572 Veterinary Obstetrics 



extremities longer, but they are comparatively more rigid. In 

 addition to all these, the fetus of the mare is usually larger and 

 consequently not so readily adjusted as that of the cow. 



Dystokia is not only more serious for the mare than the cow, 

 but it is also far more serious for the foal than for the calf. 

 During an extensive experience with obstetrics in mares, it has 

 not been our fortune' to deliver a living foal where there was 

 actual dystokia. Our experience is in accord with that of most 

 practitioners, and it is only very rarely that the veterinary ob- 

 stetrist succeeds in delivering a live foal in cases of dystokia. 

 We have attended mares when living foals were born, but in 

 those instances we were hurriedly called by owners of mares 

 under the impression that there was something abnormal, which, 

 upon our arrival, proved to be normal, and the fetus was very 

 quickly born in a natural manner. On the other hand, in the 

 cow the common experience is that, if the fetus is alive when 

 labor sets in and the veterinarian is called promptly, a living 

 calf is secured. This dissimilarity in the two animals has its 

 basis largely in the differences in the placentae. The foal quickly 

 perishes because of the detachment of the fetal from the maternal 

 placenta, whereas the calf continues to live because the placental 

 circulation is not interrupted for a long period of time after the 

 advent of labor pains. 



From the standpoint of the veterinary obstetrist, dystokia in the 

 mare is usually far more formidable than in the cow. The 

 tumultuous labor in the mare usually very quickly expels the 

 fetal fluids and leaves the passage dry, while it also tends to con- 

 stantly accentuate any deviation of fetal parts and otherwise to 

 rapidly increase the obtacles to delivery. When the veterinarian 

 reaches the case, the violent expulsive efforts of the mare inter- 

 fere very seriously with his operations and try his patience and 

 endurance to the utmost degree, while the cow is more deliberate 

 and the labor pains are much less violent. 



The size of the foal and its very long and rigid limbs and the 

 excessively long neck all conspire to render the obstetrist's task 

 more difficult and laborious. The tumultuous character of labor 

 in the mare calls for greater promptness in bringing about the 

 delivery of the fetus, from the standpoint of its own life and that 

 of the mare. The mare also is liable to annoy and endanger the 

 operator by vicious kicking. 



