HOKSES AND HOUNDS. lo 



to the production of healthy offspring, and no animal will do 

 well without it. The floor of the shed should be littered over 

 with straw, but not too thickly, so as to incommode the mare 

 and foal when dropped. 



The parturition of mares is generally very easy, and they 

 seldom require more assistance than any groom of common 

 acquaintance with such cases can aftbrd, and in ten cases out of 

 a dozen they will not only require no assistance at all, but are 

 much better without the officious meddling of a would-be scien- 

 tific professor of the veterinary art. " To let well alone," is a 

 maxim which cannot be too often inculcated ; should, however, 

 any difficulty occur, it is better at once to call in the assistance 

 of some clever veterinary surgeon, than trust a valuable animal's 

 life in the hands of an ignorant groom, or a not much more 

 enlightened village professor. After the foal has been dropped, 

 and the mare has performed the operation of licking it all over, 

 a bucket of warm gruel should be given to her, and for the first 

 two or three days warm water, with some mashes with bruised 

 corn in them. jMares are generally very jealous of their foals, 

 and should not be unnecessarily interfered with at this early 

 period; the quieter they are kept the better, neither should 

 more than one person (the man to whom she has been accus- 

 tomed,) be admitted into the shed. Strangers will only excite 

 and irritate her, and perhaps be the cause of injury to the foal. 

 On the third day the mare and foal should be allowed togo in 

 and out of the paddock attached to her shed, at will, if the 

 weather is tolerably fine; but at this early age the foal should 

 be protected from rain, which the woolly nature of its coat will 

 retain for a long time, and cause illness. 



Although, however, every precaution should be taken to avoid 

 exposure to rain and cold storms, yet I am no advocate for foals, 

 when a week old, being kept too warm, or entirely under 

 shelter; they will not be injured by exposure to cold drying 

 winds or in frosty weather, by being allowed the use of the 

 paddock in the middle of the day, but on the contrary, be 

 hardened and improved by it ; and if not let out too early in 

 the morning, or kept out too late in the evening, will advance 

 rapidly in growth and strength. The milk of the mare has 

 always a decided influence over the foal, and will produce, as 

 she is fed, either a laxative or constipated state of bowels. If 

 fed highly on corn and hay only, constipation will be the result 

 to the foal, and if, on the contrary, with too many vegetables of 

 a laxative kind, looseness will follow. It will therefore be 

 necessary to regulate the food of the mare accordingly, without 

 being obliged to admiaister physic to the foal, which should not 



