MANAGEMENT OF THE FOAL 
77 
“When the colt gets to be three months old he will eat considerable 
food in addition to what he can get from the mare, and he should be 
liberally supplied with oats in a separate feed trough where he can help 
himself and where the mare cannot get to them to drive him away. 
“When the mare is used on the farm or road in hot weather so as to 
heat her blood, the foal should not be allowed to suck until she has 
cooled off. Let him fill himself before the mare is put in the harness. 
Colts injured by heated milk seldom recover from it for a year or two, 
and sometimes never.” 
According to Roudebush 76 the colt should be allowed to nurse at will 
until two weeks old; afterwards, three times a day until the age of four 
weeks; and then gradually reduced so that at weaning time none is given 
at all. He disfavors the practice of allowing foals to follow their mothers 
in the field or on the road. Equal parts by weight of crushed oats and 
corn with a little bran are advocated to feed the nursing mother. Good 
suckling dams need but very little grain until the young is ten weeks 
of age. 
According to Axe, 38 the meconium at times is retained in the body, 
manifested by the foal which keeps raising the tail, the back being arched 
and the position held is such as if to dung, and now and then straining 
is noticed without any result. To remedy this condition an enema of 
warm glycerine and water is indicated, which may be repeated, if neces¬ 
sary, two or three times daily. Or, failing on this a small dose of castor 
oil in a little warm fresh milk should be given immediately. Should 
constipation become habitual in the foal, it is advised to give an extra 
supply of carrots or green food to the dam, and besides a couple of ounces 
of sulphate of magnesia may be mixed with the food every day for three 
times. 
Henry and Morrison 63 very comprehensively presents the procedure to 
be followed in feeding the foal and are here quoted at length: “By placing 
the feed box low, when 3 or 4 weeks old the foal will begin nibbling from 
the mother’s supply and will soon acquire a taste for grain . . . 
Crushed oats or oatmeal, with bran are excellent feeds, as is a mixture of 
4 parts of crushed corn, 3 of bran, and 1 of linseed meal. Colts should be 
given good clover, alfalfa, or other legume hay as soon as they will eat 
it, and all the clean, pure water they want . . . Diarrhoea brought 
on by overfeeding or exposure must be checked by giving parched flour, 
rice meal gruel, or boiled milk; and constipation, the other common evil, 
may be relieved by castor oil and injections of warm water, flaxseed tea, 
sweet oil, etc., administered preferably with a fountain syringe having a 
small hard rubber nozzle. Harm may be done by injecting a large quan¬ 
tity of strong soapy warm water with an ordinary ‘horse’ syringe. In 
all cases of derangement the food for both dam and foal should at once 
be lessened since nothing aids nature more at such times than reducing 
the work of the digestive tract. 
“When the mare is worked, the colt should be left in a cool, dark stall 
during the day, where he will be safe and not bothered by flies, rather 
than allow r ed to follow the dam about the field. The mare should be 
brought to the barn to suckle the colt in the middle of the forenoon and 
afternoon. The colt should not be allowed to drain the udder when burst¬ 
ing full of hot milk, as indigestion and scours are apt to follow. Allow 
the mare to cool off, and perhaps draw some of the milk by hand before 
turning her into the stall with the foal ... If the mare is worked 
during the day it is well to turn both dam and foal into grass pasture at 
night, and in addition feed a liberal allowance of grain. 
“If flies torture the foal, it is better to keep the mare and foal in a 
darkened stall during the day and turn to pasture only at night. 
“The foal may be taught to drink cow’s milk by pouring it upon meal. 
The young thing readily eats the moistened feed, and by tipping the pan 
