WEANING. 127 



have over the animal creation. Some will again control without 

 using the slightest violence, while others will be always fighting 

 with their charge, and after all will not be able to do nearly as 

 much with them as their more quiet and clever rivals. The latter 

 class should never be allowed to have anything to do with young 

 horses ; and though there may be occasional exceptions which re- 

 quire severe measures, yet if once a man is found resorting to vio- 

 lence with a foal which he has had the management of from the 

 first, he should, in my opinion, be removed from his post; or, at 

 all events, he should be carefully watched, and a repetition of the 

 offence ought to be considered as a notice to quit. Long before 

 the coming among us of Mr. Rarey, this was recognised amongst 

 the most extensive breeders of horses in this country ; and though 

 cruelty was not unknown among them, any more than it is now, it 

 was fully recognised as not only an unnecessary but an unsatis 

 factory means of mastering the horse. 



THE WEANING AND AFTER TREATMENT OF THE FOAL. 



The usual age for W' eaning the foal is about the end of the 

 sixth month, that time being selected because the dam is generally 

 about " half gone'^ with her next foal, and cannot bear the double 

 drain upon her system. Nor does the foal benefit much by the 

 milk after this age, the teeth and stomach being quite strong 

 enough to crop and digest the succulent grasses that are to be had 

 from August to October, those being the months during which the 

 several breeds attain the middle of their first year. If the autumn 

 is a dry one, and grass is scanty, a few steamed turnips or carrots 

 may be mixed with bran, and given to the foal night and morning; 

 but, as a rule, unless it is to be highly forced into its growth for 

 the purpose of early racing, it will require only the grass which it 

 can pick up when it is turned out. Three or four foals are gene- 

 rally placed together in the same paddock for company, and in this 

 way they miss their dams far less than if confined by themselves. 

 Care should be taken that nothing is left within their reach which 

 can do injury, every fence and gate being carefully examined to 

 see that no projecting bolt, nail, or rail is likely to lay hold of their 

 bodies or limbs as they gallop about in their play. Foals of all 

 ages are mischievous animals, and the better fed they are the 

 more inclined they seem to lay hold of anything which attracts 

 their notice. 



Besides the shelter op a hovel, which I have already in- 

 sisted on, the foal requires throughout its first winter good feed- 

 ing proportioned to its breeding and the purposes for which it is 

 intended. Racing colts are allowed three or four feeds of bruised 

 oats, with steamed carrots or turnips, and sometimes steamed hay; 

 but the general plan is to give as much as they will eat of the best 



