156 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



HYGIENE OF THE PREGNANT MARE, 



The i^regnant mare should not be exposed to teasing by a young 

 and ardent stallion, nor should she be overworked or fatigued, par- 

 ticularly under the saddle or on uneven ground. Yet exercise is bene- 

 ficial to both mother and offspring, and in the absence of moderate 

 work the breeding mare should be kept in a lot where she can take 

 exercise at will. 



The food should be liberal, but not fattening — oats, bran, sound 

 hay, and other foods rich in the principles which form flesh and bone 

 being especially indicated. All aliments that tend to indigestion are 

 to be especially avoided. Thus rank, aqueous, rapidly growing 

 grasses and other green food, partially ripe rye grass, millet, hun- 

 garian grass, vetches, pease, beans, or maize are objectionable, as is 

 overripe, fibrous, innutritions hay, or that which has been injured and 

 rendered musty by wet, or that which is infested with smut or ergot. 

 Food that tends to costiveness should be avoided. Water given often, 

 and at a temperature considerably above freezing, will avoid the 

 dangers of indigestion and abortion which result from taking too 

 much ice-cold water at one time. Very cold or frozen food is objec- 

 tionable in the same sense. Severe surgical operations and medicines 

 that act violently on the womb, bowels, or kidnej^s are to be avoided 

 as being liable to cause abortion. Constipation should be corrected, 

 if possible, by bran mashes, carrots, or beets^ seconded by exercise, 

 and if a medicinal laxative is required it should be olive oil or other 

 equally bland agent. 



The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow, so as to 

 cramp her when lying down or to entail violent effort, in getting up, 

 and it should not slope too much from the front backward, as this 

 throws the weight of the uterus back on the pelvis and endangers pro- 

 trusions and even abortion. Violent mental impressions are to be 

 avoided, for though the majority of mares are not affected thereby, 

 yet a certain number are so profoundly impressed that peculiarities 

 and distortions are entailed on the offspring. Hence, there is wisdom 

 shown in banishing particolored or objectionably tinted animals, and 

 those that show deformities or faulty conformation. Hence, too, the 

 importance of preventing prolonged acute suffering by the pregnant 

 mare, as certain troubles of the eyes, feet, and joints in the foals have 

 been clearly traced to the concentration of the mother's mind on cor- 

 responding injured organs in herself. Sire and dam alike tend to 

 reproduce their individual defects which predispose to disease, but 

 the dam is far more likely to perpetuate the evil in her progeny which 

 was carried Avhile she was individually enduring severe suffering 

 caused by such defects. Hence, an active bone spavin or ringbone. 



