The cape horse; its origin, breeding and development in the union of South Africa ..

Front matter

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

LIBRARY

Chapter I

History oF Horse Bresping IN SouTH AFRICA (a) Its Origin. (b) Its Development. (ce) Its Decline. (b) Present Time.

CuHapter I].

MetHops oF BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT

CuaprTer III.

THe Care Horse

(a) Its Characteristics. (b) On the Race Course. (ec) Its Diseases.

(d) Distribution.

CHAPTER IV.

Various TYPES OF THE CAPE HORSE

(a) In the Four Provinces. (b) The Basuto Pony and Namaqua Pony. (c) What Type to Breed.

CHAPTER V.

THE ECONOMICAL STATUS OF THE HORSE IN SouTH AFRICAN FARMING

CONCLUSIONS

Introduction

The horse is the aristocrat of the Animal Kingdom. He traces his ancestry not only to the beginning of the Christian era but far back to prehistoric times—his genealogical tree is writ large and clear on the sands of Time. ;

He has been man’s best friend from the beginning of his existence and still claims his best affections and attentions to-day.

All history profane and sacred attests the solicitude of mankind for breeding, rearing and possession of the horse. He is en- | deared to man from infancy—the child has his rocking horse and he advances to the proud possession of his pony, hunter and pair.

He has been identified with almost all that relates to human life. To study his origin, breeding, management and improvement is most profitable, important and pleasant.

The horse is to-day the foundation on which rests the agricultural wealth of the greatest nations of the world.

In the life of the South African people the horse has played a great part.

He was the first domestic animal imported to the southern shores of the dark continent by the white man and both were new comers. The history of both therefore is very intimately linked.

It was in the Autumn (April) of 1652 that two small fleets of sailing vessels from the East and the West crossed the Cape of Good Hope. The one from the West brought the white man and western civilization and the one from the East, horses from the Orient.

Since that date horse breeding has become one of the developing factors of the new country. ‘The stock was improved by fresh importations from the Orient and England, and it developed to great efficiency and fame towards the middle of last century, when a rapid decline set in, culminating in the disasters of the Anglo- Boer war of 1899-1902.

According to historical sequence, new eras generally follow radical changes and disasters. After the war Briton and Boer settled down to rebuild and reconstruct what they had destroyed in a foolish war. The supposed barriers to progress and unity were battered down. The erstwhile arenas of dissension, destructive wars and commercialism were united into the Union of South Africa in 1910. j

In the wake of the changes brought about by the war followed new ideas and enterprises. There was a great back-to-the-land movement. The magic spell cast over the people by the world’s richest gold and diamond mines was broken, and the wealth of the upper inches of a rich and productive soil and all its possibilities was realized with a new zest.

Certain of the pastoral industries commanded the world’s markets while others needed more attention, and one at least repuired almost total rehabilitation, that is horse breeding.

In order to do this a thorough knowledge of the past history of the industry and breed is essential.

To add to this knowledge is the purpose of this thesis. The subject is perhaps beyond the scope of a work of this kind, but any attempt to know more about an industry which has once been a source of great national wealth but has been partly destroyed through various causes, would undoubtedly be of great help in the reconstruction of this branch of our farming.

Since the war South Africa and especially the Union has entered into a new era of progress and prosperity, and to expand and solidify this every branch of farming industry must be placed on sure and efficient foundations, and no foundation is worth more attention, care and intelligence than our horse stock.

In this thesis prominence has been given to some of the best authorities on the question. Following the great historical fact that similar causes will have similar effects we can take many valuable lessons from the past to guide us in the reconstruction work of the future, bearing in mind that what has been done in the past can be done again.

This monograph is by no means an exhaustive work, and aims at nothing more than an honest and first attempt to collect between two covers some of the large amount of scattered material on a subject which deserves better attention in the ever-expanding pastoral and agricultural activity of the Union of South Africa even of the Continent of Africa. )

Yonder in the dusk lies the twilight Continent of Africa; for ages she has been claimed by selfishness, commercialism and barbareel Na rE we oO meting <a

D ism. Christianity, commerce and civilization dispute this claim. Will it be the twilight of sunset or sunrise? Much depends on the progress and advancement of Southern Africa with her boundless possibilities linking up the continent with her great schemes of railway extension. ;

The enterprise of the British, the tenacity of the Dutch with the refining influence of their French and methodical business habits of their Teutonic ancestors act and react upon one another and will ultimately produce a race and country second to none. (Fuller).

