236 BREEDING 



part of the groom. Many of these horses become more and still more 

 indisposed for sexual connection, and ultimately refuse service altogether 

 and become prematurely impotent. In some the desire may be maintained 

 by good living, plenty of walking exercise, iron tonics, and by keeping 

 the horse away from mares for such a period as will bring back the sexual 

 impulse. How long this may be, the attendant must find out for himself, 

 and, having done so, exercise his discretion in directing the services of 

 the horses under his care. On the other hand, there are stallions which 

 with a remarkable capacity for service unite an extraoixlinary fertility 

 and endurance. A notable instance of this was afforded by a well-known 

 Shire stallion, which, on completing a heavy season in Lancashire, was let 

 for further work in the south. On reaching his destination, at three o'clock 

 in the day, twenty-three mares were waiting for service. Of these, nineteen 

 were found to be in season, and were served the same day, and thirteen 

 proved to be in foal. 



" Many sires, and some of great celebrity, have been known to serve 

 from 200 to 260 mares in one season, and to leave a fair proportion of 

 foals." Of course, it cannot be expected that such an amount of sexual 

 work as is here implied can be continued for any number of years with- 

 out inducing sterility or premature impotence, and owners of stallions, 

 in their own interest, no less than that of their stock, should guard 

 against dangerous abuse of their stock-horses by judicious restriction of 

 their services at the stud. 



It is impossible to lay down any hard-and-fast rule by which the 

 work of horses at different ages should be governed, but the following 

 scale may be accepted as a fair average allowance for the season: — 



Age. Number of Mares. 



2 years old ... ... 10 to 15 



3 „ „ 25 „ 30 



4 „ „ 4.5 „ 60 



5 ,, ,, find upwards ... ... 70 „ 100 



Condition in tlie Sire. — How far failure on the part of mares to 

 prove fruitful is due to impotence on the part of sires it would perhaps 

 be difficult to say, but those who are in and about our breeding-studs 

 know that in some circumstances barrenness is largely attributable to 

 this cause. It is too much the fashion to regard the mare as the ever- 

 erring partner, and to overlook the disability of the horse to render his 

 services fruitful; but how often is it observed that numbers of mares both 

 old and young which have been regular breeders fail in a particular season 

 to a particular horse to bear foals; and it is no uncommon occurrence 

 to hear a breeder remark of a certain sire that " he has not left two foals 



