MANAGEMENT OF THE FOAL 
89 
the milk is unfit for digestion, and sets up irritation of the intestinal 
mucosa. But we know that the condition may arise in the absence of 
such causes. Certain foods given to the dam may produce changes in the 
milk, which cause diarrhea in the foal. One etiological factor we are fully 
acquainted with—viz., the custom of separating the foal from the dam 
for long intervals while the latter is kept at work. In such instances the 
mare may return to the foal in a fatigued condition, the milk probably 
long retained in the udder (unless the attendant has sufficient common 
sense to draw it off) may undergo alterations, rendering it unfit for 
digestion. Again, the foal being kept without nutriment for a long period, 
generally ingests more milk than his stomach, weakened by the enforced 
abstinence, is able to digest. Dyspepsia results, and the irritating pro¬ 
ducts formed induce diarrhea. Unhealthy foals in weak condition are 
specially predisposed to diarrhea, and the latter may be associated with 
joint-ill in some cases. When a foal has to be reared on cow’s milk, owing 
to the death of its mother, diarrhea is not uncommon. In such instances 
a little water and sugar should be added to the milk as a prophylactic 
measure. 
“. . . In mild cases the prominent symptom is the frequent passage 
of liquid faeces of a yellowish-white appearance. If the cases be neglected, 
or if the affection be severe from the outset, the faeces are very fetid, the 
skin around the anus and posterior aspect of the thighs becoms soiled 
and irritated, constitutional disturbance is present and in some instances 
colicky pains appear. The animal loses condition rapidly, refuses to 
suck the dam, exhaustion supervenes, and death takes place in a variable 
period. Pneumonia is sometimes observed as a complication, but this is 
probably due to careless drenching in many of the cases met with. 
“. . . In mild cases subjected to early and rational treatment the 
prognosis is favorable; but if neglected, or if the affection be severe from 
the commencement, the mortality is high. In some country districts the 
annual loss from this source is a very serious one to breeders of horses. 
A number of the cases perish from inhalation pneumonia, owing to 
careless administration of medicines.” Hoare. 97 
Umbilical Hemorrhage 
“Umbilical hemorrhage in the new-born animal is very rare. We have 
not had occasion to observe this accident in any case. Under normal 
conditions, -when the umbilic arteries rupture they retract within the 
abdominal cavity and in so doing withdraw with them, in an inverted 
manner, the connective tissue surrounding them, and thus form a net¬ 
work of fibers, which serves to cause the blood to coagulate and make 
hemorrhage extremely improbable. The retraction of the arteries also 
causes a thickening of their walls, and a distinct decrease in their caliber, 
thereby so narrowing the lumen that it is exceedingly difficult for blood 
to escape from their divided ends. In addition to this, there is a general 
physiologic law that the blood pressure is decreased whenever the blood 
is no longer required by the tissues. Since the function of the umbilic 
arteries has ceased, the blood pressure within then becomes suddenly 
decreased. 
“Fleming states that hemorrhage may take place from these arteries 
in foal, because they are firmly attached to the umbilic ring. After re¬ 
peated autopsies, we have failed to find an instance where such was the 
case, except the umbilic cord had been ligated, and the arteries thereby 
held so firmly that they could not retract. In addition to this, when the 
cord is ligated it is usually divided at an abnormal distance from the 
umbilic ring, so that its retraction is difficult. In all foals which we 
have examined, where the navel cord had been allowed to rupture normal¬ 
ly, the arteries had promptly retracted ... In the foal, the cord is 
