596 AMERICAN HORSES. 



sary. The Criollo shown in Fig. 578 was stabled for 

 several years, and consequently is not ' in the rough.' 



" The pony class usually found in the Argentine is the 

 mestizo (half-bred), which is the product of a native mare 

 and a sire with some foreign blood in him. They are 

 generally from 14 hands to 14.3 in height, and make good 

 polo ponies, and are also very suitable for mounted in- 

 fantry, if properly handled. They can be purchased in 

 the country districts in the Argentine for about £5 apiece. 

 The Argentine polo ponies which are now played in Eng- 

 land, are good representatives of this breed. Much has 

 been said in England about the slowness of the imported 

 Argentine ponies, which statement can be explained by 

 the fact that fast ponies have a considerable commercial 

 value among the natives, for gambling purposes. Several 

 racing ponies have been lately shipped from Buenos Ayres 

 to South Africa, with, I believe, very good results. 



" Excellent light saddle horses are bred in the Argen- 

 tine, and are well suited to make hacks and officers' 

 chargers. I have no doubt that good horses of the hunter 

 class could be obtained in that country. Well-bred Argen- 

 tine saddle horses are very similar in appearance to English 

 horses of the same class, and can be bought from £15 

 to £25 in the rough, though broken. After importation 

 into England, they require nearly a year's preparation 

 before they can be put to hard work, and the use of maize, 

 to which they are accustomed, should be gradually dis- 

 continued.* The Anglo-Argentine thorough-breds are of 

 high class, and they run their races in Buenos Ayres in fast 

 time. La Uruguay a, a Uruguayan mare, ran prominently 

 in England. In South America, horses, when trained for 

 flat racing, are generally given very short, repeated 

 gallops. They are exceedingly quick off the mark, and 

 as a rule are ridden by native jockeys who use a curb 

 and not a snaffle. Argentine thorough-breds are gener- 



* During the last two years, I have had excellent results in feeding hunters on equal 

 ■quantities (by weight) of crushed maize and dry bran, instead of oats. 



