The Treatment of Foals. 65 



used in human practice, is the proper instrument to use on 

 a young foal. As prolonged constipation would be dangerous 

 to life, at least at this stage, these enemas should be 

 repeated every quarter of an hour till the foeces coming away 

 are soft and normal. 



The foal having sucked, and had a motion of the 

 bowels, the foaling box should be cleaned out, all the wet 

 and soiled straw removed, the floor well swept and disin- 

 fected, and a generous bed of clean straw given. The 

 11 after-birth " should come away within a couple of hours 

 of the mare foaling ; if it has not done so, a man should be 

 left on guard to watch for its being expelled, as mares have 

 a bad habit of starting to eat it if it is left lying in the 

 box. In the event of prolonged delay in expelling it, on no 

 account should force be used to remove it, as serious injury 

 might be done. A half-pound weight may be tied to its 

 lowest extremity to give a steady drag to it, but if this does 

 not have the desired effect, a veterinary surgeon should be 

 called in without further delay. This retention of the 

 " after birth " often occurs when mares foal considerably 

 before their proper time. 



ARTIFICIAL FEEDING. 



It occasionally happens, generally with maiden mares 

 or with mares that have foaled considerably before their 

 proper date, that there is no milk for the foal, in which case 

 cow's milk diluted with water (one part water to two of 

 milk) nicely sweetened with Sugar of Milk, will have to be 

 substituted till such time as the mare can be brought into 

 full milking condition. It is very important in such cases 

 that the foal should thoroughly acquire the trick of sucking 

 the mare before being fed artificially, otherwise it will 

 ignore the mare for the man and bottle, and cause no end 



