154 A TREATISE t)N HORSE-BREEDING. 



On the other hand, I would expect but little, 

 as a brood mare, from one that had been kept 

 continuously on the turf or at hard, wearing 

 labor, without breeding until past the prime of 

 life. The sexual powers must necessarily be- 

 come dwarfed, if not entirely lost, from long- 

 continued disuse after having reached matu- 

 rity; and mares so treated have usually proven 

 barren, although some notable exceptions to 

 this rule may be named. But exceptions are 

 not safe guide's for the breeder to follow. It is 

 the general average of results that marks the 

 road to success in any given line of business. 



* 



TIME OF FOALING AND PERIOD OF GESTATION. 



When the time of foaling approaches the 

 mare should be turned loose in a large and 

 strongly-made box-stall, or if the weather is 

 mild in a lot or paddock. Everything should 

 be removed from the stall that would be likely 

 to entangle or injure the colt in its struggles to 

 get on its feet. There should be no openings 

 under the manger or elsewhere into which, in 

 its struggles, it might chance to force itself; 

 many dead colts are taken every year from such 

 traps as these. If the weather is warm it is 

 decidedly better to give the mare the run of a 

 good-sized lot, for it is noticeable that when 

 parturition approaches they usually have a de- 

 cided aversion to confinement. If confined in 



