82 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
fill the little foal up with copious douches of soapsuds or even plain warm 
water. Only a very little is needful. To discover if peristaltic action 
. . . is going on, hold the ear close to the left flank of the foal. If all 
goes well the noise heard there will indicate that the small intestines 
are in working order, which is the first object sought. The noise on the 
right side will indicate what is going on in the larger intestines. If the 
meconium is not passed in six hours after the adminitsration of the 
castor oil, the dose should he repeated.” 
To prevent the entrance of joint-ill organisms Johnstone 3 recommends 
the ligation of the navel or umbilical cord. “Being easily destroyed, 
these germs are readily combated by the application of any good anti¬ 
septic, but corrosive sublimate is to be preferred, using a 1-500 solution 
to swab the small portion of the cord left pendant from the body of the 
foal immediately after ligation—which means tying a string around the 
cord. Ligation should be as close to the body as possible, and the string 
should be surgeon’s silk. The corrosive sublimate solution should be ap¬ 
plied twice daily to the pendulous portion of the cord until it drops off 
. . . always clean out the stall after the mare has foaled and burn 
the litter. The fluids incident to foaling seem to promote germ produc¬ 
tion in an amazing degree. 
“Foals to develop to their best should have about all the grain they 
will eat, and their dams should be well fed also. If the mares are worked 
their feeding need not bother any one. Their foals should have oatmeal 
and bran as already described to eat at will, only a little at a time, and 
the supply renewed often so as to keep it always fresh and sweet . . . 
When the foal gets old enough he may eat grass if he wants it and his 
grain as well, but the milk he sucks should always be the same. Hence 
let the feeding of the'mare be uniform.” 
With mares that are to be w r orked, Johnstone 5 advocates to leave the 
foal in the boxstall w T hen the mother is to be taken out to work. At 
first the colt will fret but soon afterwards he will get accustomed to 
being alone. The plan suggested is to work the mare for half a day the 
first time. It is claimed that she will worry greatly and be soft so that 
she may become heated badly. It is recommended on coming to the barn 
• at noon from work to milk the mare almost dry and then to put her in 
the stall where she could have little hay and at the same time cool off. 
After cooling off she is watered and then turned in with her foal in a 
boxstall where she also gets her grain. The mare is gradually hardened 
in her work until finally she is harnessed to do her regular job. John¬ 
stone directs not to let foal suckle from a warm mare as, he says, it 
causes indigestion and scours. A bucket of water should be available in 
the boxstall for the foal. 
According to Gay 4 the new-born is perhaps most commonly affected by 
impaction of the meconium in the bowels. This excrement is, however, 
naturally removed by the purgative properties of the colostrum, the first 
milk suckled by the young. But if for some reason meconium has not 
passed out within twenty-four hours, it is advised to resort to the ad¬ 
ministration of a tablespoon of castor oil and a warm water injection. 
Navel infection is mentioned as another common cause of the death of 
foals. To prevent the foal from this affliction, Gay recommends the re¬ 
moval of mares that are to foal from infected quarters to clean and non- 
infected sites. It is also claimed to be a safer practice that the stump of 
the cord be washed with a saturated solution of boracic acid and dusted 
with boric acid powder. Gay is of the opinion not to cut or ligate the 
umbilical cord but instead it should be allowed to break naturally. 
Regarding some precautionary measures to be observed and the method 
of handling the suckling colt, Gay 4 writes: “The milk flow must be main¬ 
tained by succulent forage, the colt must be fed often, and the dam 
