DEMAND FOR HORSES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21561, 4 August 1933, Page 12

DEMAND FOR HORSES

TRADE IN AUSTRALIA EXPORTS FOR REMOUNTS IMPROVEMENT IN BUSINESS There was a day, old cavalrymen will tell one regretfully, when the tiooper»and his horse believed them-, solves an irresistible combination; a day when the glitter of a spur on a well-polislicd boot heel gave that finish to a uniform which set the wearer definitely above tho poor blinking infantryman, and rivalled tho modest navy bluo as a bait for the havocs of tho S irls ' , ~r , ; That day is gone, they say. When tho 10th Hussars —tho Cherubims—pride of the Army List, gave up their beloved horses and becamo a unit in the now mechanised army, old men in club windows foretold the end of the horse. Australian breeders believed it too. Gone were tho palmy days of the remount trade, when Steve sMargarcts, Tom Glasscock, Gus Powell and Billy McAlister roamed the country with an unlimited demand for good types. The trade was worth anything up to £200,000 a year to Australia then. From 7000 to 8000 horses a year left hero then for India and tho Dutch East Indies. ' Tho trade to-day is but a shadow of its former self. About 2000 horses a year now are exported for remount purposes abroad, and they aro worth only about £40.000 a year. Remount buyers are finding it increasingly hard to obtain suitable types, and some years ago Sir Harry Chauvei, then Chief of the General Staff, issued a warning to Australia that it would be impossible to mount one division of Light Horsemen in the event of another war. Tho trade is picking up again, however, and breeders are back in the business. Buyers are offering from £ls to £2O a head for good Australian types, which makes them worth running, and station 6tuds are being built up. . The demand for draught horses is increasing, too. There are not enough good sorts about to meet the ever expanding demand, and they are fetching from-£3O to £45 in the 1 yards.'Sydney bloodstock salesmen say that good stallions are being imported to build up tho blood lilies of local stock, and thev anticipate a mild boom in sales. At Campbell and Sons' annual sale of .Clydesdale stallions at Flemington, Melbourne, this . week, 60. stallions wore submitted. There was a. very large attendance' of buyers, who came from all States of tho Commonwealth. Bidding at the auction was animated, and several animals were sold at high prices. The animals purchased will bo consigned to various States. The top price realised at auction was 470 guineas for a four-year-old colt, Sunnylands Craig Fashion, which was offered by the executors of tho late Mr. T. H. Payne.. A large number. of- colts were sold privately. Twenty-five stallions were offered on account -of New' Zealand owners, the top price being: 275 guineas for Rushbrook Cairnbrogie, a colt purchased by Mr. K. Cameron, of Warracknaboal. This sale was considered by the auctioneers to be highly successful. The animals sold realised . the high average of 200 guineas.