PAETUEITION. 583 



in all cases, but manual dexterity and an educated touch can only 

 be acquired by practice. The custom of pinching or pressing upon 

 the withers during labour pains has a restraining influence upon 

 the mare. 



The amount of force permissible in drawing a foal is consider- 

 able, but every kind of movement that will alter favourably the 

 position is to be preferred to violence. Many mares are fatally 

 injured by the forcible measures adopted to deliver them. The 

 writer has seen a horse used to pull away both foals and calves, 

 when the very fact of having a rope sufficiently well attached to 

 the fcetus goes far to prove its delivery practicable, without , the 

 violence that is so often substituted for patient manipulation. 

 True, mares often recover, and the amount of bruising it not an 

 exact measure of the risk to life. A special knife is used for 

 disarticulating the foetus in what ■ are called impracticable or 

 impossible labours, and some few veterinary surgeons can use 

 them without injury to the mare or themselves ; a still smaller 

 number can remove the foetus by their aid. 



After-treatment is seldom necessary in normal labours, and some 

 jealous mares are best left entirely alone, while those with a first 

 foal may require inducement to allow the foal to suck. The udder 

 is frequently tender, and a yoimg and ticklish mare will lash out 

 almost at the same moment that she is fondling the foal with 

 her muzzle ; if a fore leg is held up, and moral suasion exercised 

 with the voice and by patting the neck, etc., during the first two 

 or three days, the udder will get softened, and the mare recon- 

 ciled to the bunting of the foal's head, etc. The old-fashioned 

 marsh-mallow ointment softens the bag, by relieving the tension 

 of the skin, but a foal has been killed by sucking an ointment in 

 which camphor formed a considerable part. 



Flooding, or haemorrhage, is an occasional sequel, and has been 

 successfully treated by oold water over the loins, and cloths soaked 

 in oold water and introduced into the vagina. 



Internally, gallic acid, acetate of lead, opium, and small doses of 

 ergot, are recommended. 



Coming out of the womb is a serious accident, which may follow 

 on an ordinary labour, but more frequently one in which injudicious 

 and ill-directed force has been used ; it is nearly always fatal, but 

 the few successes are sufficient to induce an attempt to replace it 

 in an animal of any value. Two attendants supporting the womb 

 in an oiled sheet give the operator a chance to return it free from 

 dirt and litter. If successfully returned, the lips of the vagina 

 should be secured by a clamp, of which the best is Huish's. 

 Sutures may be used if a clamp is not obtainable. Pessaries, 

 bladders and other things have been recommended to be put in 



