HORSE BUYING AND BREEDING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 555 
As doubtless everyone knows, the 1st July in South Africa answers 
(as far as the seasons are concerntd) to New Years Day here, and all 
horses are aged from that date. When we stared our work (in 
August) the spring was only just commencing so that hoises were seen 
at their worst, most of them having been subsisting on the veldt all 
winter. 
The winter is the dry season up here (except at the Cape itself), 
but this one had been unusually wet, so that there was a fair amount 
of keep for the animals. 
Horses are never clipped out here, and little is ever done to enhance 
their value by those adventitious aids, the use of which an English 
dealer knows so well. My veterinary assistant (during the latter part 
of my travels) Lieut. England, who had been out in the country some 
years, and served through the Matabele Campaign, was an expert 
with the knife and scissors, and would very quickly transform a likely 
looking cob into quite a smart hack. He so metamorphosed a rough 
little shaggy Basuto, which his owner, a Dutchman, after much hag¬ 
gling had parted with for £13, that the Boer when taken to see him 
after the operation, turned his back on him and walked right out of 
the kraal, vowing that he had been •“ done in the eye ” by the ‘ verdom- 
de roinek.’ 
There is one thing contrary to all our stable maxims, which the 
Africander does invariably, and that is, off saddles directly he comes 
in, apparently with no evil results. The great secret of travelling out 
here is to ‘ out-span ’ or off saddle (either with horses or mules) at 
least once every two-and-a-half hours. Even if you have no water or 
food for them, the animals will find refreshment from a roll and a stale, 
and after half an hour to an hour’s rest, will be quite ready to go for¬ 
ward again. 
An indispensable adjunct to a South African horse’s saddling is the 
f reim.’ This long strip of untanned oxhide is attached to the head 
collar, and if there is any danger of the animal straying, one end of it 
is fastened to a fore-leg just above the knee, allowing the horse to 
graze but preventing his straying any distance. 
A thoroughly well trained “ shooting horse,” however, does not 
require this restraint, the f reim ’ thrown over his head is quite sufficient. 
Fortunately the Africander horse very rarely requires to be shod, as 
the shoeing generally is very bad, and if by chance a farmer has tq 
shoe his pony, he will probably leave the shoes on until they literally 
drop off. 
Take him on the whole he is a very sound animal, and practically 
free from roaring and kindred complaints of the respiratory organs. 
The food of the stabled horse out here is “ forage.” Forage means 
oats given in the ear with the straw, as it is cut. Careful people give 
it in the form of crop, but it is very frequently shown in the manger in 
its natural state. Corn is also given—mealies, (Indian corn) generally, 
but sometimes oats, as at home. I have never seen hay used here, 
except once, for bedding. 1 A Johannesburg trainer told me he gave 
English hay to his race horses at a price of £20 a ton. Lucerne is 
very freely grown round some farms for the horses, and yields three 
