run on the veld they are fairly wild. Wlien the stallion is a very 

 valuable one and not thoroughly acclimatised this method is con- 

 sidered to be the least risky. South African bred stallions get 

 some extra feeding and grooming only for some period before the 

 breeding season and as soon as the first foals are dropped the stal- 

 lion is allowed to run with the troop and do his two-fold duty, cover- 

 ing the mares and protecting the foals against possible attacks of 

 smaller wild animals or mules;- especially was this the case in the 

 days when wild animals were more numerous — mules too were con- 

 sidered to aiford excellent protection against the smaller wild ani- 

 mals, but it has been found that the excessive love of the mule for 

 foals and his too hard caresses have cost the farmer the loss of many 

 a good foal and to-day mules are iiot allowed to run in the same 

 camp with young foals. 



In the ordinary stud the stallion used is generally selected from 

 the troop of a breeder whose reputation, as a breeder of excellent 

 horses has been gained by the performajices of individuals of his 

 stud. He is the owner of one or more imported stallions the high 

 repute of which has been based solely on the quality, conformation 

 and performances of their progeny. To the average farmer, par- 

 ticularly of the earlier days, •a high pedigree and race course records 

 were so many mere words; a stallion was judged by his offspring 

 and its capabilities — it was deeds not words they wanted even from 

 their horses, and it is due to these sensible and efficient methods of 

 selection that horse-breeding could withstand the shock it received 

 three-quarters of a century later, when in 1860 numbers of worth- 

 less brutes found their way to many of the studs solely on the 

 merit of high pedigrees and race course records, overlooking the 

 fact that was borne in mind so well during the past two centuries, 

 that a brilliant turf record and high sounding pedigree are no guar- 

 antees of what a horse will do at stud, especially for breeding use- 

 ful animals. 



These methods conducted on such natural lines, would, when 

 carried on with some intelligent system of selection and manage- 

 ment on sufficient pastures and abundant fresh water supplies., com- 

 bine within itself all that could be desired for the ideal and suc- 

 cessful rearing of a good horse ; but unfortunately these methods 

 were not combined with sufficient attention and intelligence and 

 where the troop has been allowed too much freedom deterioration 

 of the stock in general has been the result. 



62 



