THE ART OF BREEDING.

NZ Truth, Issue 119, 28 September 1907, Page 2

THE ART OF BREEDING.

Some Suggestions.

(By "Spreader.")

'Just at the present .juncture the all-absorbing topic among breeders is how to mate their mares. Most owners follow the popular theories such as Bruce Lowes' luimbdr system, or the orthodox rule for mating under the "line" system, and "inbreeding." Again, m many cases the owners follow their own fancy m deciding what sires to couple ' with their mares, without respect to any set down rule or theory.

A strong tendency |,o inbreed has .shown itself oMal.o yours to exist among KnglLsli and colonial stud masloi'k. The Knglish racehorse of the present day has the strains of about; hiill-a-do/uii fashionable breeds running through almost; its entirety. Looking at the matter from a colonial point of viow, the question is are we importing too much fresh blood into the colonies, at the expense of what can now be called practically our own stock ? The stallions advertised for the use of the public this season contain about 80 per cent, of imported horses, i.e., taking the Commonwealth and the embryo' Dominion together.

It is,, .quite within reason to state that the majority of breeders m the southern colonies give the pick of their mares m most cases to horses with the magic (?) "Imp." attached to their advertisement. Why ? Is it because old conservative ideas have taken too deeply to root ? or is it that the best of our judges and breeders have CQnaQ ,t9 the conclusion tha,t

we cannot breed horses here equal to the English horses ? Surely not the latter. There are dozens of stallions m Australasia at the present time bred on almost any "line" one could name, and thoroughbred at that,, not one whit deficient m qualities, physical or" hereditary, possessed by the imported sires standing m the colonies.

A simple question is, why do breeders send Home for their sires ? It cannot be the want of fresh blood because 90 per cent, of the English horses m these countries are as closely bred (i.e., on the "line" system) to our own mares as are the local stallions.

That the English thoroughbred is m any way superior to the colonial is a question that no man with common sense or knowledge of horseflesh would answer m any way but one. In nearly every large stud m the world one particular strain predominates.

Breeding racehorses has become a science with some owners ; it cannot by any manner of means be attributed to luck. Looking backward, one has only to remember the success attained m Australia by the late Hon. J. White with the- Yattendon strj..:i, or the Hon. W. A. Long and the Grand Flaneur's, or, coming down to the present time, one lci^hk quote Mr G. G-. Stead and the Muskets, to note a few instances, .among many, of how the colonial stock can be 'm" or "line" bred, to produce horses equal to anything m the world.

In the colonies, or rather, m the Dominion, and the Commonwealth, at the present time, there are sires advertised to stand the season who have had the pace, possess the physical qualities, and are eligible for admission to the English stud-book as regards pedigree, who have never had a fair chance m the land they were foaled m, and probably never will as long as the best of our mares are stinted to "untried" imported horses.

A curious thing m connection with the visit to England lately of a prominent owner m Australia was his not purchasing a stallion at Home to stand 'at the large breeding establishment m Victoria soon to be founded. Also, our most successful New Zealand owner has produced the most and best of his fine stud from local-ly-bred sires. The foregoing and a hundred and one other criterions could be quickly found for giving the local horse the chance, „ as a class that he" never seems to get, or has had. If one of our premier clubs were to promote a classic event, called, say, the New Zealand Futurity Stakes, for 2 or 3 year old horses, any horse to be eligible to be the product of a sire and. mare, both foaled m Now Zealand, it would undoubtedly be a means of giving some of the locallybred sires a better chance of gaining fame at 'the stud than they at present seem to secure.