HORSE-BREEDING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1749, 13 September 1905, Page 58

HORSE-BREEDING

INTERVIEW WITH MR JAMES STUCKEY. THE BREEDER’S STANDPOINT. Mr James Stuckey, the well-known stock-breeder of Te Rangitumau, Wairarapa, was interviewed by a representative of the “Mail” on the subject of horse-breeding, which was dealt with in a series of articles appearing in our columns recently. Going through the articles one by one, Mr Stuckey said, perhaps, if possible, soundness had been given too much importance, and. nothing said about constitution. There was no doubt that constitution and soundness should go hand-in-hand, but he thought constitution should, if possible, come before soundness, because, however sound a horse was, if he had a had constitution he would he useless, simply because he could not stand work. No feeding, if he did not make use of it, would do him any good. What it was necessary to impress upon the breeder was that he must alter his style altogether, and jro in for a different class of animal, ft was not' only the trade in light horses that had been lost to the country. There was a time when we used to export heavy horses to Australia on rather a large scale. Now, the exports only just about counterbalanced the imparts. . Mr Stuckey was rather dubious about the statement that draught horses would show up, if anything, more favourably than light ones. The fact was that their imperfections had not come so prominently before the public as those of the light breeds, because there had been no outcry about sending away shipments to South Africa.. The racing man was no better able than the ordinary farmer to pay for proper attention for his stock. The only trouble was that the farmer was not educated up to it, whereas the racing man naturally educated himself. That was what was required for the farmer. “ I believe the fact of the case is,” said Mr Stuckey, “ that the farmer often really does not know; whether a horse is sound or not. It is not so much that they want to breed unsound animals as that they have not had the opportunity of learning whether a horse is sound or not. The average farmer has never had any experience, and is not a judge of horses. He is almost entirely dependent on the man who owns the entire. He come® along, and says that his horse is better than most other people’s, and the farmer, bejing a poor man, is prepared to pay the lower fee and get the apparently cheaper, but. dearer, horse. What we want to do is to educate the farmer to know more about a. horse.”

Referring to the working of, the premium system in England, Mr Stuckey said he had always been, to a certain extent, in opposition to Government premiums, simply because the premiums had been supposed to go for light horses. His contention was that it paid a great deal better to breed a heavy than a light horse. A light horse had to he kept until he was four years old at least before he could be turned into money, possibly until he was five. Light horses were always getting into mischief. Being quicker movers, they were much more liable to accident than heavy horses, and there was consequently greater risk in breeding them. The heavy horse, on the other hand, could be worked at two years and a half without hurting him. Of course, he would not do the heaviest class of work at that age, hut he would earn his food. A tight horse was particularly liable to develop blemishes, and if he did so he was practically useless at a paying figure. He could do work, hut he could not he sold at a figure. And these blemishes were often the result of accident, not hereditary at all. With a draught horse a blemish was not such a serious matter, so long as he could do liis work.

Asked what the prospects of breeding lio-ht horses were, Mr Stuckey said they could be brought up on hilly land, and there would he a market for almost any number of the right kind, because we would have an export trade to absorb them. There was no doubt whatever that the trade of supplying them to the

British army could have been retained if we had had a better quality horse. It had always been difficult in New Zealand to get a really good hack, that is, a pleasant boons© to ride ; now it was almost impossible. The sending away of so many horses to South Africa had left our light stock in a worse position than before, because a great many of those that went away were mares, and sound ones at that, and the inferior ones were left to breed from. With falirly level and good land, draught horses, provided they were the best class, would pay a good deal better than the lighter sorts. If farmers made a practice of breeding the best of heavy horses, they would find that the good ones would sell for town and carrying work at big prices, and undersized ones, if thought advisable, oould be used on the farm, but if he intended breeding he should keep not only his best- mares but the very best from each year’s foals for the purpose, selling the older ones as his stock gets, too heavy for him.

Mr Stuckey expressed his decided opinion that the present show system was entirely wrong. All the associations were catering for numbers, and not for quality, and the result was that at many shows horses that should never be bred from were awarded prizes simply because they were nicely topped. They were simply “ flat-catchers.” A horse might he unsound by accident without any danger of transmitting his defect to his progeny. That was all right; but a horse that was hereditarily unsound, and showed lack of constitution should not under any circumstances be awarded a prize. The only thing to be done was for the associations to take the matter up, and appoint one or two veterinary surgeons to examine the horses before they went before the judges. It would be surprising what a difference that would soon make in the value of the horse stock in the colony.

Discussing the different Stud Bills, Mr Stuckey said the schedule of hereditary unsoundnesses ’was too drastic to begin with. It frightened people. If Mr Gilruth had put in only a few of the worst diseases to begin with, he might have added others in a coupie of years’ time. He might have begun with spavin, ringbone, sidebone, whistling, and stringhalt. There was a tremendous lot of sidebone amongst draughts. If another bill was brought in he thought the Government should not include the racing studs, because the racing owners were very sti’ong, and would oppose the measure through thick and thin. It would never have a hope of passing so long as thoroughbreds were included. But before a thoroughbred horse was used for stud purposes for producing light stock—remounts and hacks-—it should be licensed. It should only he exempted so long as it. was used purely and solely for racing stotck. He was satisfied that the only way to get a bill passed at all was by eliminating opposition in this way. The proposal to tax stallions is, Mr Stuckey thinks, entirely , wrong, although it is widely advocated. The object was, of course, to get rid of the bad animals, but he thought if they merely cheapened the good, and let breeders know the unsound, ones, they would achieve the same end. If the stallion was taxed the breeder would have to pay for it, not the owner. Mr Stuckey concluded by urging that the stud book for draught horses should be published more regularly and more frequently. The publication by the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association was very spasmodic. For a period of ten years there was no publication at all, and by the time the next ■volume came out the breeders had forgotten all about, the preceding one. The breeders should form an association to publish their own stud books, as the Hereford and Jersey breeders had done. An annual publication is the only thing, even if the book was only a small one. The Hereford breeders had published a stud book foi/ eight years, and now have a substantial credit balance, although the breeders at the commencement were few in numbers.

Sk> much ha® been written and said about the various aspects of the horsebreeding industry in Australia and New Zealand during the last three or four years that the conference which is to meet in Sydney to make recommendations to the New South Wales Government on the subject can hardly hope to do more than “boil down” the very extensive information available.. Where so many experts differ, it requires some courage to decide between them, but, we venture to hope that the conference will not decide in favour of a stallion tax or any other restrictive measure, but look for any assistance the Government can render rather in the direction of affording facilities for breeding a good stamp of horse. Whether it should go so far as to import stallions to stand at low fees we question. The English plan of giving big money prizes to owners of stallions in each district, conditional upon their standing at low fees, appears to us sounder and more likely to dJo good. The high prices now being obtained for horses will probably do more to make people go in for horsebreeding again, and devote attention to it, than any Government action. The chief counteracting force is the abundance of opportunities for putting land, to good use in other directions offered

by the subsidiary pastoral industries which are now growing into importance* After all, it is a question of how at man can use his profitably* modified by the consideration of personal disposition and tastes. Few meat go into dairying from personal preference ; it is only because it is so profitable, and brings in such regular returns. But to do a bit of horsebreeding as a kind of side show to other pastoral occupations is what many a man may like without looking too closely into the question of whether his time and land could be more profitably occupied.— “Pastoralists’ Review.”