of stallions within the reach of tenant farmers it is a mistake to miss the opportunity, but those less fortunately placed are now able, if they desire to do so, to profit by the Development Grant of the State, which enables them to get mares to sound—if not front rank—stallions at low fees or by assisted nominations. That a horse breeder should be content to mate his mares with a mongrel when it is easily possible to aim higher seems difficult to understand in these days when pedigree means so much in market value.

For the production of geldings, fashionable blood is not essential, but it sometimes happens that a foal of outstanding merit is bred by quite a small farmer, and if such an one is by a well-known sire of prize-winning stock, a real good price may be obtained, if the dam is only registered, so there is much to be said in favour of using the highest type of Shire stallion, even by owners of one or two mares. Fortunately farmers are able to secure special terms for their mares from most stud owners, and there are many local societies which hire a real good horse and charge a smaller sum to their own members than to outsiders. Among such societies may be mentioned Peterborough, Welshpool, and Winslow, in all of which districts many high-class Shires have been bred. Then there are generous landlords who hire a real good horse for the benefit of their tenants—although not Shire breeders themselves—so that it is quite possible for the majority of tenant farmers to obtain nominations to one of the best of Shire stallions if he is bent on improvement and believes in being enterprising enough to obtain it. The indifference which leads horse breeders to use a mongrel which comes into the yard, rather than send further afield to a better animal is inexcusable in a member of the Shire Horse Society, neither is such an one likely to improve his financial position by means of his heavy horses, which large numbers of farmers have done during the depressed times. An extra five pounds for a service fee may be, and often is, fifty when the foal is sold.

CHAPTER IV
Breeding from Fillies

For many years it has been a debatable point whether two-year-old fillies should be bred from or not. The pros and cons have been discussed, and in the end Shire breeders have used their own discretion on the point. Superior animals have, however, been bred from youthful parents on both sides, a notable instance being the late Lord Wantage’s Lady Victoria; her sire was Prince William, the London and Royal Champion, and her dam Glow, by the London Champion Spark. She was the first foal of a two-year-old colt, with a two-year-old filly for her dam, yet she made a great prize-winning mare, having won first and cup in London in 1889 and championship of the Oxfordshire Show in 1890.

It may also be mentioned that Buscot Harold, the London Champion stallion of 1898, was begotten when his sire, Markeaton Royal Harold, was but a two-year-old colt, although his dam, Aurea, was older. At two years old he was preferred to his sire for the Elsenham Challenge Cup.

This proves that Shire breeders have been making good use of fillies for many years, therefore the produce of a three-year-old filly need not be rejected, neither should the nursing of a foal at that age necessarily result in a stunted or plain mare. It is, however, necessary to grow fillies along with the aid of supplementary food and to “do” both them and their foals well while they are suckling.

There is no doubt that the Shires of the present day do get more food and attention than they did in bygone days, when it was unnecessary to strive after showyard size, because shows did not exist in such numbers, so that the farmer who exhibited cart horses was rarely met with, and young horse stock were not fed to encourage size and growth. So long as they could be put into the team at three years old and mated at four, that was considered early enough to work or to breed.

At the present time the horse population of Great Britain and Europe, if not of the whole world, is being reduced by the greatest of all wars, consequently it is desirable for Shire breeders to do their share towards making good the shortage. If fillies are well kept from birth they will attain size and may be mated at two years old to a young horse, but not too early in the season. The end of May is early enough for fillies, and a big heavy old horse should not be chosen under any circumstances. If served at the right time they are more likely to breed than fillies a year older, and it makes a lot of difference whether a five-year-old mare has a couple of sons and daughters or even one to her credit, or no offspring at all, when the profit and loss account is being made up by a farmer.

It may be that a three-year-old cannot be got into a fat state for show with a foal running by her side, but the prolonged rest at that age does her no harm. She will come up all right at a later period, and is more likely to make a regular breeder than if not mated till three years old. A mare which breeds from the age of three till she is fifteen is a great help in the way of production, even if she only averages one foal in two years, which is, perhaps, as many as it is safe to reckon on for rearing to maturity, although, of course, there are plenty of mares which have produced a good foal for ten or eleven years in succession. They will breed till they are twenty-five, to the writer’s knowledge, but the average age at which Shire mares breed their last foal must be put somewhere round fifteen.

There is no doubt that we have learned much in horse management since shows have become so popular, although it may be that high feeding for show purposes has been—and is—the cause of a lower percentage of foals among high class show animals of both sexes.

To prepare fillies for mating at two years old may be compared to feeding for early maturity in cattle and sheep, except that many of the latter are only grown and fattened to be killed, whereas Shires are meant to live a long and useful life. It is, therefore, necessary to build up a frame with this idea in view. An outdoor life should be led, while the food should be both good and sufficient, as well as being suitable.

There is no time to be wasted, and if foals are allowed to get into low condition while being weaned, or during their first winter, they are less fit to make robust two-year-olds fit either to work or to breed, or what is more profitable, to accomplish both of these tasks together during part of the year.

If early maturity is aimed at with any class of stock, feeding and management must be of the best, therefore farmers who half starve their foals and allow their yearlings to be wintered on a bit of hay must not expect their two-year-olds to be well grown and in the best possible condition for parental duties.

The situation at the present time is such that every horse-breeder should do his best to utilize to the full the horse stock which he possesses, so that a sufficient number of horses may be obtained to carry on the agriculture and trade of the country, both of which are likely to require horses in large numbers in the immediate future.

Mares will be relatively more scarce than stallions for the reason that the latter have not been “commandeered” for war purposes, but as geldings have been taken in large numbers, there is, and will be, a great demand for workers of all grades.