The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow

The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow

The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow

The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow, so as to cramp her when lying down or to entail violent effort in getting up, and it should not slope too much from the front backward, as this throws the weight of the uterus back on the pelvis and endangers protrusions and even abortion. Violent mental impressions are to be avoided, for though most mares are not affected thereby, yet a certain number are so profoundly impressed that peculiarities and distortions are entailed on the offspring; hence, there is wisdom shown in banishing particolored or objectionably tinted animals, and those that show deformities or faulty conformation. Hence, too, the importance of preventing prolonged, acute suffering by the pregnant mare, as certain troubles of the eyes, feet, and joints in the foals have been clearly traced to the concentration of the mother's mind on corresponding injured organs in herself. Sire and dam alike tend to reproduce their individual defects which predispose to disease, but the dam is far more liable to perpetuate the evil in her progeny which was carried while she was individually enduring severe suffering caused by such defects. Hence, an active bone spavin or ringbone, causing lameness, is more objectionable than that in which the inflammation and lameness have both passed, and an active ophthalmia is more to be feared than even an old cataract. For this reason all active diseases in the breeding mare should be soothed and abated as early as possible.