LIGHT HORSES SCARCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 2

LIGHT HORSES SCARCE.

A SLUMP IN DRAUGHTS. ! I CHILDREN'S PONY NEARLY EXTINCT. \ Our Manawatu representative, who has j been gathering, some particulars regarding ( the class of horses which find the most favour j and roalise tfle highest prices in his district, , says:— | Hacks, Harness Horses, and Polo Ponies. .j It is evident that good hacks and harness ; horses are hard to procure, not only, in Manakatu but elsewhere. One dealer said that he holds an order for fifty horses of this ; type which he finds great difficulty •in filling. Another class of horse which is readily snap- ; ped up here is a good polo pony, and in fact ; the domand cannot be filled. Farmers' 1 spring cart horses are easily procured, but • at the samo time the prices are firm. Children's Pony Vanishing, Draughts a Drug. ' • Children's ponies are threatened with almost total extinction, as the majority of j breeders have discontinued breeding this typo , owing to the small profit;. The price, of , draught horses, as I havo already reported, \ is easy. Only last Saturday at Feilding , thore was practically no demand. Then again j comes a-report from the Cambridge sale on ( September 16 and 17, that draughts .changed j hands at from £10 to £15. In Hastings re- j cently draughts were reportod to bo. selling , lower, but a special circumstanco was thero j operating; for Mr. Gaffin, the contractor <i'i , the Main Trunk Line,' had sent over. IWJ , draughts to Hastings, aud these, no doubV ] steadied the market. A Reaction. j Another very sound reason, why the draught has been sot back was the .eager , demand during the past two years and the fabulous prices paid. Even £70 would hardly induce an owner at that tinio to hand over a really' first-class animal; so, naturally . enough, every farmer who had'sufficient .land to carry a horse bred a draught, and now wo "are overstocked. , _ ] Slump Orily Temporary. , . ' As 0110 extensive buyer mentions, there is ( 110 reason why the draught, should .remain at < the present prices because, with fresh. con- , tracts coming out, and with opening up . of fresh country, there is bound to bo a , reasonable demand. i To India and Australia. 1 To return to the weight-carrying ,liacl;s, it ; may be interesting to mention that recently Mr. E. Stevenson left these shores with 100 horses for India for military purposes. Most of these were bought up in Manawatu,,-and the remainder at Hawera and Cambridge. : A dealer who took over 'largo consignments of weight-carriers to Melbourne and Sydney during the past yoar, assures the writer that 1 lie will not be in a liurry to try the Sydney trip again until conditions alter.