Breeding Light Horses

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 168, 17 July 1937, Page 9

Breeding Light Horses

The suggestions that official encouragement should be given to the breeding of light horses suitable for remount purposes will no doubt be sympathetically received by the Minister of Internal Affairs, who on a number of occasions has expressed the hope that the horse will be restored to his place of honour in rural sport. Differences of opinion as to whether the horse has any future military usefulness appeared in a Hawke’s Bay discussion. Perhaps the best argument that the horse has not passed from military use is the fact that recently Germany has been buying young mares in Ireland for army breeding studs. Seeing that in a war New Zealand might be best defended elsewhere, the Government ought to be in a position to equip mounted rifles, artillery and transport with the right type of animals, for the zone of service might preclude the use of mechanised units. An official memorandum to the Government states that only 10 per cent, of the horses taken to military camps are fit for active service overseas, and only a slightly higher proportion for service in New Zealand. This has been the rapid result of the general use of motor-cars and bicycles. It is quite conceivable that in war sea transport to the Dominion might be interrupted for a considerable time, in which case the 5 country might find itself without petrol supplies and have urgent need for many horses. Military things apart, there is every argument in favour of the revival of nerve-strengthening equine sports and the replacement on farms of brumbies of one sort and another by decently-bred utility animals, the keep of which would not cost more. It must be realised that for endurance a horse must have some “blood.” Light stallions would help to meet the needs of sport outside racing, and of farming, in which the half draught has a job that is often neglected.