HORSE BREEDING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1847, 15 April 1887, Page 7

HORSE BREEDING.

The experience of recent years should convince the most obtuse that it is only from J superior productions, whether of stock or j crop, that fair returns can be with certainty i obtained. This is notably the case in regard to live stock, and, notwithstanding the attention which has been admittedly bestowed on the breeding of the higher classes of horses, cattle, and sheep, the question still presents itself : What a provokingly insufficient pro- I portion of the stock of the country come up to a reasonably fair standard ! What a %- larj*c percentage there is of the thriftless, Vaulty. unsound, and unprofitable !*' It is, however, in the lower classes of horses— i Hght and heavy — rhat inferiority is glaringly conspicuous. But, it is argued, the evil will cure itself— that because weedy light horses, and mongrel ill-made draughts have been for some time almost unsaleable, farmers in the future will exercise greater judginenUn the selection and mating of maves to desirable sires. That better judgment and more care and practical tact will be exercised by breeders henceforth is perfectly certain, but horse-breeding will never be an assured success generally throughout the country while the ownership and use of entires continue without restriction or supervision. There are legislative enactments to prevent the introduction and spread of disease among other farm stock, but there is no test to determine whether or not entires are constitutionally qualified to propagate their species. Farmers cannot be expected to be competent judges of soundness or unsoundnessof horses, and their want of knowledge and remissness hitherto has been traded upon unscrupulously. A good sound brood mare on a farm should prove a

certain source of profit for many years to the owner, and would be so if regularly mated to a sound and suitable sire, but the uncertainty in regard to the soundness of the latter jeopardises the adventure. One or two agricultural societies have made efforts to correct the abusss well known to prevail, but obviously very stringent measures are required to correct a crying evil in the country — indifferent and unsound entire horses. The value of a good brood mare will be better understood when it 'is considered that with due care her immediate progeny would in the course of as many years number a dozen or over. Assuming that she has her first foal as a four-year-old — and it is undesirable, unless she is exceptionally well grown, that she have a foal until that ageshe will continue to breed regularly until, if required, approaching 20 years old. Some interesting records of fruitful old mares were for several years collated from the seventh and eighth volumes of the Stud Book (England). Of 1000 thoroughbred brood mares of all ages, 216 were found still to be breeding at 20 years, 175 at 21 years, 141 at 22 years, 88 at 23 years, 49 at 2i years, 22 at 25 years, 8 at 26 years, 2 at 27 years, the same number at 28 years, and one green old matron at 29 years ; but there were no records of any older breeders. These interesting facts show the age to which a well-cared mare will continue fruitful ; but it is right to add that the progeny of very old mares is apt, according to racing experience, to be deficient in stamina, while too early breeding will stunt the mother and prematurely age her. Other circumstances as well, according to standard authorities, influence the fecundity of mares. A mare which has had a foal before she is live, even after an interval of several years, is more to be depended on for breeding than one which has reached 10 or a dozen years without the cares of maternity ; and it has frequently occurred that others put unusually early to the stud have continued reproductive until approaching 20. While active growth and development favour reproduction, very high condition and artificial treatment are prejudicial. Superabundance of beef and fat in mares and cows alike is a notorious cause of barrenness. A reasonable amount of work, a run at grass on pasture not too good, a dose of physic and mashes, or occasionally bleeding when a high conditioned mare is brought to the horse, will sometimes remove the reproach of barrenness. Mares also are known to have had their likes and dislikes to certain sires, and it has been found necessary to change the male ; while it has been widely experienced that a thoroughbred mare that would not conceive to. a sire of her own blue blood has bred to a coach or cart horse, and still more readily to a donkey. The danger, however, from the cross is that the mare, if afterwards put to a thoroughbred sire, will probably " throw back "—that is, the foal will exhibit some characteristic of the alien sire used previously. The value of a draught mare of a superior class for breeding purposes is thoroughly well understood by farmers, and there is ample choice of sires of the breed, but there is a multiplicity of mares in the country well suited to breed upstanding cavalry and carriage horses — a class now in great demand everywhere — but the right sort of sires is wanting. A superior sound thoroughbred horse has no chance at a reasonable fee against the cast-off, unsound racing weeds. This same question has come to the front in the United Kingdom lately, and very effective measures have been adopted by the Royal Agricultural Society to give a right stimulus to the breeding of hunters, carriage horses, &c. At a recent show four prizes of £250 each were offered for thoroughbred sires fitted to beget the class required. The conditions attached were that the winning animals must travel certain allotted districts at the moderate fee of £2 10s each, but previous to the award of the prizes the competing animals were subjected to examination by three specially appointed veterinary surgeons. In the colony there are numbers of suitable sires, but they are crowded out by the tag rag, and bob-tail, and no other means will prove effestive in ridding the country of the rubbish, and stopping perpetual supplies, than the enforcement of a tax on all stallions and the requirement of a certificate of soundness of those in service as sires.