There is no very good way to tell whether a mare is in foal for some time.  Practically speaking, the safest way to do is to have her bred every time she comes in heat until she takes the stallion no longer.  Even then some mares will come in heat a couple of times after getting in foal.  If the sexual excitement speedily subsides and the mare persistently refuses the stallion for a month, she is probably pregnant, though not surely so.  Also if a vicious mare becomes gentle after service it is an excellent indication of pregnancy; likewise pregnant mares will very often put on fat rapidly after conception and will be unable and unwilling to do as hard work as before.  Enlargement of the abdomen, especially in its lower third, with slight falling in beneath the loins and hollowness of the back are significant symptoms, though they may be entirely absent.  Swelling and firmness of the udder, with the smoothing out of its wrinkles, is a suggestive sign, even though it appears only at intervals during gestation.  A steady increase of weight (1 1/4 pounds daily) about the fourth or fifth month is a useful indication of pregnancy.  The further along the mare is in gestation the more pronounced the symptoms become.  In the early stages it is naturally much more difficult to detect, especially with the great differences in different mares.  Cessation of heat and changes of disposition are about the best signs in early stages.

Diseased Uterus of Mare.

I have a brood mare that has given me two fine colts, but for the last two years I have not been able to get her with foal.  She takes service and then refuses service for three or four months, and about the time I come to the conclusion that she is safe with foal she will pass off great quantities of mattery substance.  I have had her thoroughly washed out with Lysol previous to breeding, but so far she has repeated this performance each time about three or four months after service.

This is a disease of the ovaries or uterus; perhaps mumification of a foetus.  Irrigate with a normal salt solution (teaspoon salt to each pint of warm water) only daily.  Insert the solution through the neck of the womb into the uterus.  Give internally 1/2 ounce daily of Fowler’s Solution of Arsenic.

Deep-Seated Abscess.

I have a mule which has a swelling on the throat about where the throatlatch touches.  It just seems to be swollen hard and not sore.  I am using caustic liniment to fester it so it will come to a head and I can open it, but the liniment does not seem to do much good.  The mule is losing flesh and does not eat much.

This mule should be operated upon at once by a qualified veterinarian.  The application of liniments or blisters are useless; the knife only will effect a cure.  The fact that the mule is losing flesh makes the case serious.

Cure for Cocked Ankles.

I have a 4-year-old mare that has cocked ankles, and would like to know what treatment to give her.