Foaling Time. 43 



shows through the vulva, the attendant should gather up his 

 tools and enter the mare's box, quietly and without fuss, 

 speaking soothingly and encouragingly to the mare. Three 

 lengths of the catgut ligature, each twelve inches long, 

 should be held in the teeth ; two only will be required, but it 

 is well to have a third in reserve, in case one should by mis- 

 chance be dropped in the straw. The scissors should be in 

 the vest pocket, secured to the person by a stout string, about 

 a yard long. The electric lamp and the atomizer containing 

 No. 1 Mixture (page 40) will complete the necessary outfit. 

 The attendant's hands and finger nails should have been 

 previously thoroughly washed with carbolic soap, and the 

 scissors immersed for a few minutes in a solution of Chinasol 

 (one tabloid to each pint of hot water). Dropping on to one 

 knee behind the recumbent mare, the attendant will quietly 

 await developments. As the mare strains, first one and then 

 the other fore foot of the foal appear. These should be with 

 frogs downwards. In the author's apprenticeship days he 

 was always instructed to keep the two fore feet travelling 

 evenly together during the propulsion of the foal. But he 

 was at last struck by the fact that in nine cases out of ten 

 one fore foot was presented in advance of the other; and, 

 furthermore, that while the leading foot was steadily 

 expelled, the other remained practically stationary, as 

 though jammed. The almost invariable recurrence of this 

 phenomenon, and the force required to pull the laggard leg 

 forward, at last caused him to reflect whether it was not 

 some well-ordered provision of Nature, instead of mere 

 coincidence. From subsequent observations he was forced 

 to the conclusion that the true explanation was to be found 

 in the former thesis. The pelvis (see opposite) is a jointed, 

 irregular hoop of bones, the rigidity of which is assured by 

 various attachments of very stout ligaments. That part of 



