Breeding and Manofjement of Horses on a Farm. 523 
whose stomach and bowels are constitutionally weak, who is a shy 
feeder and constantly voids her dung in a sloppy and crude state, 
can never digest sufficient food to supply her own wants and those 
of the fcetus ; and, in like manner, a mare with weakness of the 
respiratory organs can never possess or impart that vigour which 
necessarily results from the perfectly-formed secretions of the 
different organs of the body; the blood, which may be said to be 
the raw material from which the different secretions are formed, 
being imperfectly arterialized, or vivified, in its passage through 
the lungs, and consequently unfit to yield those particles which 
should be eliminated from it in its course through the body. 
Hence it is of great importance in breeding that the form, powers, 
and constitutional vigour of the mare should receive the greatest 
possible attention and consideration. 
Few classes of men, pro^•ided they possess sufficient knowledge, 
judgment, and discrimination for the purposes of breeding, should 
be able to rear a better species of horse than farmers, and for 
this reason. In the large breeding establishm.ents in this country 
brood-mares and stallions are kejit solely for the purpose of pro- 
creation ; andj from the moment a mare is supposed to have con- 
ceived, she is turned into a paddock until the foaling-time arrives, 
leading a lazy, indolent, unexciting existence, tired of the same 
scene, and with no other occupation than that of everlastingly 
filling her belly with grass. Hence she frequently becomes 
grossly fat (which, as I have already observed, is a state bordering 
upon disease) ; her stomach is seldom empty, of itself a cause 
sufficient to destroy its energy, and by consequence that of every 
other part of the frame ; her muscles waste while fat accumulates, 
and she is altogether "out of condition ;" by which expression I 
mean not in a fit state to undergo any fatigue. While leading 
this listless life every fibre of her body and every action of her 
secreting organs becomes relaxed and debilitated ; and there 
cannot be a question that the formation of the foetus under such 
circumstances will neither be as vigorous nor as active as would 
be the case were she kept to moderate work, fed at proper in- 
tervals, and excited and exhilarated by occupation and change of 
scene. The farmer's mare is generally kept to labour of some 
kind until within a few days of foaling ; and, if not strained or 
over-worked, such a system must be beneficial to her health and 
to the due development of her foal. I have myself, on more 
occasions than one, seen a cart-mare at work within four-and- 
twenty hours of her foaling, without the slightest injury to her or 
licr offspring. 
During the period of gestation, and more especially after the 
time of quickening, which may perhaps be about the fourth 
month, the food of the mare should be of a hearty and nutritious 
