BKEEDING. 



23 



the males of animals during the period of Oestrum are interest- 

 ing. The animal wins the female through the law of battle. 

 The most timid animals, not provided with any special w^eapons 

 for fighting, engage in desperate conflicts during this season. 



In Colorado the law requires every person having cows run- 

 ning at large to turn with them one bull for every twenty-five 

 cows. These bulls, when strange ones meet, fight with great 

 ferocity. They are more likely to meet when the cows are in 

 heat. 



A stallion will drive all other stallions and geldings out of 

 his band, and sometimes even strange mares, especially if his 

 band is large and he is well acquainted with them. If he desires 

 to increase his band he will steal any mare he can find. He 

 either leads or drives them to and from water, and as they are 

 strung out he will pass back and forth with his head near the 

 ground; if one is missing he will leave the band and search dili- 

 gently until he brings her in, using teeth or heels for a whip. 

 It is both difficult and dangerous to lead a mare from a band 

 having a regular herder, as the stallion is called. 



Where mares are kept in bands herded by stallions, it often 

 happens that horses try singly to whip out a horse of another 

 herd, and if they fail, get another to join the contest. One will 

 engage with the horse while the other drives away the mares. 



Where a stallion is allowed to run as a herder of a small band 

 of mares, we may expect the most perfect progeny. Here he 

 escapes the injury of confinement in close, dark, and badly- 

 ventilated stables. Stable feed has a tendency to heat the blood, 

 a condition that often affects the genital organs. Constant con- 

 finement renders his disposition fierce and intractable, and pri- 

 vation of the daily society of the mare makes the matter still 

 worse. When he is led out to meet her he is all frenzy and 

 fever, and can hardly be controlled. This disposition will most 

 assuredly l)e imparted to the foal. Almost invariably the foal 

 will partake chiefly of the constitution and disposition of the sire, 

 while his form and size are mainly derived from the dam. The 



