HORSE-BREEDING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1747, 30 August 1905, Page 57

HORSE-BREEDING.

* NEW ZEALAND’S UNSOUND STOCK. A SURPLUS OF STALLIONS. Probably if expert opinion were sought as to what class of farm animals in New Zealand was, generally speaking, the weediest and most nondescript lot, the verdict would fall almost unanisously on the horse. The public does not realise this, and the farmer does not —chiefly because we have no outside horse market. We had one. but killed it quietly ten years ago, and we buried it with ceremony during the Poe!’ war, in the hope that it would rise again without being worked for. If the farmer had a regular horse, as he has a regular sheep, market, and if he saw his prices falling “pounds a leg” on account of unsoundness, he would look round for the reason. Even in such a city as Wellington, where the carrying trade has been organised on a sound and presumably a paying footing for years past, and where for several decades the trams alone used up scores of horses in a year, the most casual observer can pick out in half an hour dozens of horses doing van and lorry work that are weeds of the worst description. They are drafted from the country—the product of sixty years of indiscriminate crossing, full of hereditary unsoundness, belonging to no particular breed, and often absolutely unfitted for the work they are doing. The lighter classes are the worst. Thoroughbreds and weedy hackneys are tugging at expresses full of merchandise, tor which breed and build utterly unfit them. But the city horse in itself does not count for much, except that he points to his breeding-ground in the country. There worse things are happening. Diseased and weedy horses are stubbornly perpetuating their kinds. Men who care to be regarded as practical farmers are deliberately mating animals which have faults and blemishes glaringly developed, with the positive certainty of seeing them reproduced and accentuated in the offspring. It is not so much a lack of pure breeding that is responsible for the weediness—though this must be said with a reservation. With horses, as with dairy cattle, it is primarily important to have soundness and freedom from hereditary disease, and this is quite possible of achievement in crossbred stock possessing a combination of the qualities of pure breeds that fibs them for their particular purpose. Even if the sole end and object of New Zealand horse-breeding were to supply a market, soundness would be the first requisite. The British army in India and at Home will take thousands of horses every year that have no distinction in their pedigrees at all, that are not even of pure breeds; but they must be sound, and possess the essential qualities of size, bone and conformation. The much-abused Maori pony is not ipso facto, an utterly undesirable thing. He has deteriorated in size and bone, and become a pony by constant inbreeding, but he may chance to be a sound and healthy animal, while possessing in a marked degree the qualities necessary for his particular work. The present condition of our horseflesh must to a large extdnt be regarded as the outcome of circumstances and lack of capital on the part of a large proportion of those who have developed the country. The horses that were brought from Australia in the earliest days were not all choice stock. They were generally useful and nondescript lots which It was found remunerative, owing to the shortness of the voyage, to procure. They constituted the majority of the imported animals with which the country was stocked. Ibe purebred s*>ck imported from England and also from Australia was scarcely sufficient to leaven the impure. Even to-day the back-blocks settlers and the majority of the small farmers cannot afford to pay for what they regard as a sentimental value attaching to purebred stook, when they can get an animal to do the work for a few pounds. On hundreds of farms in New Zealand the gig-horse, which may have been a good “moke” over hurdles, or have pound-

ed up and down the city streets in front of oar or van, is doing duty indiscriminately as hack, harness, or plough-horse, and perhaps, if it is a mare, producing a few foals. Brokendown mares are put to draught or hackney sires. Racing mares that have gone under on the track aie sold out for general hack and farm work, and as often as not, when age has increased their unsoundness, they go to stud, are put to the cheapest and nastiest sires in the district, and produce “crocks” emoodying the faults of both, to carry on the work of the farm. That the progeny of such horses is not purebred is comparatively a small matter. That it is increasingly unsound is one of considerable importance. To a certam extent the farmer must be pardoned on the ground that he is not always a man of capital, and finds it absolutely necessary to have his work done and purchase his stock as cheaply as possible. It is scarcely to the point to say t-hat he will find in horses, as in dairy cows, that the cheapest are the best, because that does not assist him to overcome the first cost. The whole thing is an argument in favour of premium stallions.

