7« 
THE VETERINARY SCIENCE 
ing around by watching the flank closely. The marc car- 
ries her foal eleven months, but in some cases an aged mare 
has been known to carry her foal over twelve months. In 
rare cases young mares may lack a few days of eleven months. 
IV. HOW TO TELL WHEN A MARE IS WITH FOAL. 
The first sign of pregnancy or being in foal is her ceas- 
ing to come in season at the end of three weeks. If felt at 
the flanks she will be peevish and cross, and also ugly to 
other horses. She usually feeds and thrives better at this 
period. At the end of three or four months she begins to 
get larger at the flanks, and gradully continues getting larger 
until foaling time. Mares that are fed on hard feed and 
worked do not usually get as large as mares fed on rough 
feed and not worked. At about the fifth or sixth month the 
foal begins stirring in the womb. This may be detected by 
watching the flank closely, especially after the mare has had 
a drink of cold water. The movement of the foal may also 
be felt by pressing the hand against the flank on the left 
side. At about the sixth month in the young mare the mam- 
mary glands, or bag, begins to get large, and gradually gets 
larger until the time of foaling. 
V. — SIGNS OF FOALINa 
The muscles and ligaments gradually become relaxed until 
there is quite a hollow at each side of the tail. The vulva 
gets quite large at foaling time and wax usually runs from 
the teats of the mare a few days before. A few hours before 
foaling she walks around and acts quite uneasy until the 
labor pains come on, when her restlessness increases to get- 
ting up and down and forcing. This continues until what is 
known as the water bag comes out and breaks. The labor 
pains then increase, and she lies down, forces violently, until 
the front legs and head of the foal appear. It then soon slips 
out, the cleaning generally coming with it. Sometimes the 
foal comes backward. This is harder on the mare. If the 
mouth of the foal is examined immediately it is found to 
contain what is known as the melt, which resembles a piece 
of liver. 
