ON THE LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 239, 6 October 1916, Page 11

ON THE LAND.

Agricultural, Pastoral and Dairy Interests.

THE CLYDESDALE HORSE.

'f-jy PETMEOSE MeCONNELL, in the ••"X-Z. Farmer.^)

Use writer recently visited the South -fWjand in search of Clydesdale stock, and ifs visit, thongh a hurried one. proved to lie enjoyable as -well as instructive. It Tras noted with pleasure that many of stsd owners are gradually changins' from the once fashionable heavy hackney type to one oi altogether greater mas-, jfreness and. toeight of bone. Geldings or this stamp make ideal horses for city work, and their activity renders them gritafcle for any work to which a. iraasat' horse may be put. For many years, no draught breed could approach fee Clydesdale in the matter of quality of feet and legs, and although they still escel in that direction tie writer was jomewhat disappointed in finding white jnigftereirt feet more common in the j South Island than they ought to he. A wHte foot is not necessarily a had one, bnt it .is too often tender and brittle. On. the other hand, there are few bad feet of a bine black colour. The writer •SJS born am on 5 the Clydesdales, and jjiniires the breed more than any other, andfe is quite certain that no other foeed conies up to the same standard for ueneral draught purposes; bat the Ireeders must take care that they are not carried away by fads of the moment, as they imdonvbtedly have been in the . jast, hecanse an undoubted -rival exists ; in the improved "Shire. 1 ' Por the past twenty years the Shire breeders have set j iheiaselTes the task of mrproving the qiialfty of feet, pasterns, and legs, and te-rnso they have not been swayed by stow fads, as the Clydesdale men once •were, tiaey have succeeded in improving tie Shire breed almost beyond reeognitjon,'and the.best of the Shires (to use » yknkeeism) harse noif become "some" iorse.-. \

At.'Sse same time, the Clydesdale men Ibvb nottrffg to fear, if they vnR only rjnE together, but the writer's recent 9st leads irim to beSeve that tiere is too variance of opinion among ibe Jaeedeis, and wbere sneb exists success must always be limited. Some breeders goes; to the old type 'with great abandonee of hair, and a tPTWrertcy to what is Boderstood in horsey terms as "softness. 1 ' Others, again, cling tenacionsly fc ga> som-hackney iype. but this class «f breeder only forme a very small ■wimriiji. The greater majority is ai-m'-my at a medium, ■which is a goal in ajwrj "Bay desirable, and if coafcraally iept in view the greatest sneeees is a-aared. The best yormgste-*s the writer di dTrmg Ms visit were a cross betwem fte oii hairy-legged, so-called and tie- new type -which, is now betas* siiEed at. Tbs term "soft," howieser, s too indiscririrHiatery appEed, and r*. asanv instances is not warranted.

'emrffflg the zr-azr-r nne sires iiie <*titer bad tis pieaetn-e of i-*spectr-£g 2 Baron Bold TraCDabtediT stands at the top, aad rksiy deserves all the sito-v hono-zzs be has ■wrjn.in. _sew. ZeaJanrT. Every iDcii tf tj jii» sawi aifiioosi saere k ao saca tinng ac perfeefec in Sorae flaL -file' "Bararf 9 has few pce-te thsi even the most critacal of jaigw conM fed fault triih. The owner | of Baron Bold (Mr. Patrick) bas also' soße aer-r Sue laiely-crrporxed mares; in feet, nearly all those lately imported i "nrongiTt -n>ri>T the 'writer's notice at Tiaots stods are a great iuiaruveraeat en jgrrmr types. Good cotts are ptenti- i fei tet the best class oi fiffies ie somsatbat scarce, a-ai only a few was met "Eih thai misat be termed excellent. Of emnse, this is only the writer's opinion, tad he does not by any means advance i as being beyond caviL

