fed, say 

 twice a week, the development will be all the more perfect. Western 

 farmers raise all animals, horses not excepted, on corn, and it must be con- 

 fessed that their corn-fed horses are good looking, but we have not found 

 them to possess the muscle and endurance of the oat-fed animals of the East. 

 The first year is a trying one in the life of all animals, and especially in that 

 of the horse, as, with all his energy and nervous fii'e, " he is a natural born 

 fool," as a farmer once expressed it. The colt is excitable, is afraid of hi& 

 own shadow, and in running away from it runs into danger. " It is a wise 

 child that knows its father," is an old sajnng, but a colt does not seem to 

 know its own mother, and in its bewilderment runs after every gelding it 

 meets. The better way, therefore, is to keep the mare and her foal in some 

 quiet pasture, where the latter will not be liable to fright and over-exertion. 

 With free range, there is no danger that he will not have the necessary exer- 

 cise. The very exuberance of his spirits prompts him to try his paces and 

 kick up his heels, and the wonder is that in his reckless races, in which he 

 leaps brush and brook, he does not dislocate his joints or break his neck. 



In the first winter comes the struggle for life with the colt, and we have 

 often wondered at the careless, not to say cruel, manner in which he is treated 

 by most farmers. The muture, rough-hided and thick-haired horse is care- 

 fully housed and blanketed, but the young and tender colt is given the free- 

 dom of the yard and open shed, and told to pick up his living from the oats 

 which his seniors have rejected. It is verj^ well to have respect to age, but 

 young animals have some rights which farmers should feel bound to regard. 

 Among these rights are comfortable housing, clean bedding and nutritious 

 food. We verily believe that more colts are stunted and spoiled during their 



