Adam Taylor,

One thing I would suggest if planning to use the horses for hunting...

The U.S. Cavalry (and probably other mounted military units worldwide) used to publish their purchase selection criteria for horses and mules. Those manuals had a lot of "no BS" information that has long since died among most horse owners and breeders, especially relating to how to select a horse with a temperament ideal for tolerating gunfire and other situations that scare most horses.

I've got a copy of the U.S Cavalry's selection criteria, dated 1907, which unfortunately now is unusable because all the pages are stuck together with mildew. I read it once years ago before the book was damaged, and if planning on getting horses or mules for your intended use, you should try to find a useable copy of one of these books to read before making a purchase. Some of the information in it was not what most people would expect.

If hard to find (which is probably the case), these manuals were also occasionally published in their entirity in some veterinary manuals published before 1920 or so.

Richard.