Not only South Africa but all Africa with its wonderful resources is a country of the future.

Cosmopolitan Club,

Ithaca, N. Y.,

CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF HORSE BREEDING IN SOUTH AFRICA (a) ITS ORIGIN.

““There is always something new from Libya (Africa).’’—Aristotle.

In most of the great works on the horse, the Cape Horse has briefly been alluded to as possessing a strong strain of Oriental blood into which Spanish blood and later English blood has been infused; that he possessed great stamina, hardness and endurance, but was lacking in size, conformity and beauty.

Experts and great breeders at home are agreed that the Cape Horse reached its highest point of development and _ efficiency toward the middle of the last century, but that since then a gradual decline has set in and the good quality of the stock has deteriorated.

The Cape Horse in the palmy days of its existence and to a very limited extent to-day shows very distinctive elements and characteristics in its inheritance. These heriditary qualities have never been traced satisfactorily, and in rehabilitating our horse stock too little attention has been paid to this very important factor, and in the attempt to reform to the old efficient and very excellent type and to regain the reputation and high standard of half a century ago, the deteriorated stock has been harmed to a further extent by unintelligent cross breeding and bad selection.

A knowledge, therefore, of the Cape Horse’s lineage and of the several strains that united in producing the best type is indispens ible and a first necessity.

It would not be necessary perhaps to go into much detail on the original stock from which, it is contended, the Cape Horse sprung ; but it would be well to make use of such facts and conjectures, taken from the vast domain of research, as would throw light on a subject that is as yet comparatively obscure.

(1) Sir Humphrey de Trafford ‘‘ The Horse of the British Empire.’’ London 1908.

Graf E. von Wrangel ‘‘ Die Rassen des Pferdes.’’ Stuttgart 1908.

The general accepted theory among the writers on the horse is that North Africa may be considered as the home of the first warm-blooded type of horse—the ancestor of the modern light horse.”

Prof. Ridgeway holds that, ‘‘North Africa, if not the birthplace is at least the cradle of the race which has been most concerned in the making of Arabs and Barbs, and through them of the Thoroughbred. This race was the only variety of horse that roamed over the plains of Libya, in the remote epochs; it was fleeter and more docile and altogether better adapted for riding purposes than any horses evolved in the plains of Europe and Asia. These were coarse, thick-set, dun and white colored horses, and in course of time, by blending these with the light and fleet-footed Libyan the various improved breeds of light and heavy horses now in existence were produced.?

The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture in discussing the two great breeds of horses remarks that: “‘ Another distinct type seems to have existed in the South and later became the foundation stock of the beautiful horses of Persia, Arabia and Barbery States of North Africa. It now seems probable that it is principally to this form that we must look for the original stock of the modern Thoroughbred, Saddle Horse and other races of speed horses. This ancient stock so fruitful in ultimate results as exhibited by these highly improved blood horses prebably had its origin in the dry desert regions of North Africa.’’

Von Nathusius* places the North African horses as an undercroup of the Arabs and Persians; but the grouping applies to the modern area; for Ridgeway has proved beyond doubt that the Libyan tribes possessed a most notable breed of horses many centuries before the Arabs, Persians or Turks ever owned a horse.

Most continental writers are unanimous in dividing all breeds of horses into two groups: the warm-blooded (Abendlandische, Oriental), and the cold-blooded (Morgenlandische, Heavy horses) .°

(2) R. Lydekker ‘‘The Horse and Its Relatives.’’ 1912. Sir W. H. Flower ‘“The Horse.’’ 1910.

(3) William Ridgeway ‘‘The Origin and Development of the Thoroughbred JHORS27¢ HOS.

The warm-blooded group is characterized by “‘extreme refinement, breediness, beauty of form and intelligence, speed, stamnia, grace of movement and an active nervous temperament; contrasting with these are the characteristics of the cold-blooded group; great scale and grossness, slow awkward movement, sluggish lymphatic temperament, black and dun color, and much development of hair.’’

