STALLIONS, BROOD MARES A!H> FOALS. 155 



a stall or small paddock the inclosure should be 

 so secure as to prevent any attempts at break- 

 ing out, as these would be liable to result in 

 injury to the mare, and possibly to the foal. 

 The writer recalls one occasion in his own 

 experience where a favorite mare, that was 

 thought to be near the time of foaling, was 

 brought from her accustomed pasture and 

 placed in the stable for the night on account of 

 a probable storm. The mare was left, as was 

 supposed, securely fastened in her box-stall, 

 but to my surprise the next morning she was 

 found in her accustomed pasture with a foal by 

 her side. Although usually qujet never be- 

 fore known to jump a fence she had broken 

 open the door of her stall and jumped two good 

 fences to get back to her accustomed haunts 

 before dropping her foal. 



The average period of gestation in the mare 

 is popularly placed at eleven months, but a 

 careful comparison of statistics gathered from 

 the books of several extensive horse-breeders of 

 my acquaintance, whom I know to be accurate 

 and painstaking in their methods, places the 

 average period at about 340 days. It is a 

 popular belief that male foals are carried 

 longer than females, but the statistics do not 

 bear out this conclusion. The observations of 

 Dr. W. H. Winter, of Princeton, 111., covering 

 seventy-two cases, make the average period for 



