Thoroughbred sires only ; but by a method of very strict selection 

 he produced both driving and carriage horses which even the best 

 breeders in England would have been proud to possess ; and he was 

 intimately acquainted with horse breeding in England. 



From a previous chapter we know that sires of other breeds 

 were used in grading up the breeding stock and in fact were also 

 used to replace the Thoroughbred after the importation of the 

 ''blood weeds" in 1860 and after. Most of the best horse experts 

 are of the opinion that these sires caused a further deterioration 

 of our horse stock. But under the circumstances it seemed the best 

 remedy and the best breeders and experts advised the use of Hack- 

 neys, Clevelands and Roadsters with many restrictions but always 

 maintaining that if ' the right type of Thoroughbred could be found 

 he would be the best." 



These cross-breds although they gained in size and stoutness 

 were lacking in many good qualities possessed by the Cape Horse 

 bred from Thoroughbred sires and mares with Thoroughbred blood 

 in their veins. An eminent authority holds that ' ' Hackneys, Cleve- 

 lands and Flemish horses spoiled our horse stock. The cross-breds 

 would not pull a light buggy fifty miles along an ordinary road 

 during a day and bring you back the next day and if they did, how 

 many splints, curbs and other ailments would be the result, or given 

 a regiment mounted on such chargers, would they ever under forced 

 marching orders do what % bred Thoroughbreds and Arabs would 

 do?"=i 



Reflecting on the outcome of the South African war these re- 

 marks which will be endorsed by the majority of farmers go to 

 show that cross-breds other than from Thoroughbred sires or well 

 selected Cape Horse sires are an undesired class and when light 

 coach breeds and other than Thoroughbreds are used as sires they 

 should be selected with great caution. 



The effects of using heavy breeds such as Cart Horse and 

 Shires to give bone and substance to our brood mares were natur- 

 ally worse than those of the above mentioned lighter breeds. Mr, 

 Barter, Natal 's greatest horse breeder, called it "breeding with a 

 vengeance, ' and other breeders have called this procedure a ' ' .suici- 

 dal mania," To serve a 14.2-3 % Thoroughbred mare out of 

 Oriental stock to a Clydesdale, Percheron or Shire or mares of these 



(51) Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope Vol. XXXIII. 



105 



