SELECTION, CABE AND MANAGEMENT 537 



"Producing matrons must not be allowed to take 

 on a load of fat. Thrifty, vigorous, muscular, big- 

 boned mares are easy feeders, and a kind-hearted at- 

 tendant may get them so fat that they will not breed 

 regularly. It is best to have them come through the 

 winter in moderate flesh. Then during the spring 

 on bluegrass pasture they are fed com generously, 

 perhaps 10 ears twice a day, so as to be gaining in 

 flesh at the time of breeding. By this plan they get 

 in foal much more promptly and surely. We never 

 pasture timothy and clover in the spring, for the 

 mares do not breed so well on anything but blue- 

 grass. Those that have foals are left on the pasture 

 all summer, and fed sufficient com to keep them in 

 strong flesh but not fat. Oats are not so good for this 

 purpose, as they are apt to cause colic in horses get- 

 ting early summer grass. After Aug. 1 we feed some 

 oats. Mares that are not suckling foals are given no 

 grain when on pasture. They are, however, usually 

 put in the harness and worked through the season.* 



"We do not breed two-year-old fillies. There are 

 several reasons. Such early breeding probably checli^s 

 their growth to some extent, and our records show 

 that it develops irregular breeding and a shorter 

 period of production. The filly bred so young is 

 restless at foaling time, and is not a good mother. 

 She is likely not to breed while suckling her first 

 foal at three years old, and that starts her at the 

 very beginning with the every-other-year habit of 

 breeding. We sometimes put two-year-olds to light 



*NOTD — Rearfers will observe that Robison & Son recommend gen- 

 eral use of corn with mares, and as the practice they follow is opposed 

 to that pursued by a majority of breeders, it may be well to state that 

 while Robison & Son have obtained satisfactory results with their 

 system of focdlngr, this may largely be due to the fact that they have 

 extraordinarily good bluegrass pastures, mixed with white cIdVer, and 

 that such pastures are not overstocked. The high protein content of 

 tluograss has apparently served in their case to balance the surplus 

 of corn. 



