148 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



greater and perhaps dangerous plethora in the near fu- 

 ture. 



A preferable course is to place the animal on a spare diet 

 for some weeks before she is to be put to the male and to fur- 

 ther deplete the system by the administration of one or two 

 doses of laxative medicine. For the mare, four or five 

 drachms of Barbadoes aloes; but care should be taken that 

 the laxative be given early enough to avoid having it still 

 operating when the animal is put to the male. 



In certain animals and breeds there is a responsive activ- 

 ity of the generative organs, independently of plethora or 

 other diseased condition, and in animals of this kind im- 

 pregnation often fails to take place because of the ready re- 

 jection of the semen. Such ex citement is, of course, great- 

 est during the most active stage of heat, and lessens as the 

 period approaches its end. Animals of this kind may often 

 be got to breed if put to the male when the heat is passing 

 off, and when they will only just receive him, though it 

 would have proved a failure had they been served while at 

 the height of the sexual passion. 



Closure of the mouth of the womb may often happen from 

 the unnatural excitability just referred to, the muscle which 

 closes the neck of the womb being so rigidly contracted that 

 it is impossible for the semen to enter. This may be easily 

 corrected in the large animals by steady pressure with the 

 fingers and thumb, drawn into the form of a cone, until the 

 tension gives way and the hand passes freely into the womb. 

 Just before putting to the male let the oiled hand be intro- 

 duced into the vagina until it reaches the round, projecting, 

 puckered prominence the neck of the womb at the farther 

 end of the canal. In the center of this projection will be 

 felt the depression leading into the opening. Into this it 

 may be only possible at first to introduce one finger; this is 

 to be followed by two, three, and finally by the four fingers 

 and thumb, brought together into a point so as to form a 

 cone. When the passage has been sufficiently dilated the 

 animal should bs at once served by the male, as delay may 

 allow the relaxed muscle to recover its tone and close the 

 opening as at first. The same end may be attained by intro- 



