HORSE BREEDING. (FROM THE MELBOURNE 'ARGUS.')

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1877, 23 July 1863, Page 5

HORSE BREEDING. (FROM THE MELBOURNE 'ARGUS.')

Putt Saddle Sortes, and how tobrted them, in Australia. By Edward M. Cubr. Melbourne: Wilson and Mftckinnon. 1863. Thb author of this little work apparently set out with the intention of. doing for,, the private studs- of Ana s tralia what Geneial Daumas has employed himself in jyaphieviugifor the public' stud* of France. Like the ■Seneral, lie possesses unusual qualifications for the No professional jockey, innocent of Tattersall's, as unskilled as Rarey himself in Leicestershire and Epsom lore, hit study of horseflesh unsophisticated by the racecourse has beenpi»sued with all the earnestness of a devotee in every chine where the breed of hones might suggest improvement or invention? His mission — aud he does not attempt to disguise it— is to overthrow the empire of the English rncehoise in favour of the Arab, regarded oa the orthodox seminal principle 6f the hack. With this end, as he warms to the revolutionary task he has set himself, he summons before hit tribunal, one by one, all the traditionary authorities on the subject, and handles them in the spirit of a Jacobin. There can be no doubt that for a long time a reaction has been setting in against the dictatatorahip of Youatt and Stonehenge. The latter's outrageous advocacy of the superiority of the English horse in general, and the laoehorse in particular, had provoked, J>oth at home, and abroad, doubts about the merit of a cause that waa pleaded with so little reference to the logic of fact, and &o much irrational ardour on behalf of traditional theory. But perhaps one of the most vigoious embodiments of that reaction is now before us, in the shape of M. Ciur's treatise. N"o«one hefoie him has, by the light of personal experience and collateral testimony, ■hown with so much clearness the rottenness of the foundation on which the alleged supremacy- of the English racer is based as the sire of the saddle-hoise. Taking Stonehenge as his next book, he mal*es him convict his favourite out of his own mouth. He makes him bear testimony to the fact that the high-bied Animal of the English tint is getting more and more useless — an oveifed, prematiuely developed, soft, and ■washy creation of the stud-book, "on the load a failure/on the turf a national folly." The real origin of the deterioration we have ourselves always attributed to the intioduction of short heats and light weights. The moment the four miles and twelve atone became unfashionable, the forcing system commenced. Soundness and endurance gave way to speed .and stride ; and as the latter qualifications could be obtvined without maturity, the race of pampered fillies followed. It is easy to see how in this way n, piogeny of fleet lomew aud ciipplers were gradually piopagated, Fiora horses bied to meet these lequneineuts, mere weeds of the Turf, does the saddle-hoise irhent its Ion? legs, |tniigb,t shcuildeis, weak constitution, and want of nil those qualities for which, in other days, the old English horse was renowned. At the same time, there aie exception 1 ? to eveiy inle. Achievements aie reooided of the English hor-e equtl to, and f.ir less legendary than those of Dick Turpin's miip, which neither ourselves nor Mr. Cuir should wilfully overlook. This is the testimony w Inch the nevi 1> published story of Sir Tattou isykes's life offers to his prowess "On Qn,e occasion, after lidmg si\ty three miles fiom Sledmere that morning, he was second in the fom miles M»ccaroni Stakes at Pontefiact, slept at Doncaster that night, and was beaten m another four mile heat race against Split-post Douglas', at Lincolnnextday. Twice over he journeyed from Sladmere to Abeuleen with his racing jacket under bts waistcoat, and a clean ihirt i>nd a razor in his pocket, for the sake of a mount on the Marquis of Huntley's Kutusuff and Sir David MoncriefFa Haileqnin, when the Welter Stakes was the greatest race in Scotland ; and, without stopping to dine, went back to sleep at Biechin th.it night, and reached Donc.vster, after a siv day's ride, ju3t in time to sea BWcklook heat for the St. Leger. The 360 m.ile3, weye done, principally in the forenoon, on a little blood mare, and with the exception of a little stiffness, •(die seemed no worse. His rides to London and back were no unusual achievements. It was the ordinary way of travelling to the unencumbered loadster. A recent critic tells us, a Yorkshire squire, within his own recollection, nspd, to perform the two hundred and odd miles on one mare within an incredibly small number of hours ; and most Yorkshiie families of note can tell qE similar achievements. As our recent lemaiks on Mr. Curr's book elsewhere have anticipated the necessity of any formal review, we will confine ourselves to the production of a few of the author's opinions on his main topic. Without then, this is what he says of tbp animal we have just been disonssing • — " He is absolutely a cross bied animal, save in a few exceptional cases, where a ' sticket ' racer is drafted into the hunting-stable, and hence, if there is any meaning in the words pure blood, and the stress laid on thfcm by all writers, he is necessnnly and mewtably inferior. He 13 got by the thoroughbred out of any mare, and is only accidentally a saddle horse, for as far as his blood is cauoeined. he might have been hack, hunter, or