There was once a time when New Zealand exported light horses, which ultimately found their way to India, either direct or through Australia, where they were incorporated in local shipments as ’Walers. But this trade fell through. Men who know, say it was because New Zealand horses degenerated, chiefly through hereditary diseases, so that Indian 'buyers, finding only a lot of weeds to select from, went away with half a shipload, disgusted. This unsatisfactory condition of our horseflesh, especially in the lighter classes, was shown up in a startling manner when New Zealand began to send horses to South Africa during the war. It is well known that the exigencies of the War Office were such that it was quite prepared to relax a good deal of its requirements in respect to the quality of remounts. Yet a very large percentage of the horses offered were rejected. Mr Gilruth examined 108 horses in the South Island for the Sixth Contingent, and only thirty-five, or about a third, were accepted, fifteen of these being “almost too common for the work.” Out of the seventy-three rejected, a large proportion could be regarded as suffering from hereditary unsoundness. This may be taken as a fair example of the unsoundness of our horse stock, though perhaps, if anything, draught stcco-v, which after racehorses receives most attention, would show up more favourably. Mr Gilruth says, “There are probably more crocks_ in this country than m any other under the sun.” It cannot be laid down as absolute that unsoundness will result from haphazard crossing of different breeds, but it is a fair presumptiton —and is borne out in fact—that lack of system in one respect, and indifference in the other, go hand-in-hand. It is highly improbable that a farmer who takes pride in keeping bis stock pure will not be equally careful in selecting for soundness. But unfortunately the state of the stallion market in New Zealand, and of the law on this subject, are very poor assistance to the ordinary farmer. The numbers of entires and mares in the colony according to the last published returns were: —

Thus there was in New Zealand last year an average of one stallion to every 11.3 breeding mares. It is quite "evident that many of these stallions must be doing nothing, and a great many more ought to be doing nothing, but, unfortunately, some travel so cheaply that they are used in place of better and dearer animals, to' the serious detriment of our horseflesh. The position was even more forcibly illustrated by Mr Ritchie at the Agricultural Conference. a he latest uguress, which 'he quoted, axe as follows: Brood Entires. Mares. Thoroughbred ..- SH 1,550 Draught ... ... ... 1,351 14,144 This means that there is one thoroughbred stallion to every 2brood mares, and one draught stallion to lOg- mares. Counting all manner of horses and mules, the average is one stallion to every Hi mares. The conclusion is obvious. In England the King’s Premium stallions average about fifty mares. At this rate 678 stallions would suffice for New Zealand. And we have 2966, or five times as many! LIGHT HORSES AND REMOUNTS. BREEDING WEEDS. NEGLECTING OPPORTUNITIES. During the Boer war the unthinking New Zealander ran away with the idea that his breed of light horses was eminently suited for remount purposes, and worse still, that there was no need for any particular exertions on his part

to retain atr a-i secured. He was partly right and partly wrongright in the belief that the New Zearland horses did excellent service in South Africa; wrong in forgetting that they were good horses culled from aai offering of thousands of weeds and unsound crocks.

The farmer azvu the public are apt to draw a wrong conclusion from the fact that when we had sent 8000 light horses to Africa there was no noticeable shortage in the classes from which they were taken. The fact is that there was then, as there is to-dff * j a great ' surplus of light horses in New . Zealand. It is generally fair from over-abundance of anything to pre-supp-ose indifference of quality, and we found this strikingly borne out in the reports offfhe remount examiners. The percentage of horses rejected was oit i_f all proportion, and constituted a serious x-eflecfion on New Zealand stock-breeders. During the year 1901-2 over 4000 horses were 6©nt away from the colony. Here are some remarks about the selection:—

