74 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
standing, it is advised that the foal should be allowed to suckle regularly 
every two hours or oftener and eventually in many cases the milk flows 
before the third day passes. Meantime the foal should be fed cow’s milk 
until enough milk may be gotten from the dam. The manner of prepar¬ 
ing and feeding the cow’s milk as indicated by Carlson should be: “Into 
a pint jar which has previously been sterilized with boiling water pour 
water to one-eighth full add one teaspoonful of granulated sugar, and fill 
with new milk from a fresh cow if possible. This should be fed warm, 
at the body temperature, and the pint will be sufficient quantity for one 
feed, but it should be fed as often as every two hours ... A nipple 
over the spout of a teapot is the best thing to use for feeding a hand- 
raised foal.” 
Dysentery in foals, Carlson 6 believes, may be due to the mare eating 
moldy hay or grain, or that the milk is too rich and too copious. In 
the latter case, it is recommended that the milk be drawn out to a large 
extent and the foal given a teaspoonful of lime water in a few teaspoon¬ 
fuls of milk every two or three hours. The grain feed of the mare should 
also be reduced for a time. This has reference to non-infectious dysentery 
only. 
According to Harper, 96 the foal should be fed oftener than three times 
daily during the first few weeks of its life and so accordingly, it is advis¬ 
able to let him go with the dam in the field. Later he may be kept in the 
barn and the dam brought in at intervals for the foal to suckle but not 
when the mare is tired and warm. When the colt is two months old 
supplements may be added to the mother’s milk. Such grains as oats, 
shorts, peas, and perhaps some corn are advocated for growing colts, 
while for roughage alfalfa, clover and mixed hays may be given. At 
teething periods give steamed crushed oats or bran. 
Diarrhoea is claimed to be due to an over supply of milk, according to 
Harper. 95 So in this case some of the dam’s milk should be drawn, but 
it must be born in mind that the last milk is the richest in fat and there¬ 
fore the part causing the ailment. To check this disturbance parched 
flour, rice meal gruel, boiled milk and whites of raw eggs are recommend¬ 
ed. On the other hand, if the food is -constipative, Harper prescribes the 
use of castor oil and the injections of warm water with soap added to it 
previously. 
Burkett 64 holds that the colt should not have access to a wet or damp 
bed until about a month old. He is of the opinion that the colt should 
be left in the barn from morning until noon in case the dam is worked 
and that the dam should cool off before the foal suckles. 
In a detailed way, Carter 8 ? presents the care and feeding of the foal in 
the following words: “When the colt comes don’t be anxious to have the 
navel break. Sometimes it wouldn’t break for an hour but even if it 
doesn’t do not attempt to cut, for you couldn’t cut in the right place 
. . . When it breaks it will break where nature intended it to. A 
navel that is cut will rot off to that point where it was intended to 
break and it will take from ten to fourteen days longer to heal. As soon 
as it breaks it should be dressed ... I have had good results by 
dressing the navel in a solution made up of one tablespoon full of carbolic 
crystals dissolved in a pint of warm water. I then apply powdered 
boracic acid and every day thereafter until the surface of the navel is 
entirely dried up. The navel should never be tied up. Don’t be alarmed 
at bleeding . . . Some people use iodine for treating the navel . . . 
and found that it is too severe. The irritation from iodine causes the colt 
to gnaw and rub the navel which only makes it worse . . . Milk the 
mare after the colt has nursed and if there is any milk the colt is getting 
too much. Too much milk causes scours in colts. Colts should be kept 
hungry. Heavy milkers should be given light feed for a few days and 
should be milked to keep the colt hungry. Medicine on colts two days 
