d be pastured whenever possible in meadows of grass, and
in the stable and stall they are fed on hay.

"When a mare has foaled she should be fed on barley and watered twice a
day.

"In the matter of breeding, the period of service is from the vernal
equinox to the solstice so that the foal may come at a suitable
season, for they are supposed to be born on the tenth day of the
twelfth month after the mare was stinted. Those which are born after
the time are usually defective and unfit for use. When the season has
come the stallion should be admitted to the mare twice a day, in the
morning and in the evening, under the direction of the _origa_ (so the
studgroom is called), for a mare held in hand is stinted more quickly,
nor does the stallion waste his seed by excess of ardor. When a mare
is stinted she makes it known by defending herself. If the stallion
shows an aversion for a mare, her parts should be smeared when she
is in heat with the marrow of a shrimp macerated in water to the
consistency of honey, and the stallion allowed to smell of it.

"Although it may seem incredible, what I am about to relate is true and
should be remembered. Once upon a time a studgroom tried to make a
stallion cover his mother, but could never get him to come near her:
so one day the groom muffled the stallion's head and put him to his
mother successfully: but when the bandage was removed and the stallion
saw what he had done, he fell upon the groom and killed him with his
teeth.

"When the mares have been stinted it must be seen to that they are
worked only in moderation and are kept out of cold places, because
cold is of the greatest prejudice to a mare in that condition. For
this reason the floor of their stable should be kept dry and the
windows and doors should be kept shut: and furthermore the mares
should be separated one from another by long poles fastened back from
the manger so that they may not fight.

"Mares in foal should neither be over-fed nor starved.

"There are some who breed their mares only every other year and claim
they get better colts, on the same principle that as corn land is
exhausted by continuous cropping, so is a mare which is bred every
year.[141]

"The foal should be led out to pasture with its dam on the tenth day
after it is born, so to avoid burning its tender hoofs by standing
on manure in the stable. When five months old a colt should be fed,
whenever he is brought into the stable, a ration of