Covering Time. 97 



attentions of the eager teaser, and will greatly facilitate 

 matters when the actual "covering" operations have to be 

 taken in hand. The advantage of this preliminary "trying" 

 with a barren mare is that one may get a clue as to the likely 

 date she will be in " season " from February 15th onward. 

 For instance, supposing a mare responded kindly to the 

 teaser's advances on February 5th, we could then calculate 

 that by February 10th the "heat" would be at an end. 

 Allowing fourteen days to elapse before the next period of 

 " heat " could be expected to commence, it would be safe to 

 expect her to be quite ready for the stallion on or about 

 February 27th. 



In the case of foaling mares, the majority will be found 

 ready for the horse on the ninth day after foaling ; but, as 

 others respond quite readily to his advances on the seventh 

 day, it is a safe rule to " try " all mares on that date, to 

 avoid the ill-luck of missing the first " pride " altogether, 

 because it frequently happens that these seventh day maree 

 when not tried till the ninth day are then found to be just 

 " going off." In the absence of the preliminary trial the 

 stud groom naturally supposes that she is only just " coming 

 on " and will be " ripe " in a day or so, only to find each 

 succeeding day that she grows more violent and restive at the 

 teasing bar, till it finally dawns on him that he has missed 

 the "physiological moment." Many mares when tried on 

 the seventh and ninth days after foaling show faint signs at 

 the latter trial, but not sufficient to warrant the horse being 

 put on them. These mares will generally be found well in 

 " season " on the eleventh or twelfth days. The best general 

 practice with foaling mares is to try every day from the 

 seventh after foaling till a satisfactory response is obtained, 

 up to the fifteenth day, when, in the event of failure, I 

 would advise a complete cessation of trials for the next six 



