CHAPTER XX. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE EOAL. 



Care of young foals — Getting to nurse — Evacuation of bowels — Injec- 

 tions — Feeding the foal — Heated milk — Raising by hand — Wean 

 ing — Feeding — Care of weanlings — Handling — Halter breaking — 

 Breaking foals — Naming the colt. 



NO part of a breeder's time can be more profitably spent 

 than when looking after young foals, and if more diligence 

 were used in looking after the mare and foal immediately pre- 

 ceding, during, and following the foaling period, much less loss 

 would be sustained at this particular time. 



At foaling time the mare should always be attended by a 

 competent person able, if necessary, to assist her in her labors, 

 and to cut and securely tie the navel cord. He should then, if 

 necessary, help the mother to dry the foal by rubbing with rub 

 cloth or dry straw, and when the foal makes his first effort to 

 stand on his feet he should be assisted to do so and not be al- 

 lowed — as is often the case — to struggle to accomplish this ob- 

 ject until so much exhausted as to be unable to stand up and 

 suck after he has succeeded in gaining a standing position ; 

 besides, in his struggle to get up, he is liable to receive perma- 

 nent injuries. I have known of the loss of an eye and the 

 knocking down of a hip and other injuries by this means. 



When the foal is once firmly on his feet the first thing to do 

 is to get him to suck, as he requires nourishment at once, and 

 there is nothing equal to the first milk of the mother in this, as 

 in the case of all animals, from man down to the lowest order 

 of the mammalia class. 



It is frequently the case, and especially so with nervous 

 mares with their first foal, that they are unwilling at first to 

 allow the colt to suck ; hence the great importance of having a 



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