from what source the extra feed is obtained ; if this has to be bought 

 it is quite clear that the foal would not be able to pay his rent ; but 

 it so happens that the best horse breeding districts possess large 

 tracts of arrable land and these are not cultivated owing to the long 

 distance from the railway and the consequent high cost of produc- 

 tion; this land can with the application of the dryland system of 

 cultivation be made to produce all the necessary extra supplies of 

 feed, that are wanted for the successfid rearing of a crop of excell- 

 ent foals ; and the mares themselves as well as the three-year-olds 

 can be put to this work ; the mares are tamed and this is always of 

 decided advantage and the foals are all the better in getting accus- 

 tomed to man and the general routine of the farmyard. Some good 

 advice can be taken note of from the methods practised by our 

 neighbors in German South West Africa, where they have given 

 preference to the Cape Horse as foundation stock after having given 

 a trial to almost every other breed. Putting aside the usual method- 

 ical precautions and practices which will be quite right in a stud 

 in Germany but quite superfluous here ; we can still pick up many 

 a good hint. 



Herr Schlettwein, one of the few and a very successful horse 

 breeder advises that the mares should do their share of the farm 

 work; a moderate amount of ploughing after the breeding season 

 will do the brood mares every good; she is tamed and is easier 

 handled and the wildness of the foals is gradually overcome Be- 

 sides developing the strength and general structure of the mare she 

 also helps paying her keep by providing the extra food she and her 

 foal require in scanty periods. 



This is a practise which is quite overlooked in South Africa 

 generally ; very few mares are broken in and in the breeding season 

 a troop is more difficult to handle than at ordinary times and this 

 is undoubtedly one of the reasons why many of our methods in 

 breeding and managing are so slipshod and careless and too often 

 unsuccessful and unprofitable. 



In his excellent book Schlettwein lays great stress on the selec- 

 tion of the breeding material and points out that the breeding of 

 horses is of far greater importance than that of sheep or cattle ; 

 for ill-bred specimens of these can easily be disposed of to the 

 butcher, whereas the badly bred horse lives to breed on or fails to 

 find a market. ^'^ Most of the European and American fodder 

 (15) Carl Schlettwein. "Die Farmer in Deutsch Siidwestafrilca 1909." 



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