Paddocks and Pastures. 17 



maternal solicitude, restore confidence, and thus lessen the 

 risk of a royal row when it becomes necessary to " double 

 up " these mares and their foals, and remove them to more 

 distant paddocks to make room for mares with younger foals 

 that are ready to be turned out. This applies especially to 

 " maiden " mares suckling their first foals. 



The general idea that should govern the laying out of 

 paddocks is that they ought to range in size from half an 

 acre by regularly graduated steps to eight acres ; the smallest 

 being nearest the boxes, and the largest the furthest away. 

 This ensures efficiency, and a saving of time and labour 

 when the hours of daylight are few, the foals young, and the 

 climatic conditions cold or wet, or both. As the days 

 lengthen and summer advances, and the foals wax hardy and 

 strong, the more distant, more capacious paddocks come 

 naturally and, as it were, automatically into the daily plan 

 of campaign. Nothing is gained by having paddocks of 

 extra large size. A division of a forty-acre plot into four 

 ten-acre paddocks would be preferable to an arrangement of 

 two twenty-acre paddocks. For one thing, there would be 

 less temptation to run too large a number of mares and foals 

 together, a system which is not conducive to freedom from 

 mishaps. But the chief objection to paddocks of extra large 

 acreage is that their size adds to the difficulties inherent to 

 the farming of grass land. Frequent changes of grazing 

 ground is good for the horses and good for the land. With 

 separate paddocks required for the barren mares, foaling 

 mares, mares with foals at foot, yearling colts and yearling 

 fillies ; with this paddock requiring a dressing of lime, that 

 basic slag, another farm yard manure, and still another 

 requiring rolling and harrowing, it is obvious that the stud 

 groom in charge of a 200-acre farm, divided into twenty 

 ten-acre paddocks, has a better chance of " ringing the 



