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or other painful affections of the hind limbs, the pain of which in 

 mouutiug causes the animal to suddenly stop short in the act. In the 

 first three of these only {a, b, and c) is there real sterility in the sense 

 of the non-development or imperfect development of the male vivifying 

 element (spermatozoa). In the other examples the secretion may be 

 perfect in kind and amount, but as copulation is prevented it can not 

 reach and impregnate the ovum. 



In the mare barrenness is eqnally due to a variety of causes. In a 

 number of breeding studs the i^roportion of sterile mares has varied 

 from 20 to 40 per cent. It may be due to : (a) Imperfect development 

 of the ovary and non-maturation of ova; (b) cystic or other tumors of 

 the ovary ; (c) fatty degeneration of the ovary in very obese, pampered 

 mares; {d) fatty degeneration of the excretory tubes of the ovaries 

 (fallopian tubes); (e) catarrh of the womb, with muc6-purulent dis- 

 charge; (/) irritable condition of the womb, with profuse secretion, 

 straining, and ejection of the semen; {g) nervous irritability, leading 

 to the same expulsion of the male element; (h) high condition (plethora) 

 with profuse secretion and excitement; (i) low condition with imperfect 

 maturation of the ova and lack of sexual desire; (j) poor feeding, over- 

 work, and chronic debilitating diseases, as leading to the condition just 

 named ; (7;) closure of the neck of the womb, temporarily by spasm, or 

 permanently by inflammation and induration; (l) closure of the entrance 

 to the vagina through imperforate hymen, a rare though not unknown 

 condition in the mare; (/») acquired indisposition to breed, seen in old, 

 hard worked mares, which are first put to the stallion when aged ; {n) 

 change of climate has repeatedly been followed by barrenness ; (o) hy- 

 bridity, which in male and female alike, usually entails sterility. 



The treatment of the majoritj^ of these conditions will be found dealt 

 with in other parts of this work, so that it is only necessary here to 

 name them as causes. Some, however, must be specialh^ referred to in 

 this place. Stallions with undescended testicles are beyond the reach 

 of medicine, and should be castrated and devoted to other uses. In- 

 durated testicles may sometimes be remedied in the early stages by 

 smearing with a weak iodine ointment daily for a length of time, and 

 at the same time invigorating the system by liberal feeding and judi- 

 cious work. Fatty degeneration is best met by an albuminoid diet 

 (wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, rape cake) and constant, well regulated 

 work. Saccharine, starchy and fatty food (potatoes, wheat, corn, etc.) 

 are to be specially avoided. In the mare one diseased and irritable 

 ovary should be removed, to do away with the resulting excitability of 

 the remainder of the generative organs. An irritable womb, with fre- 

 quent straining and the ejection of a profuse secretion, may sometimes 

 be corrected by a restricted diet and full but well regulated work. 

 Even fatigue will act beneficially in some such cases, hence the practice 

 of the Arab riding his mare to exhaustion just before service. The 

 perspiration in such a case, like the action of a purgative or the abstrac- 

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