Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 97 



which applies to all breeds of horses, gives the owners of stallions 

 an opportunity of having their horses registered, and certificates of 

 soundness issued annually. The diseases which debar from regis- 

 tration are cataract, roaring, whistling, ringbone, sidebone, spavin, 

 navicular disease, shivering, stringhalt, and defective genital organs. 

 The idea at the initiation of the scheme was, that the breeders 

 would be enabled to ascertain what horses had been certified as 

 sound, would patronize the horse that was registered, and would not 

 patronize the others, which would have to be withdrawn from the 

 road. Up to the present time the scheme can hardly be considered 

 a success. Not more than 10 per cent of the heavy breeds of 

 stallions have been registered, the principal owners of studs appear- 

 ing to ignore the scheme. Perhaps in time it may be adopted more 

 generally, and only sound sires used in the stud. 



If properly managed, the keeping of stallions may be made a 

 profitable branch of business. Of course, capital, judgment, and 

 close attention to details are requisite if success is to be won. 

 Wealthy landowners have taken up the business as a hobby, and 

 when the requisite skill is obtained the business goes booming. 

 But many have succeeded well who had no large estate at their 

 back. Laurence Drew, David Riddell, and Andrew Montgomery, 

 all now gone over to the majority, made the Clydesdales what they 

 are, and made money at the business. 



Three also of the Shire stallion owners, who have passed away, 

 began business with one horse, and extended it into large and 

 valuable studs. The names of James Forshaw, Thomas Shaw, and 

 Walter Johnson were well known in the Shire horse world long 

 before the formation of the Shire Horse Society and the starting 

 of the Stud Book. 



The risks are considerable, the death rate of stallions being con- 

 siderably higher than that of the ordinary working stud on a farm. 

 If the stud is large, the cost of insurance may be heavier than the 

 annual losses, but where the stud is small and comprises only one 

 or two valuable animals, it is safer to have the risk covered by 

 insurance, and there are now plenty of insurance companies willing 

 to take the risk at a reasonable rate. Some large stud owners form 

 a sort of insurance of their own, by allocating a certain percentage 

 of the profits. and putting it to a reserve fund to cover losses. To 

 ensure success in the stallion business, the first requisite is to secure 

 a good animal to begin with — one that will gain the confidence of 

 the breeders, command the trade of the district, and be worth char- 

 ging a good fee for his services. It does not pay to keep an inferior 

 or an unsound horse, as that would almost immediately alienate the 



VOL. III. iQ 



