172 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



yearly production of strong foals a daily allowance of corn 

 should be continuously supplied to them; but, except in the 

 depth of winter, or for very young or very aged mares, 

 green food, chop and pulped roots suffice for the require- 

 ments of non-workers. 



Most farmers usually keep their pregnant mares, when not 

 suckling, on the same ration as that supplied .to the other 

 working horses. With good keepers the practice suffices to 

 maintain adequate condition, but when the ordinary pro- 

 vender is of low quality the mares should receive an auxili- 

 ary allowance. 



Mashes or bruised oats or barley associated with pulped 

 roots and chopped hay or straw, moistened with linseed-cake 

 water, are the best adapted foods for working mares in foal 

 so constituted they afford a substantial, at the same time a 

 non-exciting and easily-assimilated diet. Maize is not a suita- 

 ble article of diet for in-foal mares when it constitutes a chief 

 part of their corn allowance their newly-dropped progeny 

 always exhibit general weakness of muscle and abnormal 

 relaxation of the ligaments of the joints. 



For mares pastured during the day, a short supply of rack 

 or manger food given in early morning renders their diges- 

 tive organs less susceptible to the possibly deleterious influ- 

 ences of dew-saturated grass. More than any other farm 

 animals brood mares require to be supplied with diet of the 

 best obtainable quality; every description of food likely to 

 undergo rapid fermentation, or to produce indigestion, must 

 be scrupulously avoided. Long fasts are exceedingly preju- 

 dicial, and in cases where they are unavoidable or have been 

 occasioned through neglect small quantities of tepid water 

 and equally diminished rations of easily digestible food 

 should only be allowed at intervals until the hunger and 

 thirst have been reduced to their normal standards. 



Pregnant mares should not be exposed to the influences of 

 very excessive heat nor very severe cold, nor be pastured or 

 folded with store oxen or young horses. 



Abortion is produced by any cause operating to disconnect 

 the union of the foetal membranes with the uterus. These 

 causes are very various and may obtain at all periods of preg- 



