A mare will
not take the ass, nor a she ass the horse, unless the ass or she-ass
shall have been suckled by a mare; and for this reason trainers put
foals of the she-ass under mares, which foals are technically spoken
of as 'mare-suckled'. These asses, thus reared, mount the mares in the
open pastures, mastering them by force as the stallions do.
24
A mule is fitted for commerce with the female after the first
shedding of its teeth, and at the age of seven will impregnate
effectually; and where connexion has taken place with a mare, a
'hinny' has been known to be produced. After the seventh year it has
no further intercourse with the female. A female mule has been known
to be impregnated, but without the impregnation being followed up by
parturition. In Syrophoenicia she-mules submit to the mule and bear
young; but the breed, though it resembles the ordinary one, is
different and specific. The hinny or stunted mule is foaled by a
mare when she has gone sick during gestation, and corresponds to the
dwarf in the human species and to the after-pig or scut in swine;
and as is the case with dwarfs, the sexual organ of the hinny is
abnormally large.
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