Are Mares Safe in Harness. 189 



STALLIONS, GELDINGS, MARES. 



Stallions are seldom used in this country for harness, hunting, or as hacks. Now and 

 then a stallion of extraordinary beauty and gentleness is met with amongst parade chargers 

 and park hacks ; in nearly every hunt you will hear of some wonder of a stallion ; but as a 

 rule half-bred horses are castrated as yearlings, and thoroughbred horses as soon as they are 

 thrown out of training and brought into ordinary use. It must be confessed that there is a 

 grandeur, especially about the neck and fore-quarters of a full-aged stallion, a special character 

 that is very picturesque. But in this country, whether from the higher system of feeding that 

 prevails, or from the impatient character of our grooms, stallions are extremely troublesome ; 

 while in France, Spain, South Germany, and Russia, stallions arc in almost universal use for 

 light harness and saddle. 



It would be difficult to decide whether we gain or lose more by our system of castration 

 On the one hand, we do prevent a great many useless, ill-shaped brutes from reproducing 

 their defects ; on the other, wc reduce to sterility the whole class of magnificent animals which 

 form the studs of the pasture counties. The French writers on breeding attribute the 

 superiority of our horses in a large degree to our preference for geldings. 



In Prussia the system of castration is carried still further. No one is allowed to keep or 

 use a stallion that has not been approved, branded, and registered by a Government officer. 



All things being equal, a gelding will fetch more money as a hunter, carriage-horse, or 

 hack, than a stallion or marc. Indeed, a stallion, if aged, unless with a character as a hunter, 

 or remarkable action, and warranted quiet, is very difficult to sell at all, unless thoroughbred 

 or of the heavy draft breed. Railroad companies charge double or nearly double fare for a 

 single stallion, and often compel you to take a whole box. 



The common theory is that for saddle a gelding is worth at least £^ more than a mare 

 equal in every other respect. For harness purposes some persons will not use a mare at all. 

 High-priced pairs of full-sized carriage-horses are always geldings. Job-masters have scarcely 

 anything else in their stables ; but on turning to the advertisements of sales by auction at 

 Albert Gate, or to the catalogues, of horse shows, it will be found that a very large number 

 of hacks not exceeding 15 hands 2 inches are described as quiet to drive as well as ride, and 

 that a very large percentage of these are mares, which, when well bred, are usually handsomer 

 than geldings, and have more character. 



You find a great many mares worked in harness in light carriages— both single and 

 double. In my time I have had more mares than geldings, always drove them in harness, 

 and never met with a serious accident; but then my horses, although full-fed, were never idle, 

 a condition which in horses as well as men is the root of all evil. 



A good mare must not be rejected, although a gelding is decidedly to be preferred for 

 harness purposes, for it can be shown, on undeniable evidence, that a number of very valuable 

 harness-horses are mares, and equally good in harness and under saddle. Before the Franco- 

 German War, a light-boned grey mare was the by-word for the most unprofitable, unsaleable 

 article in horseflesh; but since that cavalry-consuming epoch there is a purchaser for a good 

 horse of either sex or any colour. 



To horse suitably is much more difficult than to buy a carriage, because horses cannot be 

 made to order. The first point is to know what you want. But many people do not, and, 

 more, cannot make up their minds without the eloquence of a salesman to assist them. 



