view raw text
PROPER EXERCISING OF STALLIONS. In the successful manipulation of a stud farm one of the most important elements of success is proper exercise of the stallions. In a state of nature and. indeed, in captivity up to his retirement from the race track, no animal takes so much voluntary or forced exercise as the horse. Yet, In too many instances, directly he Is relegated to stud work he undergoes an entire change of life and habits. Many a score of once successful race horses have I seen loomed to pass the remainder of their days either craning their necks in a vain endeavor to look out of an eight feet high window or sadly wearing away their existence before the narrow bars which give them a Ileeting glimpse of green pastures such as they often scampered over in the unrestraint of youthful spirits; and at most, in the way of exercise, a monotonous promenade round a yard thirty feet in diameter, with solid boarded walls ten feet high, and not even a peep at the world around them. Is it a wonder that they get maddened by the outside clatter of hoofs, eloquently appealing to them of the more fortunate freedom of their fellows, and finally end by savaging their grooms? How ones sympathy does go out to the stalled stallion, or the chained hound howling at ids kennel door. Sad sights both! and quite uncalled for, if owners were less blind to their own true interests, or gifted with more humanity. As a general rule it will be found that, if the usual walking exercise of the race horse is not interrupted because of the transfer from post to paddock the health and temper of the animal will not suffer. So dearly do stallions value their daily exercise, that I have known them, when deprived of it by continued wet weather or other causes, take to pawing and kicking at tlie walls of their loose boxes, until taken out as usual. One of the gentlest tempered stallions I know, Clevedcn brother to Chester, taken by me to America in ISO."., never fails to begin mildly rapping at the side of his box after a few days neglect. It is hard to conceive any treatment more pernicious than to so suddenly change the habits of the most active of all tLr domestic animals. And it is bound to bring about vicious habits, loss of health, muscle and temper, and Increased liability to catch colds, or to suffer from constipation and a score of other ills, which tend to reduce the value of the animal, and often bring about his early death, and certainly render him comparatively useless in the desired transmission of those splendid racing qualities which led to his purchase. As a proof of the value of exercise. I have leen told by reliable men that stallions which travel round a district to their mares get a higher average of foals than home stallions. C. Bruce Lowe in Breeding Race Horses by the Figure System.
