The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-01-17
4 MODEL HORSE PASTURE.
TIE GERMAN FNPEEOR'S STUD
FARM AT TRAKEENEN.

iEilE (|ESMaN FNFEEoHS SAOD
FARM AT TRAKEENEN.
a swamp Converted Into the Richest
Pasture Land in Gerrnany-Care
OF the Young Horses.
~ EXTRAORDINARY pains are
II taken in Germany with the
l W breeding of cavalry horses,
and most of this work, &C
cordins to an article in Harper'a
Magazine on emperor Williams
Stud Farm and Hunting Forest, Is
still carried on near the little town OF
Trakehnen, on the eastern frontier OF
Prussia, where Frederick the Great
established great stud farm. In 1913
the Prussian Grown made present OF
these estates to the Government on
condition that each year the kln9
should be allowed to choose thirty
horses for his private use. 1t IS per-
haps unnecessary to say that those Sc
lected are not the worst in the stud.
The secret of Trakehnen's fame as q
horse breeding place is the fact that
it is irrigated in every direction IN
such manner that the grass is rich
and sweet TO an extraordinary extent.
The soil, too, is most favorable-deep
and spongy. When it was originally
selected for the purpose it was nothing
better than vast swamp over which
the moose roamed wild, as he still
roams in a circumscribed section of
the Baltic shores near the mouth of
the Memel River. The father of Fred
erick the Great was a capital farmer,
and had good eye for horses as well.
He converted this swamp into the
richest pasture land of Germany,
where even to-day one cannot dig two
feet without striking water. In winter
the meadows are flooded, and only the
most careful irrigation preserves them
in good condition for the balance OF
the year. There are no fences any
where upon the estate, which stretches
about nine miles in one direction and
three or four in the other, and were
the horses less docile than they are, it
would seem an easy thing for them to
get lost many times in the year.
Major Won Frankenberg 1.-THE super
intendent) has an enormous adm1ra-
ton for this particular horse. and as
he goes to England every year for the
purpose of selecting thoroughbreds,
and has visited the stud-farms Of near
~ every country in the world, 1t IS
fair to conclude that his feelings are
not the result of bias.
"But," said he, 81 insist on one in
dispensable condition - our horse
must not be used until he is six years
old. He must be allowed to get his
growth and seasoning before using.
We made great mistake IN 1871
in permitting many young horses, as
young as four years Of age, to come
into the army. They nearly all broke
down, and in the long run were
source of great loss to us-far beyond
their cost. With proper food and
treatment, however. will back him
against any horse know"
All the young horses are carefully
rubbed clean and inspected every day,
the brush and currycomb being used
in cleaning. During this process the
young colts are tied, but when three
or four years old they stand quietly
enough and enjoy it. In order to IN
sure docility on the part OF these AMI
mails it is made rule that each day
the colts are to be stroked with the
hand, their feet raised--in other words,
treated in such way as to make them
familiar with their future masters.
It would seem as though the rich
succulent grass produced by the pas
lures would be enough food for these
young animals, but the Major said
that they did better when they received
two portions of oats a day, once In
the morning and again at noon, but
never at night.
One evening the Major took US to
see the horses called home from the
pasture. They came in troops OF
hundreds, and gathered in large en-
closures facing the stables, or rather
the large spaces in which they all
spent the night in common, in groups
of one hundred or less. These pad
docks were formed by planting rail
way sleepers on end at short intervals,
connected by gas-pipes-ave very simple
and economical arrangement. Here
the young horses are exercised IN the
winter when 1t would be unsuitable
to them out in the snow. They go
round and round in ring under the
eye OF the groom.
On the occasion of our visit l
noticed that the main body divided it.
self according to color-the blacks
going to one corner, the browns to an
other, the bays to third; OF whites
or grays 1 saw no specimens. Here
and there would be one who had mis-
taken his corner, or was seeking for
hidden company out, of deviltry: The
keeper had no difficulty in bringing
him to his right senses, however, by
simply calling his name and waving
his hand in the direction of the corner
to which he belonged. The colt thus
addressed invarisbly leaped out from
the corner in which he was an IN
truder, and galloped straight to the
corner whose color matched his. This
we saw done many times over, and 1t
never failed.
The Phantom City of Glacier Bay.
During the past eight or ten years