“ Auckland—Qa d.’ty well maintained! to the end. Bay of Islands—The class of animal was generally weedy, and cobby horses could he obtained by lowering the standard. Whangnrei—The inspector urged that Maori Comical© should ‘ get the natives to destroy the thousands of useless mongrels they have, and go in for a better class of animals.* In Hawke’s Bay the Imperial officers accepted the whole of the thirty- horses which had been selected by the Stock Inspector, who bad rejected many horses sired by nondescript stallions belong.!ng to the Maoris. Gisborne—A great many Maori weeds, bred in and in from all sorts of sires. Wairarapa— Latterly a suitable stamp in any number was difficult to obtain. Wellington —Fully 70 per cent of the I'ght horses offered ns remounts were found to bo unsuitable, being either too weedy oo? unsound. Nelson—Forty horses were offered and twenty-six accepted'. Kurcw-HaVa+eramea —75 per cent, were! rejected. Manio+oto—Only twelve out of over sixty were suitable. Clyde—• S' : x out of forty were accepted. Bruce—• Seventy horses were offered, and only two accented. Invercargill—There was great difficulty in getting a suitable stamp capable of passing the veterinary examination.”

These excerpts prove that it was not quantity but quality that was lacking. The country was overstocked wth light horses by at least ten thousand. When the stock had been nicked over for 1 good sound animals, and reduced by ten thousand there was no shortage in numbers, but a decided dearth of good quality animals. A few more excerpts will exemplify this:— “Auckland—lt is difficult now to* obtain a good back. Wnikato—A hack is at present hard to obta : n. Te Kuiti —The demand for remounts has practically drained the King Country of goodi horses. Weeds are plentiful, and a large number have been sold on the spot at prices from 3s upwards, and driven to the markets. New Plymouth—Weeds of horses that were unsaleable some time ago are now held for high prices. Hawera—Even weeds are selling at a considerable advance on last year. Huntervifle —The purchase of remounts 1 for South fr'ca has made good horses very scarce. Marlborough— First-class hacks are oonspicuous by their absence, the generality running light and weedy. Mpre attention is required to substance and purity of breed. South Canterbury—Light horses of good description are hard to procure. Kurow-Hakateramtu-—Ha cits are of inferior class, being badly bred and weedy. Dunedin —Light horses are rather a poor class: very few hacks up to twelve or fourteen stone to be met with. Maniototo—L : ght horses, as a rule, are rather of poor quality. Bruce —During the whole year I have seen very few really gond hack':. Very little breeding is done here, and where it is done, owners are too often given to using very old or weedy mares for the purpose. Ralclutha—The light horses as a class are very inferior. . Gore—light horses of a good stamp are difficult to secure.”

The long and short of this is that the ten thousand horses sent away from New Zealand were almost all the decentquality animals that the country possessed, or were marketable at the high prices then offering. These reports show conclusively that in the nebulous classes between thoroughbreds and draughts New Zealand is breeding tens of thousands of horses for which there is neither local use nor outside market. The only effect o f sending away ten thousand of the best was to make those who wanted these breeds dependent on the rejects—which incidentally attained a higher value—and to reduce By some thousands the number of sound horses which might have been used for breeding purposes. The huge proportion of horses rejected in the veterinary ©'•'lamination leaves no room for- arga*nent, except on the part of farmers who are casual in these matters, and shut their eyes to the fact that hereditary, unsoundnecs and weediness must always reduce the value of their stock. From every district in the. colony comes the same story. There is '.HO system of breeding light horses; weedy and aged ma>-es an i inferior stallions are being used. The Maori is no mor©

culpable than the European, and"' be- • tween the two we" are producing thou- ' Bauds of unsaleable", horses of no breed whatever, and, worse entail, of no con-stitution-or stamina. Yet a weakly, boneless weed costs just as much to rear •s a good, sound animal, the difference being frequently only the service fee -of the stallion. 1 ' _ This lack of system is undoubtedly due largely to a want of definiteness in -the requirements of the different users of horses. The “light” horse .or the , ‘Aback” of New Zealand is anything between a thoroughbred and a draught. .The great proportion of. our light horses .are mongrels of two or more of the following descriptions:—-Hunter, hackney, carriage-horse, " trotter Ca mongrel in * himself), thoroughbred* and draught. . With the exception of the last two, no one of these descriptions has any meaning throughout the country. It is only here \and there that “hunter” means - anything. Draughts, hacks, and -racehorses are three-terms which sum up ' the whole genus, and very few farmers . trouble to keep the lighter breeds pure Bimply because it is often impossible to ' tell what breed predominates in a particular .animal. Last year the horses of Kew Zealand were enumerated as fol-

lowsh— - Thoroughbred ... .6.937 , Hunter and hackney ... 22,836 Oarriage and trotting ... 20,167 ... Light ordinary ... ... 126,148 Draught ... ... ••• 110,136 P-ftnifta ... ••• ... 12,490

