The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1896. PENINSULA HORSES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXIV, Issue 2086, 11 September 1896, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1896. PENINSULA HORSES.

« The enthusiasm with which the idea of holding a show of Peninsula horses in connection with the entire horse parade is remarkable. From all parts of the district private prizes are being offered and friende outside have also contributed, handsomely. The result will undoubtedly be tbe gathering together ot a very fair exhibition of Peninsula horses, and we hope th..t buyers from Christchurch and elsewhere will be present to see what : deceut stock of this class we can > produce. ' The exhibition will be useful in many - ways. In the first place the prizes offered by the owners of various entires for the best stock sired by them, and will enable breeders to judge what sort of mare best necks with each particular horse, and also what is the best each horse jean do when proparly mated. It is notoriously unfair for a horse to be Judged by the progeny ot many of the imares that are put to him. They are I in many cases weedy, undersized brutes. It is indeed a fact that the .best mares stand the least chauce of being bred from, for they are so useful that their owners cannot spare them. If, however, there is anything useless to ride or

drive, or enfeebled. by a.ge, it is the custom to breed from theiii because they are useful in. no other war;, and the result is very had stock, however good the sire may be.

Anot'ter thing that tbe horse show J should give n« information on is what stamp of horse it, pays to-ihreed. It is the custom to say that big, cpstanding horses, fit for the Indian market are the class to breed, and undoubtedly this sort of stock brings high prices, but they are not by any means the onl? sort of horses wanted ; .polo ponies, roadsters, light and heavy trap horses aDd a host of others are in good demand, and if firstclass of their kind will always bring o good price. It does not do for everyone to try to produce the same kind of horses, any more than lit would pay for all farmers to br«ed the same class of sheep, and so each one should devote himself the class he> knows most. Shows Hue the one to be held on tbe 25th are a liberal education io those matters to those who are wise enoo gh to take advantage of the knowledge they convey, and we trust they will be of annual occurrence now that the ice is o oce broken.

That too little attention is paid to the breeding of horses on the Peninsula is an undoubted fact, It is a flaying elsewhere that a Peninsula hoirse is worth a fiver more thnn a Plains-bred one, and j there is a pood deal of truth in the assertion. Hordes hred om the hills are undoubtedly surer footed and hardier than those reared on flit c oun'ry. The reason is 'tli.it by going >lp and down hill as well as on the l>*vfi ■ every,d'»y of their lives, they deve op m'i-=OPR in s*oh case specially designed for the purpose, t-forses breri on the Plains muke no use of the muscles required going up and down hiii, ami they cuuqaer.it.ly are never properly developed. Any one who has aver ridden a Plains horse over our Peninsula hills knows what we mean. But not only our country, but <&ur feed and climate also seems peculiarly adapted fur the production of good horses, and we wonder that some tanner of means bas not taken the matter up and tried how a properly managed horse farm would pay. Judging from vhe wonderful pluck, energy and sure foote Iness of many of the miserable ' raits " we have hitherto bred, we should thimk very great results might be obtained by judicious breeding from really good dams and first-class sires.