From the investigations of Prof. Ridgeway it is largely to be deduced that ‘‘the Libyan horse flourished before the end of the second millennium, B. C. They were superior in speed to other known breeds of Europe and Asia and were distinguished by their bay color, and star in the fore-head, which is the characteristic of the Libyan to this day.’’ The highest pedigree of the Arab is still to-day traced to the Keheilet Ajuz family as the most distinguished of the five foundation families of the Arab stock and generally this strain of Arabs are of a bay color. ‘‘The swiftest horse known in Homerie days was a bay with a star in the fore-head. In Greek classical days the dark horses of Lybia were the swiftest known and they also bore the palm of victory from all others in the Roman circus in the first century or our era.’’ According to Ridgeway the Arabs, Barbs and Persian breeds owe their origin to this light, fleet-footed bay horse of Libya. As is generally known the English thoroughbred has been developed from one or from all of these breeds and present day runners and breeders of note still trace their pedigree to these great founders of the thoroughbred stock. The Oriental horses imported to England which more than any other have contributed in establishing the Thoroughbred are: the Byerly Turk, (1689) bay, the Darley Arabian, (1700) bay, the Godolphin Barb, (1730) bay, and with them are generally reckoned as the ultima thule of racing pedigree their great and illustrous sons Herod, (1758) bay, Eclipse, (1764) chestnut, Matcham (1748), bay, respectively.° The three great ancestors were all bays and fourteen hands or less than fourteen hands high ;‘ although their famous sons of half a century later stood much higher. These stallions and their progeny were crossed with mares of various breeds and colors, yet it is remarkable and a fact of great value how the bay color became stamped upon most horses of note. Within a century and a half the bay horse had ousted in all the great tests almost every

(6) General Stud Book, Vol. I, London 1808. (7) Sir Walter Gilbey ‘‘ Small Horses in Warfare.’’ 1906, other color and towards the end of the last century it was the predominant color amongst the great winners and breeders.®

From statistics we gather that during the last thirty years (1836-1866) the colors of the winners at the Derby and St. Leger were:

Derby...... 7 chestnuts, 7 brown, and 16 Bays St. Leger....5 chestnuts, 7 brown, and 17 Bays

It is further found that from the winners of the Derby, St. Leger, and Oaks, between the years 1870-99, the number of greys has disappeared altogether and that the number of blacks as well as the browns and chestnut browns is strongly on the wane.

‘“We find thus that the increase of speed is gradually rendering the English Thoroughbred a purely bay stock and as from the earliest times of which we have any record the Libyan horse has been not only the swiftest horse known but also of a bay color, we are justified in concluding that his bay color is as fundamental a characteristic as his speed, endurance, hardiness and docility, and that it is due not to artificial selection but to natural specilization.’’®

This reversion to the bay color of the stock bred from Oriental sires is bearing out the ali important fact that horses lke other animals and like birds will transmit their distinctive colors which will remain constant from generation to generation.*° In cross breeding we know that ceteris paribus the individual potency and characteristics of the nobler parent of more fixed type will be strongest in the transmission of these elements.** According to Davenport ‘‘that parent will be prepotent whose heredity substance is least mixed and therefore most intensified along the line of established characters.’’? The relative significance of this fact as applied to the Thoroughbred stock where parents on the paternal side were of nobler breed is self-evident.

The original wild horse was without a doubt of a “‘fixed color.”’ The only existing wild horse, the Prejvalsky’s, is a bay. This confirms the views of those who maintain that bay was the original color of the horse and according to Ridgeway the color of the original race of light horses. Several of the greatest authorities on (8) Sir Walter Gilbey ‘‘ Horses—Breeding to Colour-’’ 1907.

(9) William Ridgeway ‘‘ The Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse.’’ 1905. (10) Graf George Lehndorf ‘‘Handbuch fir Pferdeztchter.’’ 1908. (11) Charles Darwin ‘‘ Origin of Species.’’

(12) H. Davenport ‘‘ Principles of Breeding.’’ 1907.

the horse have expressed similar views on the color question. Hurst holds that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that in certain strains there may be a partial coupling of coat color and racing power. It is instanced that the chestnut grand-children of the famous St. Simon have proved themselves inferior in racing power to their bay and brown brothers and sisters.‘ It is also interesting to note that there is a strong tendency for the off-spring of eross-breds to be chestnut. ‘‘In the case of Thoroughbreds,’’ says _ Bunsow, ““bays and browns may be either pure as regards the power of transmitting their color to their off-spring or impure when they may give rise to chestnuts."