Total , ... ... 298,174 ■ ‘"Out of this total of nearly 300,000 horses it would be liberal to say that the thoroughbreds and draughts numbering little more than a third are of •pure breeds; and 180,000 are more or less mongrels, only in rare cases bred Systematically for special requirements. It has been urged from year to year that the. War Office should be induced to fee »' definite standard of requirements for the different arms of the service, - and ; give : an ' assurance that .purchases would ' continue to be made at or. about \» dertain level of prices. This has never been done, and consequently the breeder of light horses must work somewhat in the dark. But that is - no reason why. he should continue to breed the cheap and nasty weed. He cannot go far wrong in breeding a sound horse, because he will always find it saleable. :■. The matter was so well expressed by' Mr Gilruth in last year’s report that be may be quoted shortly: “That we shall have an annual surplus of light horses is-a matter beyond doubt, and itis incumbent upon the pastoral and agricultural community of the colony, as the breeders of our horses, to see that; this surplus is of good quality and sound. Generally speak• ng, our system of breeding in the past has been too casual . and too careless. New Zealand has immense possibilities before her, and the annual supply of a fixed number of horses for the Imperial Army is a question worthy of immediate and careful; Consideration and prompt action:” ' " Thas was written more than a year Cgo. Nothing has been done/ i THE HEAVEN' OF THOROUGH•i" : /w: : BREDS. i DRAFTING OUT CAST-OFFS. Ramng studs' are such an important factor in the horse stock of New Zealand that it is impossible to regard them as distinct and separate from the general standard of our horseflesh. The average' racing owner knows a great deal more about horses than the average farmer; Barring the r tr fitting owner, he is a better and more intelligent breeder, ’takes a great deal more car** off his stock, is generally better able to pay for proper attention, arid almost invariably goes for purity. Therefore, the great bulk of our 8406 thoroughbreds are pure, well ’looked after, and sound to beg n with. If this were the end—if the rising youngsters were turned into the general stock with all these things in their favour—then the racing owner would be a booh to the general horse-breeder. But the owner of racehorses will admit in his own mind that when he has done with a colt or a filly, when it ceases to be a racehorse and becomes simply a horse, it is frequently no longer sound and healthy. The racehorse is bred for a purpose. It is highly flfbeqialised, and often badly forced, and ir/it gets off the track sound in wind aaid limb it . is a lucky horse. / The special qualifications of the facehorse are oiten entirely foreign to the requirements of the ordinary light horse. Hence a sharp cleavage between breeders of racing stock and experts in the heavier classes : an utter want of unanimity' as to what is sound and what unsound; and in the result a qerioius obstacle to legislative me • isur.es for the improvement of stock generally, . . _ ..One of the worst and most common features-;.. aS thoroughbred-breeding, is the,.practice of forcing young slock to bring them to apparent maturity for soon as possible. The tenbring them pn too quickly excessive amount of soft M. that by the*time they are saleabt9i.yearl,ngs they are. well grown, and flblEW $ dbfc of condition. But they lack ■ hardness, and undoubtedly suffer in

