CHAPTER XXI 



THE STALLION 



Good sires have wrought a wonderful improvement in 

 the quality of Western horses, and the margin of profit 

 between the cost of raising a good pure-bred stallion and 

 the income derived from the increased value of his colts 

 has been tremendous. This margin, however, has been 

 largely lost to the farmers, owing on the one hand to the 

 exploitation of the business by dealers and on the other 

 to the indifferent care given the stallions themselves. 

 The stallion business is a fertile field for improvements — 

 improvements that cost little money and bring big 

 returns. 



METHODS OF BUYING 



Two general methods of purchasing stallions are prefer- 

 able to most persons. These are privately owned stallions 

 which stand for public service throughout the neighbor- 

 hood, and company stallions which are owned by a company 

 of neighbors who join together and purchase a horse. Of 

 these two systems the first is preferable, and is coming into 

 practice to a larger extent. The company stallion has 

 generally proved unsatisfactory, except in cases in which 

 the men have formed their own organization. If the com- 

 pany waited for some salesman of a distant stallion dealer ■ 

 or importer to organize them into a company and then sell 



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