In the horse breeding of Arabia to-day the bays are easy favorites and firsts. Blunt says that, ‘‘out of a hundred mares among - the Amezah one would see 35 bays, 30 greys, 15 chestnuts, and the rest brown or black or two or three with white feet and a snipe or blaze down the face * * * * * * with very few exceptions all the handsomest mares we saw were bay which is without doubt by far the best color in Arabia, as it is in England. In choosing I should take none but bays and if possible bays with black-points.’’!®

Had this description been of a high class South African stud of horses it could not have been more true not even had he expounded on their merits and good qualities for I shall have opportunity to show that the Cape Horse in competition with his Arab and Persian and even Thoroughbred brothers in a county foreign to all of them easily held his own; in fact quite outstripped them.

With these remarks and by branching off into the field of re-. search we return from the desert regions of North Africa to its sunny south to trace there the distinctive characteristics of the Libyan horse as exhibited in its descendents. I allude of course to the Cape Horse which developed to great fame during the middle of the last century.

As will be shown in the further development of this chapter, the first importations of horses to South Africa were from Java and Persia. The descendents of these like the English Thoroughbred show in a very marked degree that the most prominent inherited qualities and characteristics were according to the best accounts, those that characterized the Libyan race of North Africa.

(13) C. C. Hurst ‘‘ Royal Society of London.’’? 1905. (14) &. Bunson ‘<The Mendel Journal No. 2, 1911. London. (15) Sir Wilfred S. Blunt ‘‘ The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.’’ 1908.

From a report*® in 1845 by Lt. Colonel Richardson who bought remounts in South Africa for the Indian Army we find that among a batch of 266 horses the colors were the following: 147 bays, 46 brown, 32 chestnuts, 19 greys, 14 dark-grey, 7 black, 1 dun. This shows a preponderance of about 56% bays, or over 72% if browns are included. The greys and dapple greys show strongly the color of the Spanish greys imported in 1807. The chestnuts and blacks are the progeny of crosses and show the influence of different types of Oriental sires. The Libyan influence, however, is most marked especially in a country where up to then horse-breeding was prac- , tically based on the system of ‘‘survival of the fittest’’ and in a case where the horses were picked ones. Ridgeway’s argument that color is as much a characteristic—a natural specialization—as any high quality holds true in this case as it does with the Thoroughbred. . The better animals of the highest qualities survived the severest tests—and these were the bays. Making use of the proverbial drowning man’s straw it may be added that one of the stallions frequently alluded to in Van Riebeeck’s Diary (1652-1662) as ‘‘most beautiful stallions’’ was called ‘‘Rode Vos,’’ (Red fox) and was thus a bay."*

From the valuable researches of Litchtenstein during the years 1798-1806'* we find the following remarks on the horse material of South Africa a hundred and fifty years after the importation of horses from Java and Persia; a considerable period of time during which the breed of horses could develop into a special and distinct type. ‘‘The breed of horses of Persian descent of the northers dis- - tricts of Cape Colony is considered to have been kept the purest. They are characterized by a stronger structure, greater height, and extraordinary endurance and are of a bay color. These northern districts comprise the Hantam range of mountains and plains which were adaptable to horse breeding, forming with its dry air and scanty herbage on rich lime soils a second home for the Arab. Greater care has been bestowed on their breeding and selection than in the Southern districts.”’

(16) Papers relating to the Purchase of Horses at the Cape of Good Hope for Cavalry and Artillery Service in India and the Colony. (Parliamentary Blue Books 1845).

(17) Dr. E. C. Godeé-Molsbergen. Jan van. Riebeeck. Stichter van Hollands Zuid Afrika 1918.

(18) Heinrich Litchtenstein. ‘‘ Reisen in Siidlichen Afrika 1798-1806. Berlin 1811.

Having attempted to trace the characteristics of the Cape Horse to its Libyan ancestors from such coincidents as color, stamnia, docility, endurance and hardiness we return to its history in South Africa itself.

