100 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
Murray 77 states that on weaning the foal, it “should be confined to a 
loose box and open yard for the first week, until it has forgotten its 
dam. It may then be allowed to roam over a pasture during the day, and 
should, where practicable, be accompanied by others of its own age. A 
piece of mixed seeds or old pasture, where the stronger growing grasses 
are allowed to run to seed, should be especially prepared for the foals. 
The young animals delight in nibbling off the ripe heads of the grasses. 
Bare pastures are objectionable owing to the liability of the young 
animals to pick up the embryonic germs of objectionable insect life. 
. . . A mixture of oats, wheat, peas, and a little linseed should be 
used . . . All the corn should be ground and mixed with a limited 
quantity of hay or straw chaff, mixed together and well saturated with 
boiling water. This should be allowed to remain for not less than 
twelve hours before being fed.” 
Biddell, Douglas, Dykes, Fleming, MacNeilage, Murray, and Trotter 82 
are authorities concerning the method of weaning and management of 
the weanlings, as follows: “The foal is usually weaned at the age of five 
or six months . . . Weaning foals should never be turned out on a 
bare pasture, as they are liable to become affected by worms, which are 
difficult to eradicate. 
“As soon as the foal is weaned the mare may be gradually placed on 
dry food and should have one or two doses of mild aperient medicine 
with plenty of exercise . . . For the first day or two the milk should 
be drawn twice daily; she should not be milked clean out, but a suffi¬ 
cient quantity taken to relieve her from any suffering or uneasiness. In 
the course of a week or less the milk will dry up. 
“When the foal is weaned it should be placed with others of its own 
age . . . For the first day or two after weaning the foal may be con¬ 
fined to the yard; as soon as it gains the confidence of its companions 
they may be allowed to run out in the pasture during the day. 
“During the early years of the young animal’s life, and more particu¬ 
larly during the first winter, the food should be prepared. The fodder, 
whether hay or straw, or a mixture of the two, must be cut into fine 
chaff, and the corn of whatever kind, ground into meal, the meal and 
chaff mixed together and well soaked with boiling water; the mass is 
then covered with a pliable non-conducting material and allowed to re¬ 
main in this state for a period of at least twelve hours, when it will be 
in a suitable condition to be fed. The albuminoid ration should not ex¬ 
ceed 1:4. Sweet well-matured oats, wheat, white peas, lentils or Indian 
corn, and linseed should form the mixture in somewhat the following 
proportions: to one of oats, add one-half of wheat, one-fourth of peas, 
one-eighth of Indian corn, and one-sixteenth of linseed. These should be 
mixed together in the grain and reduced to meal by being passed through 
an ordinary grist mill . . . from 4 to 5 lbs. per day of mixed meals 
will be sufficient.” 
Regarding the management of the yearlings the same authors further 
assert: “Altho it may be more costly we prefer a second class pasture 
rather than a rich feeding one, provided in the former case a fair allow¬ 
ance of artificial food is given. Rich grazing pastures tend to the develop¬ 
ment of fat rather than to the growth of bone and muscle. 
“The yearling geldings and fillies are usually grazed together. The 
stallions are in a separate enclosure.” 
And, as to the two-year-olds, “The same treatment as that recom¬ 
mended for the yearlings must be continued with these, until such a 
time as a sufficient bit of grass is obtainable, and where the land is 
hard-stocked or inferior in quality an allowance of artificial food should 
still be continued. The great danger to guard against is superfluous fat 
. ... At the age of 2 years both fillies and geldings should be bitted and 
broken to the halter.” 
