HORSE SHOWS AND REMOUNTS 425 



The answer to this must be that the Government will 

 have to purchase a very much larger amount of young 

 troopers annually, and thus create a market which will soon 

 induce a supply, for farmers are quick enough in taking up 

 any branch of farming which will pay. And in order to 

 create sufficient vacancies in the ranks to absorb the extra 

 amount of horses annually purchased, and at the same time 

 to create a reliable reserve in a time of need, all the horses 

 should be passed out of the ranks after serving about three 

 years and lent to private persons, on condition of their being 

 forthcoming on notice being given. A small annual sum 

 might be charged for the use of the animals, if not objected 

 to, and the animals should be registered and inspected at 

 stated periods by officers appointed by the Kemount Depart- 

 ment, who would keep an up-to-date census of those ready 

 for service ; and amongst other regulations one might 

 profitably be inserted by which the horse would become 

 the property of the owner after a specified number of years, 

 thus insuring that all the Government horses were of a 

 reasonable age for work. In this way a very large reserve 

 of trained horses could be built up, at very small cost to 

 the country at large. Under certain conditions a propor- 

 tion of the mares might be allowed to be bred from, but 

 these while in foal would need to be deducted from the 

 total of those available for immediate service. The foals 

 themselves should be the property of the Government until 

 three j'^ears old, and then be inspected by the district officer, 

 and if thought suitable taken into possession at a fixed 

 price, but if rejected should then belong to the breeder, to be 

 disposed of as he thinks fit. 



It would give a stimulus to breeding if remounts were 

 purchased by the Government at three years old instead of 

 four years, and foreign Governments already make their 

 purchases at this age. 



It would be a further inducement to breed foals if no 

 mare might be exported under the age of five years, for 

 then the fillies would be bred from at three years old ; and 

 after the foal was weaned, when the mare would be four 

 years old, she would be fit for any description of work the 