At the time of the discovery of the Cape in 1486 the Aborigines possessed no knowledge of the horse (Epuus Caballus) nor do we possess to-day any palaeontological proofs of its existence in prehistoric times. The natural group of Equidae, however, were represented by three distinct types and in large numbers too. They were: (1) The mountain Zebra (Zebra equus); (2) Burchells Zebra (Zebra Burchelli; (3) The Quagea (Equus Champmani).’ The mountain zebra still lives in the mountains of the eastern Cape eolony and is protected by law, while various species of it are found right over Africa as high up as Abyssinia. The Burchell’s Zebra is almost extinct and the Quagga quite; the last specimen died in the Zoological Gardens, London in 1860.°° The Quagga was closest related to the horse and would have been a most useful animal had it been domesticated. It disappeared, however, before something was done in that direction; although very early in the history of the colony it was remarked by one of the company’s directors in excuse for his refusing to send out horses from Holland to South Africa that, ‘‘there is such a fine race of horses indigenous at the Cape and the colonists should capture them and by further breeding help themselves.’’*!

The history of the first ae arte of horses leads us right back to the days when Holland was mistress of the seas and owned the Cape and enjoyed the greatest trade with the East. Merchandise, spices and food-stuffs played the main part in the trade with the East Indies, and live-stock owing to the great inconvenience and risk of life due to the long voyage formed a very unimportant part, more so because at the Cape there was an abundant supply of native cattle and sheep. It was by sheer necessity—cattle failed and trouble arose with the natives—that a couple of horses were imported and a small number were landed safely on the South African shore. It was on a stormy day in the late autumn( April, 1652) that a fleet of merchant vessels under the command of van Teylingen sighted the Cape of Good Hope. On these vessels were ‘‘some”’

(19) Robert Wallace. ‘* Farming Industries in the Cape Colony’’. 1896. (20) &. Lydekker ‘‘ The Horse and Its Relatives, 1912. (21) Archieves of the Cape of Good Hope.

horses for the Cape.??. Owing to the storms the cargo could not be be landed and the horses were put on shore at St. Helena from where they were subsequently fetched and returned to the Cape. In the following year four more specimens arrived, amongst them ‘‘a fine stallion—the only one at the Cape,’’ which unfortunately was torn to pieces by lions one morning when left to graze outside the fortress.°? In 1655 they succeeded in capturing two of the horses let loose on St. Helena and in the following winter two ‘‘fine stallions’”’ were also secured, and taken to the cape leaving behind an older stallion with a mare and foal, which escaped. The following year is notable for the order the captain of the trading vessel Venenburgh had for bringing out some asses from the Cape Verde islands. In 1657 the horses left at St. Helena had increased to seven and the reward of twenty rix dollars was promised for their capture. In 1661 the commissioner Andries Fusius reported to the Lords Seventeen (Batavian Republic), ** that ‘‘horse breeding is becoming a very profitable occupation, out of 22 horses imported up to date there were 15 foals.’’ Jan van Riebeeck, the governor of the first settlement exerted himself to the-utmost to promote the well-fare of the small community and especially for the importation of horses for agricultural purposes and military service, against the raids of the natives.

In a letter of his in 1656”° he is literally praying for a few horses from India and especially mares for breeding purposes. They could send him at least one with every homeward bound fleet he argued. Only three years later was his urgent request complied with to some extent. The government had an interest in the agricultural development of the colony, it was stated; but the transportation of horses was too cumbersome and stowage on board the vessels was very limited. They will, however, try to send him at least two horses with every homeward bound fleet especially now that there are troubles with the-Hottentots. But it will be a hazardous undertaking owing to the long voyage, scarcity of forage and water, and they can only hope that some will reach hime alive.*® It was also the intention of the council as is learned from a letter (22) Precis of the Archieves of the Cape of Good Hope. H.C.V. Leibbrandt. (23) Jan van Riebeeck, Dagverhaal 1652-1662.

(24) Archieves of the Cape of Good Hope. 1652-1766.

(25) Archieves of the Cape of Good Hope. 1652-1766. (26, 27 and 28) Archieves of the Cape of Good Hope. 1652-1795.

