576 PAETUEITION. 



many more abortions than actually take place, though, as may be 

 seen from the records of any well-kept stud, they number something 

 like 20 per cent, of mares covered. 



Abortion and premature births are technically divided by limit- 

 ing the former to forty days before the usual period of gestation ; 

 but in practice there is not much to choose between, imless the foal 

 comes to hand near enough to the proper time to be kept alive 

 by artificial warmth, while he sleeps out his allotted time, which 

 he will sometimes do. This accident, for such it must be con- 

 sidered, whatever its cause, is most disastrous, not only entailing 

 immediate and palpable loss, but a predisposition to abort in 

 future. The early months of pregnancy are those in which abor- 

 tion most frequently occurs, without the knowledge of owners, in 

 the case of mares at grass or in crew yards, as the foetus is often 

 very small, and dropped in a ditch, trampled upon, or eaten by 

 dogs, rats, and other animals, and suspicion is only aroused when 

 the mare is found to be horsing again, or proved empty by efflux 

 of time. Beyond a little unnatural excitement, which may be 

 easily overlooked by the unobservant, a mare shows but little 

 sign of having aborted in the early part of pregnancy, but later 

 on she may show the foetal envelopes, have milk, be off her feed, 

 and feverish. She should be put in a loose box by herself, but if 

 used to company, be able to see other horses (not pregnant mares), 

 given a laxative dose, as J lb. of Epsom salts and one ounce of 

 nitrate of potash, or a pint of linseed oil, and kept low. It is a 

 mistake to coddle with mashes, which will only produce milk that 

 is not wanted, and if the udder decidedly springs, it should be 

 irregvUarly relieved with the finger and thumb, when the secretion 

 will soon fail. If, as occasionally happens, the bag is tense and 

 tender to the touch, an ample inimction of lard, vaseline, lanoline, 

 or olive oil should be practised, and as soon as the saline aperient 

 has taken effect, two or three doses of alum, half an ounce in 

 solution, should be given at intervals of two days,' with the object 

 of drying her off. 



The causes of abortion are for the most part obscure, and at 

 times enzootic, causing a wail of lamentation all over a district, 

 and unjustly discrediting a sire in too many instances, though 

 there are scientists willing to attribute a degree of infection to a 

 stallion which has covered an aborted mare. In working mares 

 the cause is too often backing in harness, or keeping back a load 

 in going down hill ; on the other hand, mares with no work to do 

 and a feeling of ennui, will abort. Kicks, blows, exposure to cold, 

 etc., account for more probably than ergotised grasses, which have, 

 as it seems to me on purely theoretical grounds, been attributed 

 with the power of producing abortion. 