charger, gigster, pack-horse, or coacher ; or have filled one of the othei fifty refuges, which are open to his reception. Though tall of Btatme, and possessed of giace and beauty captivating to the eye of many, he cannot deceive those who have much general experience of horses, and indeed he becomes distasteful to them How long, let me nsk, would a horse Qf his appearance last in war ' How would hp stand the bivouac ? How would he stand |he wear and tear of light cavalry practice befoie an pnemy where forage misht be scat cc or bad ' How would h.e suit a bushman * How would cold, or thiist, or hunger agree with this type of animal '" A n Englishman's qualifications to be a judge of horses he altogether denies. With the insulanty so characteristic of him. he proves by the example of Stonehenge himself, that his criticism is not entitled to a hearing on the other side of the Meditei ranean. " He has never been in a position to compare his own ■with other horses and accordingly he does nafc know ■what a really good horse can do qr suffer, but is. like 9 person "s?ho has lived in au hqspital till gioaus seem music, and jalap and, squills the proper drinks of healthy men." "Tq Australians," he adds elsewhere, "it becomes, then, pertinent to enquire how ■we are likely to be served, by tho lnsrr»'-' ' such incompetent guides, Ev*« of ceptionß justiflod bv + v we re onrpicconwere all tb^ ** -le testimony of facts, even englishmen have written about their own horses correct, still our prejudices and their experience would requiie modification when applied toonrcironmstances." "What the Australian wants is a Bond, sound, pleasant, fl°et, hardwoikmg, abstemious, handsome, hardy saddle-horse. Such an animal we oan get, not .out of the delicate thoroughbieds of England, but from the genuine, sound, docile, vigorous, and enduring Arab alone." Of the Arab, Mr Curr, as we have said, is the most enthusiastic champion. In the heat of his advocacy, he collects testimony to its perfection from every souice— French officer?, Indian officers, wandering Bedouins, vice regal pachas. His favourite witness is Geneial Dauroas, a copy of whose celebrated work, Les Cheuuuc de Sahm-d, the Emperor of the French presented to the Melbourne Library. One of the most poetic passages in his book is a soliloquy on the enviable advantages which the Frenchman s well-known inthnaoy with Abd-el-Kader afforded him. As, & tpeoiinen of style we repiodqge it entjre i— * <'He wrote under circumstances more fortunate than are ever likely \ 0 foil to the chance of another, for as ha completed each chapter of his book he submitted it to the judgment of Abd el-Kader, then a prisoner in France. A remarkable position, not unlike one sitting with Poropey in the vessel that bears him to Egypt, listening to him speak of Mithridates and Pharsalia, before writing the fall of the Commonwealth A subject for the poet or the painter ' Only fanoy the great, the unfortunate emir, the scimitar •urrounded prince of the desert, the man of his day, for a commentator ; who, I may say, receiving into his hand a discussion, adorns it, etcher it into pictures, throws on it the shadow of the burnous, strew* flowers upon the page, and returns authenticated into the hand that gave him the dry truth, a poem rich with the imagery, the feel, the odour of his Eastern fancy — in matter * truth, in manner an ode ! As I reid the page, I feel again in the Bast ; the tent, the sand, the date-tree on the horizon, the Arab maiden coming from the well, the camel, the horse, the Slougui, »re again before my eyes, the odour of the cMbouqne, is in my noitril, the musical guttural of the Bedouin is again in my ear." Mr. Curr's own credentials as a judge of the Arab, are fastidiously insisted upon :—: — '< About ten years ago I had many opportunities of fceeing Arab horses in Syria, Turkey, the Holy Land, and Egypt, and before I saw them, I had already had ■ome experience of the horse* of England, France, and Spain, besides those of Australia, and Tasmania, in ! none of which countries I had resided less than a year. I had alio seen those of Greece, Italy, Flanders, Belgium, Switzerland, Tnrkey, and other places too numerous to mention, so that I may be said to have approAQhed the examination of the Arab after having seen most of the best breeds in existence. Since- then I have had an opportunity of again reviewing them, and, if necessary^' of reviling my fiist impression. In all these countries I have ridden more, or less, and oiiginy ally in Tasmania and Australia been unceasingly in the saddle." . ' It is to Austr-aJJa that he would now transplant the ■object of, ajr his enthusiasm. Australia, not Europe, he considers to be the analogue of the Arab's native home. The dry, arid atmosphere' is exactly the climate to invigorate the condition of this growth of the desert. " Here he would be stout, abstemious, : - inettleiomej hardy. Amid moisture he i» peevish, soft, 1 - wuby, nUxtd, trod uueaduring," Food, ajvtall m

