216 THE HOUSE 



Mixed hay 15 pounds. 



Wheat bran (or its equivalent) 5 pounds. 



Oats 5 pounds. 



Carrots 8 pounds. 



This ration should be increased or diminished as 

 the condition of dam and foal seems to demand. If 

 the hay has a large proportion of bright clover, it is 

 all the better, and, in this case, cracked corn may 

 well be substituted for part of the oats. Roots are 

 desirable in this ration, both because they tend to 

 stimulate the flow of milk and because they are con- 

 ducive to good health in dam and foal. 



The colt, up to the time it is called on to perform 

 service, should receive a narrow ration, one of about 

 one to five or one to five and a half. 



There are two critical periods in the life of the 

 foal, the transition period when its food is being- 

 changed from the mother's milk to a partial or entire 

 ration of solid food, and the time when it changes its 

 milk-teeth for permanent ones. 



If the dam becomes pregnant on the ninth day 

 after she has brought forth young, or soon after, her 

 milk will decrease, as time goes on, more rapidly than 

 it would if she had not become so. Therefore, if the 

 dam becomes pregnant, the foal should have its milk 

 supply of food supplemented by an extra portion of 

 palatable, easily digested, green and dry food. The 

 foal should be weaned when it is three to four months 

 old, if the dam is pregnant; if she is not, it may 

 nurse somewhat longer. If, for any reason, the colt 

 begins life in the spring, then the time for weaning 



