MANAGEMENT OF THE FOAL 
75 
old is fatal. Clover and alfalfa hay are good for poor milkers. The 
first four months of a colt’s life is the period it should be tended to 
carefully. After two weeks of age colts seldom get too much milk. When 
the colt is a month old ground oats and bran should be kept before the 
colts all the time. Colts never eat too much. This feeding should be 
continued until weaning time—6 to 8 months of age.” 
Rutherford 08 directs that “As soon as the foals has emerged, free the 
head from the envelopes, see that the air passages are clear of mucous 
or other fluid, and lay the little animal on his right side. If the umbilical 
cord or navel string is not ruptured at birth, it may be tied with a stout 
cord a couple of inches from the navel and cut off below the ligature, and 
to prevent blood poisoning, or the absorption of septic germs, it may be 
dressed with a strong solution of carbolic acid, care being taken not to 
injure the surrounding tissues, or it may be temporarily smeared with 
carbolic oil. 
“Gruel is advocated after parturition for the mare. Watch the foal 
for symptoms of constipation, which will be manifested in the first place 
by continued elevation of the tail accompanied by straining without 
the passage of feces. This will be succeeded by dullness and then by 
evidence of pain, the abdomen will become bloated; the little animal will 
show great uneasiness and begin to perspire and the pulse and respira¬ 
tion will be accelerated. In the early stages, a few ounces of soapy 
warm water or a little raw linseed oil introduced by a syringe into the 
rectum will generally afford relief, but should acute pain and distress 
make their appearance, the administration of two or three ounces of 
castor or linseed oil with twenty or thirty drops of laudanum and half a 
teaspoonful of turpentine well shaken up, will be in order; a small enema 
should also be given from time to time, and the abdomen covered with 
woolen cloth wrung out of hot water. These are much preferred to 
physics.” 
Wallace 43 says in regard to the care of the foal: “After a prolonged 
delivery the mouth of the exhausted foal should be cleared of slime, and 
air blown down its throat, to aid the first inflation of the lungs. In 
nature the tearing of the umbilical cord as the mare rises prevents after¬ 
bleeding, but, when aid is necessary it is usual to tie it in two places and 
sever it wit ha knife between the knots rather than to attempt to imitate 
nature by breaking it. If the mare be slow to lick the foal, it should be 
rubbed dry to prevent it growing cold, and, if weak on its legs, it should 
be supported and held in position to encourage it to suck as soon as 
possible. If this is unsuccessful, half a teacupful of milk should be drawn 
from the mare’s teats, warmed, by dipping into hot water and poured 
into foal’s mouth by means of a tablespoon, as a new-born cannot long 
survive without food. If everything has gone well and the foal is strong 
and warm and only awkwad on its legs, some breeders think it best to 
leave nature to its own course, and the foal by instinct soon finds its 
way to the teats ... To see that the anus of the foal is not by 
chance closed by an adventitious skin or membrane which requires to 
be broken ... is all the further treatment necessary.” 
Wallace goes on to say that, “A foal that gallops till it perspires copious¬ 
ly on being put out for an hour or two after it is, say, ten days old, 
should not be allowed to lie on the cold ground or in a draught, else it 
is liable to scour and swell at the joints and become worthless. 
“An ancient practice in Norfolk after the foal is two weeks old, is to 
feed it on skim milk, boiled linseed, and bran meal, getting gradually up 
to 2 gallons of milk.” 
Roberts 59 asserts that two of the critical periods in the life of the foal 
are during the time when the food is changed from the milk of the dam 
to a partial or entire ration of solid food, and during the teething time 
in which the temporary set is changed to permanent ones. He recoin- 
