ligent selection, better management and some good sense and whole- 

 some enterprise, to prevent us from achieving again what was once 

 a source of national wealth and of great economical value. 



(b) DEVELOPMENT. 



In tracing the development of horse-breeding in South Africa 

 it is necessary to bear in mind the various phases the development of 

 the country itself passed through. Generally each Colony more or 

 less passes through these stages : 



(I) *rhe pastoral, when the wealth of the land is in cattle, 

 sheep and horses, ranging over practically unlimited lands. 



(II) The argi cultural, when the land is divided up into defi- 

 nite and smaller areas. 



(III) Lastly, the mining and manufacturing age, when town 

 populations grow quickly and wealth is not expressed in terms of 

 flocks and herds nor in crops and orchards but in gold and bills of 

 exchange.'*'' 



All these stages which can easily be traced in the development 

 of the Union and its various provinces naturally effected the horse 

 and its breeding in many ways. Although South Africa has j^assed 

 through these various stages, still it was not in too marked a degree 

 and we still find the three stages fairly well in existence side by side. 



The pastoral phase certainly covers a longer period than the 

 rest. For over two centuries (1650-1870) the pastoral life ruled 

 supreme, and all wealth consisted of flocks of sheep and herds of 

 cattle and horses roaming over practically endless pastures. Even 

 to-day with only one and a half million whites; scattered over 

 450,000 sq. miles of territory (excluding natives and their terri- 

 tories) the conditions are largely pastoral and additional feeding 

 and other scientific methods in farming are still in their infancy. 



The methods adopted in horse-breeding were simple and nat- 

 ural and were adapted to produce a hardy, useful animal at a mini • 

 mum cost of food and labor. The horses liked the half wild life 

 and natural selection was able to do its work in eliminating the 

 weakly animals from the troop. In more thickly settled countries 

 horses are valuable and weaklings are allowed to live and breed on. 

 In a pastoral country the economic value of stock is low ; drought, 

 cold and scarcity of food, the tests of warfare and hunting calling 

 (50) Sir Humphrey de Trafford "The Eorse of the British Empire." 1907. 



26 



