cultivation of cereals as was done at tlie time was only sufficient to 

 supply the family with the necessary food and bread. :^ Thus the 

 troops of horses were left to forage for themselves on the almost 

 limitless pastures.: Valuable stallions, such as mentioned in prev- 

 ious pages and imported before 1800, costing as much as 3000 

 thaler were naturally offered the best stabling and care. This state of 

 affairs was a most ideal one for the breeding of excellent animals ; 

 with plenty of feed on boundless pastures the little harm done by 

 the few severe winter months in stunting the growth and ultimate- 

 ly the size was generally overcome by breeding from pure-bred 

 sires of good size and weight; but with the limiting of pastures, 

 however, and breeding from inferior stallions, new methods were 

 required to deal with new conditions and altered circumstances. 

 Unfortunately with few exceptions it has been a case of doing as 

 grandfather and father did and the glories of those days have not 

 dawned again. 



The earliest accounts of this branch of the South African pas- 

 toral farming are found in the valuable volumes of Lichtenstein. 

 "stabling," says this authority, '4s out of the question, horse- 

 thefts are unknown in the north-western regions and the horses run 

 on the pastures day and night. Every fortnight the troop is 

 rounded up and counted. Now and then a foal falls a prey to 

 hyneas (wolves) and many a horse shows signs that it had a bad 

 time at the claws of some wild animal or other. This locality" — 

 comprising to-day the districts of Calvinia, Victoria, West, Rich- 

 mond, Colesberg, Hanover, etc., and then known as ths old and new 

 Hantam districts — ''is eminently suited for the rearing of horses, 

 as it is a high plateau region with never failing streams and roll- 

 ing pastures of excellent grass. The high altitude of several of the 

 flat-topped hills is also a safeguard against the destructive disease 

 that periodically sweeps over the land and raises great havoc among 

 the troops of horses in other localities. ' '* 



He further mentions that large studs of over 300 horses are of 

 frequent occurence both in the northern and southern districts and 

 that the stallions generally are very fine animals being "either im- 

 ported English blood horses or Arabs. The methods in practice all 

 over the country are those of a free stud and the appearance of the 



(3) Bohert Wallace. "Farming Industries in the Cape Colony" 1896- 



(4) Heinrich Lichtenstein. " Eeisen in Siidlichen Afrika 1798-1806" 



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