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* in September, 1659 to send a few horses from Holland to the Cape, but since an attempt to Japan had failed they thought it best to give it up.2’ This fact is of great importance since Quadekker in his ‘‘ Het Paarden Boek’’ holds that ‘‘to increase weight and size in the rather small and light Cape Horse, the Netherlands’s government imported some heavy Dutch horses.’? The most thorough search for proof of this in other works on the South African horse has failed nor does the Cape Horse in any way show the smallest trace of cold-blooded strains.

In the meantime horse breeding has developed so successfully in spite of the step-motherly treatment of the Dutch East India Company that in 1665 the first public sale of sixteen horses took place at the average price of about four pounds five shillings each, (about twenty-one dollars) a price that was equal in value to that of five large oxen in prime condition.** This year, then, marks the time when private farmers first owned horses and when horse breeding became a part of their agricultural pursuits. They do not seem to have made a great suecess of it. Either through neglect in breeding or some other reason, the breed has gone back much, especially in size. This is clearly demonstrated by a government notice of the year 1686,;7% ‘‘Since the breed of horses of this country has considerably deteriorated every person who uses a horse under the age of three years is liable to a fine of forty rix dollars.

To rectify this evil the company through the exertions of the good and zealous governor Simon van der Stell imported in 1689 some stud horses directly from Persia. With these importations we come to the close of the seventeenth century and find that horsebreeding has been firmly established. The animals were small yet highly esteemed for their usefulness and though lacking many good points externally they possessed the good qualities of hardiness, enduranee, and excellent constitution and a temperament that combined great willingness, docility and steadiness.

To come back to the breed of these first importations we find that they were put down in the archieves of the colony as ‘‘Java horses’’, and most of the writers who have touched on South Afriean horse-breeding are satisfied to say that the Cape Horse is descended from horses imported from Java and possesses a very strong strain of Persian blood. The Java horse of the early centuries ac-

(29) George McCall Theal. History and Ethnography of 8S. A. 1505-1798, cording to the best authorities is of a strong Persian and Arab - strain. Freiherr von Hoerdtl in his ‘‘Pferderassen des -Niederlandisch-Indischen Archipels’’ *° says that ‘‘One cannot speak of a breed of horses, only ponies are represented and they show relation to a common stock. About the origin of these ‘minature horses’ nothing definite could be gathered. In all probability they are the degenerate descendents of the Arabian stallions that were imported by Arabian traders hundreds of years ago; that they were an autochthonous product of the Archipelago is out of the question.’’ The most important pony breeders of the present day are the Sandelwoods, Makasses, and Sumbawas. They show their Arabian descent in form, temperament, hardiness, and good constitution.

From the great work of Robert Miiller** we gather more or less the same facts, viz—That the Java horse is a descendent from Arab steeds imported by the Moslems during the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

The well known Dutch authority on horses, E. A. L. Quadekker in his ‘‘Het Paarden Boek’’ with several other writers?? of fame and experience in the very localities are all unanimous in the view that the existing breeds of ponies are of Arabian descent but that through neglect and unintelligent crossing they have deteriorated considerably and that thereby a great source of national wealth is threatened to be lost. ‘‘In spite of the inaccurate and unintelligent breeding,’’ says Quadekker, ‘‘the breed has, however, maintained its characteristics most tenaciously, which pleads very strongly for its noble origin and purity of race.’ If so much ean be said of the Java pony to-day the horses imported from Java in 1652 and later must have been pure bred Arabs, for there is no proof that Java possessed any other breed of horses.

In the light of all these investigations made on the spot we may come to a safe conclusion, therefore, that the Cape Horse owes its origin to a fairly pure Arab—Persian strain. The Netherlands being mistress of the sea, during the sixteenth and seventeenth century and having at its disposal the best of the rich East would undoubtedly have procured the best also in the way of live-stock for her colonial possessions. This supposition will hold strongest (30) Cf. Graf. C. G. Wrangel. Die Rassen des Pferdes. 1908:

(31) Robert Miiller ‘‘Geographie der Wirtschaftstiere.’’ Leipzig 1903.

(32) A. M. C. J. Eaxler Ritmeester der O. I. Cavalerie ‘‘ Het Paard.-’’ G. W. Couperus ‘‘ Militaire Tydschrift’’ 1891.