14 
it is impossible to insist too strongly—the 
mare, from the moment she conceives or is 
known to be in foal, should be grazed only 
on pastures which for a long period have not 
known the print of a hoof 
I may say that in applying natural methods 
with a view to the accomplishment of one 
important end we shall be achieving another, 
or at least avoiding a literally vital danger 
It is an axiom among breeders that the 
mare in corn seldom stands to the horse; 
for which reason brood-mares are always 
sent to grass for some weeks before being 
put to the stallion 
In other words, unnatural feeding is pro- 
ductive of such influence on the constitution 
of the mare that her reproductive powers 
are seriously impaired, and can only be 
restored by a return to the food which is 
proper for maturing the foal within her 
MOUTHiS OF HORSE AND ON 
The horse and the ox in their natural 
state are purely herbivorous, subsisting 
exclusively on herbage or vegetable food ; 
their modes of grazing, however, differ 
widely one from the other, and in this 
difference we discover the reason why the 
