DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 175 
in four or more opposite directions prior to forcible dilatation. The 
incision may be made with a probe-pointed knife, and should be 
done by a professional man if possible. TheSubsequent dilatation may 
be best effected by the slow expansion of sponge or seaweed tents 
inserted into the narrow canal. In such cases it is best to let the 
wounds:of the neck heal before putting to horse. An imperforate 
hymen may be freely incised in a crucial manner until the passage 
will admit the human hand. An ordinary knife may be used for this 
purpose, and after the operation the stallion may be admitted at 
once or only after the wounds have healed. 
PREGNANCY. . 
INDICATIONS OF PREGNANCY. 
As the mere fact of service by the stallion does not insure preg- 
nancy, it is important that the result should be determined to save 
the mare from unnecessary and dangerous work or medication when 
actually in foal and to obviate wasteful and needless precautions 
when she is not. 
The cessation and nonrecurrence of the symptoms of heat (horsing) 
are most significant, though not an infallible, sign of conception. If 
the sexual excitement speedily subsides and the mare persistently 
refuses the stallion for a month, she is probably pregnant. In very 
exceptional cases a mare, though pregnant, will accept a second or 
third service after weeks or months, and some mares will refuse the 
horse persistently, though conception has not taken place, and this in 
spite of warm weather, good condition of the mare, and liberal feed- 
ing. The recurrence of heat in the pregnant mare is most liable to 
take place in hot weather. If heat merely persists an undue length 
of time after service, or if it reappears shortly after, in warm 
weather and in a comparatively idle mare, on good feeding, it is 
less significant, while the persistent absence of heat under such con- 
ditions may be usually accepted as proof of conception. 
An unwonted gentleness and docility on the part of a previously 
irritable or vicious mare, and supervening on service, is an excellent 
indication of pregnancy, the generative instinct. which caused the 
excitement having been satisfied. 
An increase of fat, with softness and flabbiness of muscle, a loss of 
energy, indisposition for active work, a manifestation of laziness, 
indeed, and of fatigue early and easily induced, when preceded by 
service, will usually imply conception. 
Enlargement of the abdomen, especially in its lower third, with 
slight falling in beneath the loins and hollowness of the back are sig- 
nificant symptoms, though they may be entirely absent. Swelling 
