128 The Book of the Horse. 



horse to the top of a mound of sacred earth, there halt, and, while his charger curveted and 

 reared, wave the sword of Hungary to the four points of the compass. When he performed this 

 feat, an Englishman present — not unfamiliar with our cross-country riders, and no mean performer 

 himself — exclaimed, in relating the incident, " I trembled for the king ; I thought the horse would 

 have rolled back on him." 



Official reports made by our military attache at the Court of Vienna give us the latest and 

 most authentic information. The latest census gives for Hungary 2,160,000 horses, for the 

 Austrian provinces 1,367,000. 



The separate Ministries of Agriculture for Austria and Hungary each systematically encourage 

 the breeding of horses, and for this purpose annually purchase carefully-selected thoroughbred 

 stock in England. 



There are two Government studs in Austria, three in Hungary, and a fourth is about to be 

 established in the recently made accessible province of Transylvania — Trans-sylva, "beyond the 

 forest " — a country of extraordinary and undeveloped wealth. 



The business of these studs, which have been in existence since the latter part of the last 

 century, is to breed mares for the service of the studs, and stallions sufficient in number to supply 

 the wants of the country generally, which are distributed over depots established for the purpose. 

 At each stud stand stallions of different races — Arab, English thoroughbred and half-bred, 

 Norman, and Lepiza, descended from the old Spanish stock bred in the imperial studs. It is 

 impossible to imagine greater brutes than these, according to our English notions, unless it be 

 our own cream-coloured State stallions. 



The number of mares in each depot varies from 200 to 400, a few being English thoroughbred; 

 but the majority are half-bred English, Arab, or Norman mares, bred in the country on one side or 

 other for generations. 



These studs have suffered during the vicissitudes of the Austrian Empire. During the great 

 Hungarian insurrection a number of valuable private studs, collected at vast expense, were 

 dispersed or destroyed, requisitioned, or carried away as the spoils of war. At present the system 

 is to keep the races distinct, and to send the kind of stallions to each district which they are found 

 by experience to suit best. 



The Hungarian Government owns nearly 1,800 stallions, the Austrian 1,600 ; and as these 

 numbers were insufficient, in 1873 the Government was engaged in buying more. Annual horse 

 shows are held in each district, where Government commissioners award money prizes and medals 

 for the best mares with foals, for yearlings, two-year-olds, and three-year-olds. The Government 

 also allows from £\0 to ;^30 annually for each approved stallion in private hands. 



At present the peasants are not sufficiently rich or intelligent to breed many good horses ; 

 but the rapid introduction of improved means of communication and improved agriculture, with 

 consequent wealth to the farmers, is likely in a few years to produce a decided improvement 

 especially in Hungary, where no man walks if he can ride. The Emperor, the Archduke, and 

 the wealthy landowners of Bohemia, Galicia (Poland), and Hungary have studs for breeding good 

 carriage and riding horses. 



The Austrian " Stud Book," issued periodically, which notices every breed of horse, forms 

 a large volume. The climate is a great drawback in Hungary, and seems likely to make 

 breeding any great surplus stock for exportation unlikely. There are onl)' three or four months 

 of the year when horses of value can get pasture good enough to keep them in condition, and 

 the hay made is generally very bad. 



Races in Hungary are attended, unlike those of France, bj- enthusiastic crowds of peasantry. 



