352 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



into the rectum is still more satisfactory, and if cautiously 

 conducted no more dangerous. The rectum must be first 

 emptied and then the hand carried forward until it reaches 

 the front edge of the pelvic bones below, and pressed down- 

 ward to ascertain the size and outline of the womb. In tne 

 unimprernated state the vagina and womb can be felt as a 

 single rounded tube, dividing in front to two smaller tubes 

 (the horns of the womb). In the pregnant mare not only the 

 body of the womb is enlarged but still more so one of the 

 horns (right or left), and on compression the latter is found 

 to contain a hard, nodular body, floating in a liquid, which 

 in the latter half of gestation may be stimulated by gentle 

 pressure to manifest spontaneous movements. By this method 

 the presence of the fostus may be determined as early as the 

 third month. If the complete natural outline of the virgin 

 womb cannot be made out careful examination should always 

 be made on the right and left side for the enlarged horn and 

 its living contents. Should there still be difficulty the mare 

 should be placed on an inclined plane, with her hind parts 

 lowest, and two assistants, standing on opposite sides of the 

 body, should raise the lower part of the abdomen by a sheet 

 passed beneath it. Finally the ear or stethoscope applied on 

 the wall of the abdomen in front of the stifle may detect the 

 beating of the foetal heart (125 per minute) and a blowing 

 sound (the uterine sough), much less rapid and correspond- 

 ing to the number of the pulse of the dam. It is heard most 

 satisfactorily after the sixth or eighth month and in the 

 absence of active rumbling of the bowels of the dam. 



DURATION OF PREGNANCY. 



Mares usually go about eleven months with young, though 

 first pregnancies often last a year. Foals have lived when 

 born at the three-hundredth day, so with others carried till 

 the four-hundredth day. With the longer pregnancies there 

 is a greater probability of male offspring. 



HYGIENE OF THE PREGNANT MARE. 



The pregnant mare should not be exposed to teasing by a 

 young and ardent stallion, nor should she be overworked or 

 fatigued, particularly under the saddle or on uneven ground. 