Climate, too, has its influence on lm development ; qnd in the dry inland* of our continent is to ba found the true regimen of hi* favourite. Ab one situation in tbo same country is more favourable than another for the production of the horse, Mr. Curr appends his own estimate of a site :■ — "Could I have a site and all' facilities for saddle horse breeding in Australia just cut out to my fancy, I would have it in this way : On ailat of poorish, »alty soil, I would grow oaten and barley hay. This for nine months out of the twelve should be the food of the stud. Between the hay-racks where the hoises weie fed and the watering-place I would have a, mountain, bare, tugged, rocky, aud steep j over this the hoises should tiavel daily to water, and back again to their feed. The distance to be accomplished daily would depend in a great measure on the steepness of the mountain, and be graduated besides to the various ages of the horses, ranging, say, between ten miles a day for the four-year-old hoises, and two miles a day for those under a year. During tho tluee spring months of the year I would indulge the stud with abundance of luxuiiant grass and salty heibage, water easily accessible, and almost a complete cessation from toil. The site of my bleeding giound should be in the most favomed path of the hot wind, aud in the most arid dishiot that could be found." The merits of the aborigines as horsemen, on the other hand, lie thus disposes of , — "It may not be uninteresting to mention that the Australian aborigines, when piactised, become excellent hoisemeu in some ie«pects. Almost any black between the ages of fifteen and thn ty will, at the end of a month's practice on a quiet horse, sit any unbroken colt, and most of them, at the end of another month's practice with-buek jumpeis, will ride anything that cm be produced. Their other stroug point is as serubliders, in winch, on tho whole, peihaps they are unequalled. The univeisality with which they excel, when allowed to try, is veiy rematkable Where they aie employed at stockmen and iough-ridei», they piide themselves veiy much on their performance. The wonderful pait of the business is how they get on with their horses They aie quiet but not familiar — seldom irritating, and never caiessing them A hoisoluoken by a blackfellow has always a wi etched mouth, will never lead, and is usually veiy shy of objects with which he has not been rentleied familiar. His educasion is very limited. They all ride with shoi t stirrups rough riding aud scrub riding aie the only points in winch they excel when mounted. As lace-rideis, in which at country meetings they aie a good de.il emplojed as light-weights, they aie veiy indifferent. They enjoy the spoit, ude with a loose lem, and aie very apt to make play with the spur fiom first to finish, if allowed " Horses broken by them seldom walk well, and rarely hot at all. They look well on their hoise, and in the points spoken of seem all to excel. With us the reveise is the case, for many white men can never learn to ride, howevei much pr.icticp they may have. The fact is, their figtue and nerve suits the occupation ; but intellect, and, above all, care, are wanting." It may bo news to new arrivals to know that in Australia, "as in America, we have considerable hei ds of wild hoises, the offipung of such as have at vauous times escaped from stations, and remained for yeiis undiscovered 01 nnyaided. It is, of course quite, impossible lo say to what their numbeis may amount, but it is probable that they do not fall short of 25,000 In the neighbomhood of stations where they exist they have become a serious evil, frequently enticing an ay the domesticated horses, which aie raiely recoveied. As the rule, wild hoises, which are captured aie found to be small, liu'ht boned, weedy, and useless " An account of a ch.ise aftei these wild horses we inseit, in justice to the graphic descriptive poweis of the wntei. It is no exaggeiation to say thit the whole passage would do no discredit to the author of EotJien — "In the meantime, a large heid of about 150 wild hoises had been seen, and the condnctoi of the hunt, too ea«er for gain instead of being sntisfied with what he had'captui?d, and taking them to the yaul to be subdued by thiist and hunger, as he had done in the first instance, determined to take this other lot also with him. Steadying Ins formei captives, and leaving what men he could spate in charge of them, he moved off with the rest of the paity, and was, not long in falling in with and heading down the other 150. Away they came in the direction of his depot pai ty, each as haul as he could rattle in a long stung— the stallions and strong hoi ses leading, the males, the old, the lame, and the foals stunning out, but following the lead at theii best pace. On then approach, those that had only just been joined to the ciawlers, now well in wind, began to cock their e:irs, wbinny, and become restless. ° Their anxiety communicated itself to the lot flist captured ; and as these feelings of alaim are very cont<vcio«3 among gieganous animals, even the wretched crawleis began to get uneasy. In the meantime, the tramp of feet giew louder, and the 150 drew near, racing over the plain, mad with excitement, theii tails streaming m the an, and clouds of dust flying from theii hoo f s, with thunder of feet that mis;ht be"heard miles off Such was their impetuosity that the quiescent body of half subdued, nytenal was unable to stop them, .and the whole affair became a route, and every horse thpre, to the pooiest ciawlei joining in the rush, was carried away by the oxoitement of the moment. Round went ihe tno lota at meeting, in whirlwind of dust ; amid its mantling clouds, the tossing of manes and streaming of tales^ a thousand incidents flash indistinctly foi a moment on the eye of the beholder . the tall grey that has run headlong against another in mid caieer, rearing high above the ie<?t for an instant his