Chapter 3 - Breeding and Rearing Horses in and for One's Image

Summary

Because of their intelligence, their relationship with Man and their iconic appeal, horses could not be treated in the same way as other domesticated animals.1 For a member of the landed elite who wished to establish or expand a stud the unique status of horses held out the prospect of a good return on his investment, that is, if he produced a well-proportioned horse; in a sought-after breed with an excellent pedigree; of the right size, pace and colour; and fit for purpose, whether for hunting, pulling a coach or merely enhancing the image of the rider mounted on his back. It was therefore a risky business, one that could not be undertaken lightly, because failure to produce exactly the right product for a highly discerning market courted disaster. As Sir John Reresby wrote of his grandfather Sir George, who owned the Thrybergh estate (Yorkshire: West Riding) in the early seventeenth century:

His diversion was sometimes haukes, but his chiefest was his breed of horses, in which he was very exact; but his breed was not in that reputation to gett any profit therby, and the keeping of much ground in his handes both at Thriberge and Ickles for the running of his horses, which he might have let at good rates, made it the more expensive.

The absence of sales ledgers precludes any analysis of the profitability or otherwise of Cavendish's stud, but the disbursement books show that he was expanding his stud at the time, and he was not a man who was careless with his money.

Mares and Stallions

The Cavendish brothers, Henry, William and Charles, kept fine horses, an interest that they had inherited from their father. In 1597, for instance, Henry offered Sir Robert Cecil, the queen's chief minister, 100 French crowns or the choice of a horse of equal value for a six- or seven-year-old colt then in his own stable. In August of that year, William paid a modus of 10d. to the vicar of Pentrich for ten foals produced in the stud over the previous five years, a mean of two per annum. In 1611 the mares delivered eleven foals, while in March 1623 Martin Hole had to buy fourteen halters to lead the young foals. To achieve this growth, Cavendish acquired additional brood mares, mainly in a flurry of activity between 1597 and 1603.