56 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
ception and from the seventh month and on till foaling time the move¬ 
ment of the fetus may be discerned by pressing the hand into the abdo¬ 
men in front of the stifle and then removing it suddenly. Internal ex¬ 
amination is condemned. 
Kennedy 01 describes the changes occuring in a pregnant mare, thus: 
“The first signs of pregnancy, and the one which is used in breeding 
mares, is the absence of the usual heat period. When a mare becomes 
pregnant, the usual periods of heat do not appear, and the mouth of the 
womb becomes closed. As the pregnancy advances, the mare usually 
becomes quieter, has a tendency to take on fat, is cross toward other 
horses, has somewhat fuller flanks, and there is a general contraction 
of the vulva. In the more advanced stages the belly becomes more 
pendulous, the udder develops, and a jerking movement of the foetus is 
often noticed, especially after the mare has taken a drink of cold water.” 
12. Gestation Period 
Williams 48 writes on the gestation period of the mare as follows: “As 
a general rule, the duration of pregnancy in the mare is about 12 lunar, 
or a trifle over 11 calendar months, or about 330 to 340 days. Bonnet 
gives HVz to 12 lunar months (322 to 336 days) as the normal. Detrichs, 
among 500 observations, found that 80 per cent of mares foaled between 
331 and 350 days. Count Lehndorff . . . gives a table of more than 
8,300 records, in which the average duration of pregnancy was 11 months 
and 3 days. Statistics show that, in various studs, the male foals were 
carried from one-half to 6 or 8 days longer than the female. There are 
great variations of opinion by different writers in reference to the normal 
duration of pregnancy. Some consider normal a birth which occurs 
at from 300 days, or 10 calendar months, to 365 or more days and some 
even extend the limit to 394 or even to 420 days, as in a case given by 
Baumeister and Rueff. 
“Saint-Cyr concludes that the normal duration of gestation in the 
mare is 340 to 350 days. Some may be born alive, and continue to live, 
from the 300th day forward. It is not rare for foals to be borne up to 
nearly 365 days. Rarely, normal gestation may be prolonged to 400 
days, or even 13 months. In would seem, therefore, that there may be 
a variation in the period of gestation in the mare of about 100 days, or 
more than 3 months, and that we apparently have no means for deter¬ 
mining in advance at what time a mare will foal, except that, in a gen¬ 
eral way, we may expect the vast majority of births to take place be¬ 
tween 11 and IIV 2 calendar months. 
A client, engaged in breeding pedigreed French draft horses, found 
that, in 55 mares, the average duration of pregnancy was 336 days. 
Among the thirteen pregnancies in one year, the average was 333 days— 
the longest 364 days, a mare foal, and the shortest 318 days, a horse foal. 
The shortest duration recorded by him was 298 days, a mare foal.” 
According to Henry and Morrison 50 “The average period of gestation 
for the mare is about 11 months, or 340 days, tho it may vary quite 
widely. William Russel Allen of Allen farm, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 
from records of 1,071 foals produced by trotting mares during 15 years, 
found the maximum gestation period 373, the minimum 319, and the 
average 340. A wider range was observed by Tessier, who reports that 
the shortest gestation period of 582 mares was 287, the longest 419, and 
the average, 330 days.” 
In an investigation carried on by Harper 94 the gestation period of the 
mare, basing the data from 82 parturitions, ranges from 316 to 361 days, 
or an average of 333 days. The period varied from 317 to 361 days, or 335 
days average, for male foals, and from 316 to 357 days, or 331 days 
average, for females. Together with the above figures data were ob- 
