80 The Practical Stud Groom. 



the dejected, dry-coated, pot-bellied animal into which it has 

 become metamorphosed in a few short weeks speaks 

 eloquently of the part that has been played by the mare's 

 milk. Take, again, the case of the foal that, through the 

 death or disablement of its dam, has been reared on cow's 

 milk and artificial foods, does not its general appearance 

 during its babyhood, and its subsequent performances on the 

 Turf, prove conclusively the value of the mare's milk. 

 When at large on the open prairie a mare allows her foal to 

 suckle her at least up to nine months of age, and this con- 

 duces to the keeping of herself and the embryo she is carry- 

 ing in the best possible condition for an easy safe delivery. 

 That is one important point in favour of late weaning. The 

 " hall mark " of a recently- weaned foal is its " pot " belly. 

 This arises partly from the stomach being distended with 

 imperfectly digested food, and partly from a general loss of 

 condition and flesh, due to the foal's restless peregrinations 

 during the first few days of its bereavement, which serves to 

 throw the pot belly into greater relief. Even when the 

 weaned foal's ration of oats is not increased by one ounce 

 beyond what it had " cleaned up" daily from its separate 

 manger in its dam's box before being " taken off," the pot 

 belly is developed, showing conclusively that one function 

 of mare's milk is to act as an aid to the digestion and 

 assimilation of the more solid foods partaken of by the foal. 

 The udder of the average thoroughbred mare, when her 

 foal is weaned at five months' old, requires constant atten- 

 tion to prevent trouble arising from the amount of milk 

 secreted. For the first twelve hours the distended udder 

 must be milked out every four hours to avoid all danger of 

 congestion and subsequent inflammation. At such times, 

 when watching the generous stream of rich milk being drawn 

 off into the straw bedding, I have often pondered over the 



