On some
estancias the cattle, too, were all of one colour, and I remember
one estate where the cattle, numbering about six thousand, were all
black. Our neighbour's fancy was for piebald horses, and so strong was
it that he wished not to have any one-coloured animals in his herd,
despite the fact that he bred horses for sale and that piebalds were
not so popular as horses of a more normal colouring. He would have
done better if, sticking to one colour, he had bred iron-greys, cream-
noses, chestnuts, or fawns or duns--all favourite colours; or better
still if he had not confined himself to any one colour. The stallions
were all piebalds, but many of the brood mares were white, as he had
discovered that he could get as good if not better results from
keeping white as well as pie-bald mares. Nobody quarrelled with
Gandara on account of his taste in horses; on the contrary, he and his
vast parti-coloured herds were greatly admired, but his ambition to
have a monopoly in piebalds was sometimes a cause of offence. He sold
two-year-old geldings only, but never a mare unless for slaughter, for
in those days the half-wild horses of the pampas were annually
slaughtered in vast numbers just for the hides and grease. If he found
a white or piebald mare in a neighbour's herd he would not rest until
he got possession of it, and by giving double its value in money or
horses he seldom found any difficulty in getting what he wanted.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191