THE AUSTRIAN' HORSE. 



437 



of horses and cattle has lately occupied the attention of the great landed 

 proprietors, and has constituted a very considerable part of their annual 

 income. There is scarcely now a seigniorial residence to which there 

 is not attached a vast court, in four large divisions, and surrounded by 

 stables. In each of the angles of this court is a passage leading to beau- 

 tiful and extensive pasture-grounds, divided into equal compartments, 

 and all of them having convenient sheds, under which the horses may 

 shelter themselves from the rain or the sun. From these studs a larger 

 kind of horse than that of the Cossacks is principally supplied, which arc 

 more fit for the regular cavalry troops, and for pleasure and parade, than 

 common use. The remounts of the principal houses in German)^ are 

 derived from this source ; and from the same source the great fairs in the 

 different states of the German empire are supplied. 



THE AUSTRIAN HORSE. 



The Austrian cavalrv has long been the most famous in the world, 

 and most of the horses are bred in the vast plains of Hungary, where 

 there has always been a strong infusion of Turkish and Arab blood. In 

 1790, an Arabian named Turkmainath was imported, and in 18 19, the 

 Archduke Maximilian purchased several valuable stallions in England. 

 Of late years, some of the best sires and dams that could be procured 

 from the English racing stables have been imported by several of the 

 Hungarian nobles for their breeding establishments. 



But the impro\ement of the breed of horses is not left to private 

 enterprise alone ; the imperial government maintains noble studs in many 

 places, on which neither care nor money is spared. 



The following account is given by the Duke of Ragusa of the impe- 

 rial establishment for the breeding of horses at Mesohagyes, near Carls- 

 burg in Austria : " This is the finest establishment in the Austrian 

 monarchy for the breeding and improvement of horses. It stands on 

 forty thousand acres of land of the best quality, and is surrounded in its 

 whole extent, which is fifteen leagues, by a broad and deep ditch, and 

 by a broad plantation sixty feet wide. It was formerly designed to 

 supply horses to recruit the cavalry ; at present its object is to obtain 

 stallions of a good breed, which are sent to certain depots for the 

 supply of the various provinces. To produce these, one thousand 

 brood mares and fortv-eight stallions are kept ; two hundred additional 



