THE BREEDING OF HOUSES 119 



As soon as the foal is old enough, it should be encouraged to 

 nibble at grain, preferably ground oats. It will begin to munch 

 in the grain and hay at three or four weeks of age, and should be 

 encouraged to eat. It will eat only a very little at first. If it 

 is necessary that the foal have milk after it is two months old, 

 skimmed milk should be substituted for fresh cow's milk. 

 Never feed a colt sour milk. Never feed milk from unclean 

 vessels. Should there be any trouble from constipation, it 

 will be well to add about one-half pint of oil meal per day to the 

 ration. Oil meal can be fed with profit to growing colts, as it 

 furnishes a large proportion of muscle-forming and bone-form- 

 ing food. The effect of such a ration — sweet skimmed milk, 

 ground oats, and oil meal — on the growth and development 

 of a foal is remarkable, and in all cases when the foal is likely 

 to enter winter in low flesh such a ration cannot be too highly 

 recommended. 



Many breeders advise leaving the colt in the stable while the 

 mare is at work ; others allow the colt to follow the mare into 

 the field. Much depends on the kind of work that is to be done. 

 Never let a colt drink from a warm mare ; allow her to cool off 

 and perhaps draw some of the milk by hand, when she may be 

 turned into the stall with the foal with perfect safety to both 

 mare and foal. 



Weaning the foal. — Weaning is more a question of prepara- 

 tion than of the absolute removal of the foal from the dam; and 

 the simplicity of the weaning process depends on the thorough- 

 ness of the preparation. If the foal has been accustomed to 

 grain as suggested, if it has been permitted to take increasingly 

 more as it grew, then the process will not be difficult, for as the 

 ration increases in amount of grain it will decrease in the amount 

 of milk consumed. When the time arrives for complete separa- 

 tion, there will be very little if any set back or disturbance to 

 either foal or dam. On the other hand, if the foal must learn to 

 eat after being deprived of its accustomed source of supply, it 



