THE BENGAL STUD HORSES. 
599 
from the breeding establishments; but, from what infor¬ 
mation I have obtained, I gather that insufficient attention 
is paid to the mares and foals. Large prices are paid for 
stallions; these are put to mares, which, if of good breed, are 
still low in flesh, impoverished in habit, and scarcely capable 
of sustaining themselves, without the additional burthen of 
nourishing their young. Again, these colts are left with 
their already emaciated mothers, and, for the first nine or 
twelve months, pass a life little short of starvation. They 
are then taken into a service which follows an opposite course : 
they are abundantly fed, are housed and clothed, of which 
the results are seen in the severity and strange variety of form, 
and fatality of issue, of that disease of colthood—strangles. 
The annals of the stud proclaim its castigation of this unwise 
mode of proceeding. 
How different is the course of that true breeder, the Arab. 
With him, the mare is the first object. No price will tempt 
him to part with her. He nourishes her to his own depri¬ 
vation. No care that he can bestow is ever withheld, and she 
is treated more as his offspring than his slave,—since he well 
knows, that in her progeny she will repay him. Now, w r ith 
respect to the feeding of colts, an English breeder—and none 
understands rearing colts better—will tell you, “you may 
starve your colts the third year, if well fed the first and second; 
they cannot lose what they have got; but if starved the first 
year, they are rendered hopeless. No after-care or feeding 
will redeem the time lost, and they must remain weeds to the 
end of their existence.” 
With respect to the remedy for these deficiencies, I am of 
opinion that, to improve the stud system, and place it upon 
a footing to enable it to support the demand for good and 
efficient horses, would cause such an outlay as at once to be 
a bar to its adoption. Besides, I am satisfied that horses 
deteriorate in the provinces; and for the studs to be kept up 
efficiently, a constant supply of fresh mares and stallions 
would be required, the expense of which would be enormous. 
To other countries the Government should look for their re¬ 
mounts, and while Caubul, Bokera, Candahar, Herat, and 
Persia, contain breeding districts, which, the market being 
open, would keep our cavalry well supplied, New South 
Wales would afford us abundance of draught cattle, and in 
taking their horses we should be benefiting one of our co¬ 
lonies. 
During the first Caubul campaign, when starvation com¬ 
pelled us to destroy so many of our horses as to render the 
cavalry dismounted, officers from regiments were directed to 