Stsds are more namerons, and the average is of a h}<rhf*r class , *r t those «£ the Sorth but the day ia not &r dJßtani, when the Southern breeders ■nil jrnd some tongh rivals in fee North Wand- indeed, there are some fillies in otH. arrm'rs of the North Island at the present moment that fair to outrival their Scntheri relations. The average breeder of the South undoubtedly knows 3as basm«6s . better than the average Scrfeern and the A. and" P. •iawxaatiois of the South have some rfes that we should copy -without delay. ■Atnrmg those there is one which we mnet spjiy at once if we desire to see the impwauent in the dranght horse breed ■aaieh. we may justly expect. I refer to fie rate which, demands that aU draught horses and mares must submit to a vete-rtnaria-rs on the day of the •how at whim be or she is exhibited, and 2 declared unsound they are dehsrred from competition. To" give high "uuoaiß to trnsonnd mares and horses "•ska are kept for breeding purposes is -file height of foOy, and by doing so we *re snhsidJEing tie evils which it should •* breeder's aim to eradicate. The •t%r is of opinion that A. and P. Aseooatkas axe valueless, or worse, if they do not make unsoundness the basis of *Ul their show regulations. lj 'Smy it may be asked, "why do not l n dgß6 see to this matter then-serves" ' Weu. the action of the jadses i 3 deterffl h*d by the rules of the Associations, *?d if these rules are las the judge is ■huost' compelled to be lax in propor"Ov The argument may also be ad- j ?Mei that there is a nmnber of gm«.Tl -which, had they such stringent In t* * force, there would be no comGranted that such is the case, '"OGld it not be better, as far as horses to have no competition at *tt than, make it the means of encourag--35 hereditary unsoundness. In all breeds whorses we mast have a certain type in J""5 hut it is surely better to give a ; P*«e to a sound horse which is a little SB type than to one which may be of E **sflent type, bat is unsound in the §fl* of a veterinarian or a competent j Mge. It may seem scarcely credible, **t the writer has seen judges in the ■aarth Island award prizes "to brood : P? without patting a Tumi* near foot f-JfS- Every Clydesdale or Shire should insist that soundness be "9§ first consideration of a judge in slotting _prizes, and where soundness j S?*S not exist type should not be conned. The Clyde-dale horse judge his examination at the foot, aid | with the body, and if the feet and j** are right a few faults in the body «*7 be ignored- Indeed, no real Qydes- *-« lover will feel in any way elated by -niga honour being awarded to one of mb horses which he knows to be un"J™**-. The hoof heads of the Clydes***shonld be wide and yielding to the wuch, there should be no hardness such •hay leai to the formation of side |«£ or ring bone. The pasterns should 3 ? good_ length, and set at an angle i degrees from, hoof head to ! 2~l"JBt. It is quite possible to- hssre t'-ilau too long; in fact, soeh is ! gg but, fiKimtal-*

f0 should be -xell St\» Knees, and they should be bis h™** should be short rather th^Tf the bone flat, dean, and harri nfe tendency m tbe opposite direS" w-£ coito The typical Clydesdale has an open ey « and has a profile neither dished nor* Roman, The ey* is inteiligent and -nxnent, «d..the,ears long, Si the l^^ wef^US"^ Hopression of. |reat t^ y^?iftrengtll r * rtb « than buS aurrns activity. The true Crrtesdatefa'' an active animal.- He UfS fas feet clean off the grmmd, andThl rJPf " r^ :& ¥ Sa «"•*=!•«* i« disposal an too short, but saw. amonLogan Mossdale Farm, Otama; Kenr e,^,^ lVerC tff ffl; Blair ' Orrtram/otagoand Charters. whose studs were found animals of hish purchases were mi and whether they -win blead weU wit h stock of the >ibrth the future <S prove, but the -writer has confidence that W3L J T « who has been aceastomed to the speculation and conff ° f farm «»»enaiip of the Jvorth Maad, a rat to such a locality as the Taien Ham h a pleasure. Tbi e i IJ^ S f Ut f r there seeni6 •» -W»e pux-; caased W with the object of rnalrfng a i home nr-tae first place, and, ofeourse,! m the hope «iat a competency would i ioHow, and that they have not been I disappointed the trim and comfortable : homesteads and well-fanned land give evidence. Much of the Taieri land m I e-cceHent, and the thought struck the I writer, a home for returned sol-1 dielß. , ' Ck)iii|)aratiTe*ly speaking, speculation I in many parts of Southland and Otaso j is Ettle ia evidence. In the North Island.! about every fourth building in our towns | is occupied by a land agent, and as long j as this state of things exists true ad-1 vance in agriculture win only be aoan-! naL Good farming and speculation are | at opposite poles, but as long as it pays ! better to joggle with laad than to settle j on and toree the highest yieldout of it, so long must fai-ming metiiods be haphazard.