BOOK VI, XXVII. ii-xxviii. I 



fatigued by work or journeys, and they should not 

 be exposed to the cold nor enclosed in a narrow space 

 lest they should cause one another to miscarry ; for 

 all these unfavourable conditions cause abortion. 

 But if a mare has suffered either in producing its off- 

 spring or from abortion, polypody crushed and mixed 

 with tepid water and administered through a horn 

 will serve as a remedy. If, on the other hand, all 12 

 goes well, the foal must on no account be touched 

 with the hand, for even the lightest contact is harm- 

 ful. All that one will have to do is to take care that 

 the foal lives with its mother in a place which is both 

 roomy and warm, so that the cold may not hurt it 

 while it is still weak and that its mother may not 

 crush it because its quarters are narrow. Then 

 gradually it will have to be made to leave the stable, 

 and care must be taken that it does not burn its hoofs 

 with dung. Soon, when it has become stronger, it 

 must be sent out to the same pasture as its mother, 

 so that the latter may not be afflicted through longing 

 for its offspring ; for this kind of animal especially 13 

 suffers through its love for its young, if it have not the 

 opportunity for indulging it. An ordinary mare is in 

 the habit of bearing a foal every year ; but a well- 

 bred mare ought to be pregnant in alternate years, 

 in order that, receiving greater strength from its 

 mother's milk, the foal may be prepared for the toil 

 of the contests. 



XXVIII. It is generally thought that a stallion is The age of a 

 not suitable for breeding purposes before it is three ^*^^"'°'^- 

 years old, and that it can continue to procreate until 

 its twentieth year, but that it is all right for a mare 

 to conceive at the age of two years, so that it is three 

 years old when it bears and rears its young, and it is 



197 



