28 THE HORSE. 



SECTION V.— Or the Stallion. 



In the common breeding system, it has already been 

 said that he, as well as the mare, may be put to 

 his accustomed labour; and in former days, there 

 were some instances, that of old Babram a re- 

 markable one, of racing stallions, whilst in training, 

 covering mares, and yet running with their usual 

 success. But generally, both stallions and brood 

 mares, in all capital studs, are restricted to their pro- 

 per business of breeding, and the mare receives the 

 horse annually, as long as she retains the power of 

 conception. Previously to the establishment of the 

 racing; system in this country, which has been the 

 foundation of so many and great improvements in 

 our national breed of horses, it was the custom to 

 turn a stallion loose in the pasture, among a certain 

 number of mares, generally twenty, whence a number 

 of accidents must have occurred, and the powers of 

 the stallion have been by no means economized. We 

 moderns have been too much inclined to run into the 

 other extreme, by suffering stallions to cover so many 

 mares in a day, that from the exhausted nature of the 

 horse, many mares miss, and those which succeed 

 can scarcely be expected to bring other than a weak 

 and puny, or ill-formed progeny. Here we haw 

 another obvious reason for the great number of ordi- 

 nary and ill-shaped horses, which are annually bred 

 in a country renowned beyond all others, for its breed 

 of those indispensable animals. The golden rule is 

 this — a horse should never be put to serve a greater 

 number of mares in a day, than he can serve- with vi- 



