78 The Practical Stud Groom. 



flies commence operations. The drawback to this plan is 

 the big risk of the foals sustaining injury, generally the 

 result of a youngster approaching the wrong mare in the 

 darkness when in search of milk. By a strange fatality, it is 

 nearly always the gem of the collection that meets with 

 disaster; the " ugly ducklings " seem to bear a charmed life. 

 An alternative plan on a small stud is to keep the mares in 

 during the dark hours, turning them out at break of day and 

 getting them in again as soon as the flies get busy, and keep- 

 ing them confined to their boxes till evening, when they can 

 be put out for a few hours, and got in again for the night 

 just as darkness falls. This entails the staff commencing 

 work at 3 a.m. and " knocking off " at 9 p.m. 



The best plan of all, when there are a sufficient number 

 of paddocks available, is to keep the mares in their boxes 

 during the heat of the day, and turn each mare and foal into 

 a separate paddock for the night. Of course in localities 

 where stray curs, poachers and such like nocturnal gentry 

 are in evidence, the necessary precautions must be taken to 

 prevent " accidents." 



