Management of Foaling Mares. 35 



for reproducing her species with unfailing regularity. It is, 

 perhaps, hardly necessary to point out the danger of going 

 to extremes. It must be borne in mind, that the modern 

 thoroughbred mare is the descendant of ancestors that for 

 close on two centuries have led a pampered artificial life, and 

 it would simply be courting disaster to take the Stud Book 

 matron from her present environment and leave her to her 

 own resources on the slopes of the Rockies, or the steppes of 

 Russia. Nor must the fact be entirely lost sight of that the 

 mare's progeny will probably be required before it is twenty- 

 four months old to carry a nine-stone man at racing pace 

 over a distance of five furlongs, on the race-course. It should 

 be patent to the meanest intelligence that because the " fat 

 as butter " mare is held to be in an actually dangerous con- 

 dition for performing the function of parturition, it does 

 not follow that the matron who is ill and weak from starva- 

 tion is in a desirable state. 



The Winter treatment of the in-foal mares should be 

 based on the foregoing theories. They should have roomy, 

 well-ventilated loose boxes to shelter in at night. Too much 

 care cannot be given to regulating the temperature of the 

 boxes to meet the fluctuations of wintry weather. More 

 coughs and colds originate in boxes too warm than in boxes 

 that are too cold. The change from a warm loose box to an 

 exposed paddock on a winter's morning is a very trying 

 experience. Let the reader imagine himself in a hot, 

 crowded theatre, where the light, warmth, and music almost 

 convince him that he is in reality in the sunny climes 

 depicted on the stage. When the performance is ended, and 

 he emerges into the wintry night, is not the contrast almost 

 startling in its suddenness? If, by mischance, his top-coat 

 had been forgotten, the result might easily be very serious. 

 The mare has no top-coat, and often the friendly shelter of a 



