OUR LIGHT HORSES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 4

OUR LIGHT HORSES.

J , Sir,—A few days ngOj in that portion-of a your paper devoted to farm and station notes, you made reference* to the increasing difficulties cxporienccd 'by tlio agents of the War Oflico in securing suitable remounts for military purposes. This state-of'things would' indicate a steady deterioration in the , breed of our light horses, which'many of us have long recogniscd, independent of the valuable ovidonce' of the War OiTiCo; ; ' The t onuses of the deterioration in quontion • are g not hard.'to discover. ''This chief one is to

bo fount? in the action of our Jockey Clubs in encouraging tlio production of a breed whereby strength and endurance is sacrificed to a speed which finds its limit in carrying a feather-weight over a five or seven-furlong t course. So long as encouragement is given to such horses, 1 so long will a breed of-hacks deficient in weight and wanting in stamina 1 continue to multiply in this country, to tlio detriment of its best interests. , - One of tlio grounds on which our Jockey - Clubs protend to justify their existence is the impetus they,give to the- general improvement of our hacks. But in.the face of results achieved their claim in this respect is utterly untenable. The economic gain to the community would be great; and genuine sport would suffer little loss, were the very short races, with absurdly light weights, eliminated from racing programmes. In a five-furlong spurt it is not necessarily .'the speediest horse, which wins. The one quickest off the mark generally carries off tlio prize. • The first step in the direction of improving our horses to meet tho requirements of i the War Office would'bo the introduction of a breed ,of stallions which would impart to their offspring a greater staying and'weightcarrying power than tho class we are now producing.' Failing private 'enterprise, the Stato might, with much profit to the community, tlirn ■ its attention to 'this matter, for which it would have' a precedent in its previous .transaction in tho horse-breeding line by its Agricultural Department.,' A second, but perhaps more questionable, step would bo State intervention in the matter of tho racing items of our Jockey Clubs, whereby events, of the kind I: havo alluded to as tending to encouragement-of a'weak, scraggy breed would not be legal by registered clubs. —I am, etc., -- ; . JAMES B. M'KENZIE. .: Masterton, May 4.