THE FOALING MARE 33 



brood mare up to very nearly the day of her foaHng, 

 and set her to earn her Uving again within quite a 

 few days of her youngster being born. Such a 

 policy is both short-sighted and inhuman; short- 

 sighted because the treatment is extremely likely to 

 weaken the mare and affect the development of her 

 foal, and inhuman because the condition of the 

 mother should have ensured her a sufficient respite 

 from hard work at a time when nature ordains that 

 she requires repose. As regards the danger to the 

 life of a mare, although it is of course impossible to 

 deny that deaths do occur, even in the best regu- 

 lated breeding establishments, it may at the same 

 time be stated with every confidence that their 

 number is reduced to a minimum when the mares 

 are healthy and have been rationally treated. Pro- 

 portionately, more animals in fact lose their health 

 and lives from colds and want of proper care than 

 from being bred from, and therefore the man who 

 owns a good mare and is incUned to breed from her 

 may take heart of grace and try his luck with con- 

 fidence of success. There remains, however, the 

 third of the alleged " difficulties " to be dealt with, 

 namely, the trouble that is incurred by those in 

 charge of the animal at the time of her bringing her 

 offspring into the world. This will form the chief 

 subject dealt with in this chapter, and when these 

 have been read, it is probable that many a person 

 who has not attempted to study the subject before 

 may arrive at the conclusion that he has been un- 

 necessarily alarmed by exaggerated stories that have 

 reached his ears. 



Before proceeding to deal with the treatment of 

 the mare and her foal, it may belpremised that many 

 animals are so worried by the over-attention they 

 receive at the hands of their attendants that serious 

 consequences both to the mare and foal result. 

 This circumstance points to the fact that quiet is 



c 



