242 
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FARM HORSE. 
those constituents required bv the foal for the formation of bone 
and muscle than oats and bran : the farmer may rely on it as a 
sound and true axiom, that “ starving the mother is starving the 
foal.” During lactation the mare should be well supplied with food 
capable of inducing milk, non-azotised food is therefore essential as 
well as azotised. Some mares make fat fast during lactation, which 
is injurious to the foal, since fat-making and milk-making cannot 
co-exist. For the first month or six weeks the mare should have 
ample space to gambol about with her foal; the exercise the latter 
uses will materially tend to develop his frame and muscles. 
Housing or shedding the mare, and giving succulent and nutri¬ 
tious food, renders her inactive, and disposes her to fatten, and 
thus limits the quantity of milk : the foal also has not sufficient 
room to gambol, whereby organic development is stunted. 
I do not advocate artificial food for the foal whilst sucking; 
nothing more is required than the milk of the dam, and such 
natural provender as it will eat of its own accord. Whatever 
is given, let it be through the system of the mother: if you 
supply her, you supply the foal also: from this source sufficient 
nourishment will have been given until weaning time arrives. 
From the fifth to the seventh month is the general time for the 
foal to be separated from the dam ; it sometimes depends on the 
backward or forward state of the foal. Some house the foal for a 
few weeks, to make it forgetful of its dam. As good apian as any 
is, to turn the young animal out with a few quiet companions into 
a piece of sound pasturage, as he will then be ranging about for his 
food : the exercise will be the means of making him vigorous, 
and exciting the growth of his fabric. As the autumnal season ad¬ 
vances, and the natural herbage becomes scanty, feed him daily 
with a few feeds of cracked oats and bran. As winter sets in, a 
shed should be allowed him to run into : hay will also be required 
in addition to the oats and bran. Exercise in the young animal, 
as 1 have before said, is required for the development of ex¬ 
ternal conformation; it is as absolutely necessary, also, to 
promote a due expansion of the chest, and thus give room and 
space for the due action of the heart and lungs, on which the 
healthy state of the blood depends. 
It is customary with farmers to allow the young colt only the run 
of the straw-yard during winter, which is a pernicious plan: subsist¬ 
ing on stamineous food alone, they soon lose the condition gained 
during summer, and become almost skeletons. It may be well said, 
the summer colt and the straw-yard one are two different animals. 
During winter, the farmer should not be forgetful of a liberal allow¬ 
ance of food, that the rudiments of the machine may not be checked 
in their formation. It is now not a very difficult task for the agri- 
