CHAPTER VI. 



WEANING THE FOAL. 



As July 1st draws near many fortunate people get busy 

 with plans and preparations for their " annual " outing, 

 conjuring up visions of the seaside and other delectable 

 places. Not so the stud groom. True, the foaling season, 

 with its night alarums and excursions, is now well over ; the 

 "covering" season is far spent, and "breaking" mares 

 will soon cease to exasperate him. But, although the high 

 pressure may be somewhat relaxed, the time for " easy all " 

 is not yet. There is the January batch of foals to wean, and 

 a troop, large or small, of yearlings to " take up " and 

 handle preparatory to their journey to the training stables 

 or sale ring. 



Though the methods of weaning adopted at various stud 

 farms vary but little, there is some divergence of opinion as 

 to the best age to " take off " or wean foals. Some favour 

 four months, some five, others six. The author holds a very 

 strong opinion that six months should be the very earliest 

 age at which a foal should be deprived of its mother's milk. 

 The wit of man has not yet evolved a substitute remotely 

 approaching Nature's perfect blend of bone-forming, tissue- 

 building, blood-purifying elements in their most assimilable 

 form. One has only to compare the sleek, perky foal when 

 gambolling at its mother's side, and when it has been weaned 

 a fortnight. The contrast between the sleek-haired, rotund 

 foal, bubbling over with good health and high spirits, and 