constitution, being consequently more susceptible in after life to the effects of disease or injuries received on the turf. If the joung horse went no farther than his turf career this would not be so serious; but a great percentage of horses that have had a few years on the track go to stud. They may be sound—in which case their owners will keep them, if they have had a brilliant career. If they are unsound they will probably be bred from by persons who are anxious to produce anything with four legs, regardless of the weaknesses that may develop after it has been sold. So the weaknesses developed by a severe life on the track are transmitted to a few more of our nondescript light horses. The practice of racing two-year-olds, especially in the early- part of the season, must have a bad effect on the stock. The object of the thoroughbred breeder is primarily speed, and this is frequently attained at the expense of endurance or weight-carrying capacity. If he can breed successfully to the primary requirement, he is not always particular as to complete soundness. Very many horses which are born with a predisposition to disease can put in a few, years of brilliant track work before the unsoundness, is sufficiently far advanced to seriously affect them. Veterinarians do not consider the winning of a race is any proof of a horse’s soundness. In fact, Mr Gilruth told a Parliamentary committee that there was nothing to prevent a roarer from winning the Liverpool Grand National in an early stage of the disease. Roaring or whistling has been very pronounced in such well-known . sires as Ormonde and Stock-well. This would damn them in the estimation of professional men, but, needless Ao say, they were most highly prized as sires Roaring is not a very common fault in draught horses, but where it occurs it is almost universally condemned, and, therefore, the continuous drafting ;of roaring and time-expired thoroughbreds from the racing stables into the great troubled sea of Nerw Zealand light horses is a serious matter. *

■But it is perhaps more serious that dozens'mff horses which are sold out of the racing stables year after year to become progenitors of “light” horses have been bred to carry light weights over short distances. This is exactly what is not wanted in a useful hack, hunter, remount, or van-horse. What we want, generally speaking, is a sound utility horse, with enough weight, bone arid muscle to be a stayer.

In a paper by Mr J. D. Hall, secretary of the Christchurch Hunt Club, which was read at the . gricultural Conference, he instanced “the weightoarrying hack or hunter capable of carrying fourteen or fifteen stone for a journey or to hounds. The horse which will do this will also be suitable for harness purposes, and will be readily saleable to buyers for remounts for the' Imperial service. If we can change the character of the breeding of the future from the almost worthless weed —which may be taken as a fairly ao-i curate description of the kind of animal now produced—to a stout, wellbred, serviceable and saleable animal, we shall be to no small extent contributing to the welfare of the farmers and the colony as a whole.” There is no doubt that Mr Hall’s description approaches very closely to the class of animal we should specialise for in our light breeds. A good sound hunter or hackney would be an animal of almost universal utility. He would; fulfil all the functions of the light horse —hack, -gig, and buggy—on the : farm, and be fitted for the express and van work of the towns. At the same; time he would be more readily saleable oversea for military or other purposes than anything we are producing to-day. What he is can he seen to-day in Rangitikei, Hawke’s Bay. ’and some parts or Canterbury. At his worst, he could never be such a wretched creature as some of our present day light horses. The difficulty in breeding this class of horse is in procuring the services of good stallions. If a stallion is not sound, he is not much good at any price. If he is sound, and known to be a good horse, he is rare, and his service is too dear for the purposes of the ordinary casual farmer. Considering the immense amount of money that is spent by racing owners in New Zealand in breeding thoroughbred stock, it is regrettable that our hordes of light horses are not more favourably leavened, by the racing studs. What is required is the method followed in England of subsidising thoroughbred entires to serve a certain minimum of ixalfbred mares each season. And we want the stallions selected for this purpose on their merits as good quality horses. Hitherto the King’s'Premium horses, Which are subsidised for the purpose of producing . remounts, have been so selected, the judges not being furnished with any account of the racing careers of the horses. But the Royal Commission on Horse-breeding, in. its last report, expressed the opinion that if a horse had been through a course of training, remained sound, and shown merit in his performances either on the xiat or in steeplechases, these facts should be made known to the judges. W hatever modification of this arrangement should be considered suitable for New Zealand, there is .one thing that would be essential, via., that no stal-

lion, which had developed unsoundness in his racing career should be usedIf careful selection were exercised both as to stallion and mare, the Light horses of New Zealand would soon show improvement.

Tho-rau ghbred Entires. ... 512 Brood Mares. 1,507 Hunter and. hackney ... 161 2,4x1 Carriage aud trotting ... 295 1,481 Liight ordinary ... ... 346 12,331 Draughts .. 1,251 12,562 Ponies ... 226 1,3±3 2,791 31,305