132 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



produced the great differences in these aver- 

 ages and why it is that the stallions in the 

 Trakehnen establishment were so much surer, 

 or else a smaller percentage of the mares 

 barren, than at Wickrath and some others. 

 But the average result obtained from this great 

 number of stallions and mares for so long a 

 period may safely be accepted as establishing 

 a general law or rule that can be depended 

 upon under like circumstances. (The tables 

 above referred to will be found on the two 

 following pages.) 



Taking the statistics of all the establish- 

 ments reported from 1859 down to 1874, with 

 an average of over 1,000 stallions and 42,000 

 mares per year, as above stated, we find the 

 results as follows: 



Average percentage of mares in foal , 67 7 



AVerage percentage of live foals dropped 53.3 



Average percentage of mares aborted or miscarried 4.8 



Average percentage of mares dying or not accounted for.. 9.6 



If the results as ascertained from the fore- 

 going statistics may be accepted as the general 

 rule it follows that the average stallion will 

 make as much money for his owner by standing 

 at $10 the season as he will at $14.75 to insure 

 a mare with foal, or $18.75 to insure a living 

 foal; and that a horse that can show 53 living 

 foals to 100 mares served is an average foal-get- 

 ter. Whether these figures will apply exactly 

 to horse-breeding as managed in this country or 



