SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGEMENT 557 



to reduce the loss through navel-ill to a minimum. 



"We keep careful records of the breeding dates of 

 our mares. We know when they are about to foal, 

 and from long experience we have learned to tell 

 quite accurately about when they are to drop foals. 

 We make it a rule to be with the mare when she 

 foals, whether in the pasture or in th.e bam, either 

 night or day, for if a mare does not foal safely within 

 30 minutes from the time she starts, intelligent help 

 must be given. 



"Besides having been able to save more foals by 

 having the mares foal fairly late, we have found 

 that mares are much more apt to become pregnant 

 if bred after the grass is good and they have begun 

 to make satisfactory gains on pasture. Any ex- 

 perienced stallion owner will testify that mares bred 

 in March and April are hard to settle. This is of no 

 slight importance when every effort is being made 

 to get everj' mare safely in foal. 



"After the foals are dropped, they run with their 

 mothers in pasture night and day until hot weather 

 and flies begin to cause trouble. They are started 

 on grain feed when they are about four weeks of 

 age. As soon as the mares begin to bunch up in 

 the pasture and fight flies, we adopt the plan of 

 housing the mares and foals in a cool, partially dark- 

 ened barn during the daytime. They are put in 

 about 7 'clock in the morning and left in until 4 or 5 

 o'clock in the evening. Each mare is tied in a 

 roomy double stall, which has two feed boxes and a 

 manger for hay. The mares are fed grain twice a 

 day, and as soon as the foals have learned to eat they 

 are given some grain in a separate feedbox beside 

 their dams. The youngsters are not tied up, but run 

 loose in the barn, which has a wide central alleyway 

 where they are at liberty. 