full height, tumbles backwards with his neck broken? the vicious old mare, that hates a throng, with head bowed to the "lonnd, kicking a\l that come within reach ; the foal, oyeithtpwn, rolling amongst the feet of the multitude , the neigh— the savage yell— the scream, of terroi — the thunder of hoofs — the Mval stallions meeting in the eddy, with outsfcretoherl - snake-like head, and e,ay laid back, tm* ' iiecU> springing with, fury <m eae). <•" _ M their nature ment of mortal »— wlier> to Batis f v \ n a mo . never br"-' iOr thc „e a an j i, ate w hich .... postponement of battle , all had been and disappeared in .an instant, for nothing conW restrain them. Bursting from their captors, blind and deaf to danger, headed by some lesolute stallions lefusing to be turned, the whole lot broke from control, and <sweDt over the plains. The jells nnd cannon like reports of the whips of the puisuers only added fuel to tho fire The whole lot escaped, and were soon out of sijjht behind the swells of the plain, the cloud of dense dust floatmtrin the diyair marking the direction of theii flight, the pei son at whose expense the hunt had been got up having to return home with his party, losing the whole of his horses except those on which he and his men were mounted, with the pleasant reflection that the domesticated horse, once free and joined with wild ones, is not a whit easier to recapture than the wildest denizen of the plain " With this extract we must close our notice of a book that we have perused from beginning to end, we hardly know with moie of interest than of agreeable surprise. However the author's view*? may be received in England, in Australia at least they -will find few to cavil with them. So much sound ratiocination, so much precept and example, have rarely been brought to the confirmation of individual experience arid personal opinion. It is clear that, for us at least, the Empire of Stonehenge and Touatt must yield to the founder of a new hippocracy. There is no doubt that the undertaking which is the ultimate object of Ane Saddle horses, and Iww to breed them in Australia is not the work of a single generation. "At the same time," says the author, "we possess all the great elements of the amelioration of the horse-climate and food that are admirably suitfd to his constitution. Starting with the miserable beasts we now have, I believe that in course of time, by constant and judicious selection, even without the introduction of pure blood, a breed of saddle-horsei of much virtue and distinction might be created. The use of pure saddle horse sires would of course much facilitate the undertaking " The literary meriti of Mr. Curr's book are in every way proportioned to the interest, and, in social sense, the magnitude, of his topic. His good taste ia as strikingly shown in what he has omitted as in what he has included in his task. Thus, he has very politically declined all di«cu«ion as«to the vexed question of the birth-place of the horse, and the priority of Barb or Arab. At the same time, his total abstinence from all pedantry on » subject so provocative of classical references to the White Cillians, the brown Lybians, and the running mares of Thessaly, constitutes him a pattern to more pretentioua writers. On the soundness of his judgment we have already chronicled our estimate. We recollect but one instance where we should be disposed to differ from him, and that is, in his depreciation of the grey horse, viewed as to colour. We do not forget the opinion o£ Abd-el-Kader that black, sorrel, dark, and red bay are the distinguishing tints par excellence of supremacy in a horse, but we would not exolude the pigeon blue altogether. Those best acquainted with the stud-book tell ns that the original founders of the English breed were almost invariably white or grey. In Queen Anne's reign, the majority of the running horses were white or grey. We have only to name the achievements of Chanticleer, Grey Momus, C imillus, Gustavus Otho, to show that white and grey horses have not been without a witness to their capacity even in comparatively late years. Victorian sports-men, by way of additional testimony, wonld probably add to the list the names of Alice Hawthorn and the " Dangerous Grey." Though General Daumas suggests the objection to our author, yet in General Daumas's book the greatest feat recorded i« performed by a dapple-grey mare. Under these circumstances, we are inclined to treat the qucntiou of pbyiique m independent on the queition

of colour, or rather to believe in tlia intognty of the old English proveib, which says that a good horse cannot be a bad colour. In conclusion, one word on the gotting-up of Mr. Cure's book. If he has done his woik well, his publishers have clone their best to co-operate with him. If, as an original wiiter on an esoteric subject, he is likely to win golden opinions for himself and for the countiy who lent him hei experience, no very indifferent share of hi? success is due to the very creditable manner in which his views have been given to the world. We will not say that the Messrs. Longman's bibliopohc experience might not have selected a laiger or smaller type, or a moie figurative binding, but as the production of a compaiatively new industry in a community not very prolific of authorship, we lecord our conviction that Pure Saddle-horses, as a specimen of book manufacture, could not be livalled by the printing presses of New York or Boston, for example.