BREEDING 197 



stallions who remain at home to receive their consorts but 

 do not receive sufficient exercise. The impressiveness 

 shown by certain individuals, usually the male, is well 

 recognised, and when a stallion is endowed with this 

 supreme gift there is a general run upon his services. 

 A good stallion may " make " a district for years, filling 

 the country with good horses, and the pockets of the 

 breeders with money, while a bad stallion may poison 

 the neighbourhood in a similar way. And yet the breeding 

 of the one may be equal to that of the other, while between 

 the conformation of the two there may be nothing to 

 choose ! A very necessary point in a sire is nervous energy, 

 and unless he possesses a full share he cannot impart it 

 to his offspring. Without steam an engine is useless ! The 

 Spanish proverb that " a stallion, a lover, and a gamecock 

 must have fire," contains a great deal of shrewd common 

 sense ! 



Statistics show that every year a very large number of 

 mares do not produce living offspring, and the same appears 

 true of all countries. A stallion which can show 52 or 

 53 per cent, of foals must be reckoned good, and any 

 increase is very good, although some extraordinarily 

 vigorous and prepotent stallions may get practically all 

 their mares in foal, if none but those giving milk are 

 selected for their mates ; but it is claimed for the practice 

 of artificial insemination that quite 90 per cent, prove in 

 foal — and certainly with shy breeders it is well worth 

 a trial. It is not recommended to interfere with Nature 

 until a mare has been twice unsuccessfully to the stallion ; 

 but when a third visit is paid it is prudent to supple- 

 ment the service with an artificial insemination imme- 

 diately after the stallion has performed his part of the 

 ceremony. 



Many mares are barren owing to an acid condition of the 

 vaginal mucus, which proves fatal to the spermatozoa sup- 

 plied by the stallion. It is well therefore when a mare does 

 not hold after the first two services to give her 1 oz. of 

 bicarbonate of potash daily in the drinking water for a week 

 prior to the expected service ; and half an hour before the 



