xxxm HORSE RACING, HUNTING AND POLO 327 



with a most suitable climate. The portions of the 

 Protectorate which for the present seem more 

 especially suitable for horse breeding are perhaps 

 western Kenia, parts of the Uasin Guishu plateau, 

 and Likipia. 



There are almost as many types of horse in the 

 country as there are types of settler. We have 

 English horses, walers, Africans, Basutos, Arabs of 

 both types, Indian country-breds, Somalis, Abyssinians 

 and Boran, and, best of all, a rapidly growing and 

 improving class of country-breds. All do well, and 

 there are customers for every class. The animal the 

 ordinary resident farmer wants for the most part is, 

 perhaps, a small, strong and hardy animal. Small, 

 because he is easy to get on to and will not eat 

 so much. Strong, because he will be wanted to be 

 ridden over the farm all day and every day. Hardy, 

 because, though usually he will be kept well, he will at 

 times be wanted for long journeys where he will have 

 to pick up what grazing he can find and sleep cold 

 at night. To produce such an animal a likely cross 

 would be a good class Arab stallion with the best 

 Abyssinian mares obtainable. Abyssinia is full of 

 horses of very varying excellence. While the majority 

 of ponies seen in the south and in the weekly horse- 

 market at Adis Ababa are small and not too 

 well shaped, there are some extremely useful animals 

 to the north, more especially in the Walla country. It 

 would mean a great deal to the Protectorate if a 

 hundred of the best of these mares could be imported. 

 During 1910 and 191 1 some fourteen or fifteen 

 hundred horses from the Boran country were driven 

 down into the Protectorate by Somalis, the majority 

 of them being run across the Abyssinian frontier. 



