Travelling stallions in and adjacent to Brycheiniog

Abstract

[From the introduction]: Horses played a major role in the transport system in Britain until, in the years following the conclusion of the First World War, they were gradually ousted by motor vehicles. In 1917, when the first reasonably complete equine census of Britain was undertaken, there were 2,650,773 horses in the country, 1,115,920 of which were used for agricultural purposes (Chivers, 1976). Horse breeding was therefore of great importance and a variety of attempts was made to improve the quality of horses by subsidising stallions that travelled the countryside during the breeding season, and that were available, at a fee, for the service of mares. This paper describes some of the routes followed by stallions that formerly travelled in Brycheiniog and adjacent counties.