288 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 



in four days, riding different horses, but driving them before 

 him from the beginning to the end of the journey. 



Many of the brood-mares in the southern part of the State 

 are wild Spanish ; that is, they live entirely in the open plain, 

 are unbroken, and many of them have never been touched, save 

 when they were to be branded. They are in bands called 

 manadas, numbering from thirty to sixty mares, which are 

 under the guidance of one stallion or garanon. He knows 

 every one of his band, keeps them together, conducts them to 

 what he considers the best pastures, and drives away geldings, 

 stallions, mules, and whatever animals he may dislike. When 

 a vaquero tries to drive the manada into a corral for the pur- 

 pose of catching some of the band, the garanon will frequently 

 divide them and scatter them about, and render it impossible 

 for the vaquero to get them together ; for while he drives in one 

 place, the stallion is equally busy at another, and the mares 

 fear his teeth and heels as much as the swinging reata of the 

 horseman. The garanon is usually from five to nine years of 

 age. He guards his manada with the most jealous care. It 

 sometimes happens that one garanon tries to take away a mare 

 from the band of another, and then a fight ensues, in which 

 the weaker has to suffer a severe biting and kicking, and then 

 lose the object of the battle, too. The mananda keeps together 

 for year after year, but when it gets too large, the vaquero 

 will divide it and give a portion to the charge of another 

 garanon. All the mares foal before they are three years old, 

 whereas in the Atlantic States they seldom foal until a year 

 later. They also breed more regularly than elsewhere, for 

 when mares are kept in stables, they frequently pass seasons 

 without having colts. The foals are branded at the age of 

 three or four months, and are weaned at the age of eight or 

 ten months. The fillies continue to run with the manada, and 

 become part of it. The colts continue to run with the 

 manada until they are three or four years of age, when they 

 are broken and put into the cabattada, or herd of broken 



