DOES RACING IMPROVE THE BREED OF RACEHORSES ?

Otago Witness, Issue 1898, 19 June 1890, Page 7

DOES RACING IMPROVE THE BREED OF RACEHORSES ?

The following interesting letter on thiß subject appears in the Mark Lane Express of a late date :—: —

" Sir, — I think I will be able to show that it is a great mistake to suppose that racing improves the breed of horses for general use. There iB no doubt that at one time — say 40 years ago and previously — it did so. But then tbe racehorse was a differently made animal from what ha ii now. Ha waa then th^ bes»u ideal i>f » huok ; fur ha w>\* fctroup^r. and stouter every wn_y than now, j%iirl bo was especially tfood h: the foroquarter. thereby rendering him both safe and jjjetwaat to ride. "Now, a<? a rule, the thoroughbred is light and wbedy ; but if h& has foot,, uh.it wrh some Bwiyiog power is almost everything for racing, as under the system of handicapping, a featherweight on what, i; otherwise a useless animal, and a ornshiupr handicap on the powerful, useful thoroughbred, bring; tbe weed on equality with ttn stoutest and kjst hoise on the course. This is dona solely for beting purposes, and is altogether oppmad to the improvement of tht> oidinary Baddle horse ; for it induces breedars to keep speedy, weedy

animals, which are foolishly used by breeders of saddle horses in their stud because they win races, which they do by getting light handicaps ; while theße weeds, if it were not for the Bake of betting, would be served the same as inferior stock of other kinds — they would be culled out and got rid of, or, rather, they would never have been bred. Then as the racehorse is not required to do any real work, except on the level, smooth turf, and as Bpeed is the great desideratum, that necessitates length of stride, and length of stride calls, for low action, as high action and extended stride are incompatible. The main qbjeot, therefore, of the breeder of racehorses is, with as much staying power as possible, to obtain propelling power, and the more powerful hindquarters his young stock have the more valuable they are for raoing. He cares little for the forequarter ; and for raoing tbe large, powerful, well- formed forequarter whioh makes a horse a safe and pleasant hack, is a defect, because it brings with it high action and comparatively .short stride. The ordinary racehorse, and many of his ' get,' are therefore what are known as ' daisy cutters,' and are on that account unsafe to ride at ordinary work in the bush, and liable if put in harness to tumble and break their knees, while a few days' hard work and paddook f are knocks them out of time.

"Then we have tbe terribly deteriorating effect —from which our saddle horses suffer severely — of raoing the young stock at two years i_old. Common sense and common humanity are wholly opposed to such a practice; and as it is cruel and deteriorating and a loss to the colonies, it should be prohibited by law — the plea that two-year-old racing benefits the breeder notwithstanding. " There is still another most important cause at work which is injurious to our saddle horses. To get our hacks we are constantly violating one of the principal rules of breeding — we are breeding a continual cross ; and if our owners had been breeding shorthorn cattle and merino sheep in the same way as our saddle horses, they would long ago have been ruined. " The practice is to put the light racehorse to a stoutish mare, which in 19 cases out of 20 is herself a croas. Indeed, so far as breeding is concerned, she is generally what may not unfairly be termed a nondosoript, for no one caa tell how she and her progenitors have been bred, In using the racing sire, tbe dam must be of this sort, because it is necessary to be continually making up for the lightness of the sire. The result is iv most cases serious disappointment, for while the owner fondly hoped that by mating tbe light racehorse with his stout mare he would get a handsome combination of the sire and dam, she may ' throw back' to some ugly rough progenitor, and grievously disappoint the owner ; or, what is more frequently tbe case, throw all after the light sire and bring the owner a worthless weed.

" The outcome of all this is that as a rule Ihe stock got by the racehorse are light and comparatively of little value; they are not shaped as saddle horses ought to be ; they are, too, often ewe-necked and low in the wither. They are not large and stout enough, and not the sort to bring good prices in the aaleyard ; and they are badly suited for ordinary work. In proof of this it is notorious that a person looking for a really first-plasa up standing, weight-carrying haok, has, in all the colonies, to wait for months before he is suited. What, then, becomes of the fable that raoing improves the breed of horses? Both our oattle and sheep have, within the last 20 years, been vastly improved ; and if raoing improves the breed of saddle horses why should raoing, with the vast increase which has taken place in that sport during that time, not have greatly altered the character and appearance of our haoks ? It has, and nothing else has altered them, but the obange is certainly not for the better, and very much for the worse ; and the more that racing and betting increases the greater deterioration there will be in our saddle horses.

" But to return to their breeding. The only way in which anything approaching to certainty in breeding saddle horses or any other stock can be attained is to keep ' within the lines ' in breeding and mate animals of the same blood. It i 3 then only that you stand a fair chance of obtaining the results which you desire, because it is only then that the saying that ' like begeta like ' is really applicable, for in that case sire and dam have for generations been bred in the same Hue, and it is of course for this reason that so much money is paid for pedigree. "We should, therefore, in theße colonies have a race of true saddle horses, of good size and shapes, and with sufficient pluck and fire to make them willing, lasting, free-going hacks — such as we had some 30 years ago — many of which could carry s, man at a pinch 80 or even 100 miles in a day without knocking up. We have established to buit our purposes different breeds of sheep, and we havo shorthorn cattle for the best class of country, Herefords for the middling, and Dovodb for the poorer. Wohave also different breeds of dairy cattle, all kept strictly by themselves. As this is the case, why Bhould wo not establish a confirmed breed of saddle horses ; and then breed strictly within tho lines !

"We havo had enough, and more than enough, ao far as the breading of naddlo horses is coceomed, oi what aro not inaptly described a3 ' galloping and gambling machines,' for I think I Iv.wc shown '< hat it is to racing an now conducted that tbe deterioration of our saddle horses is mainly due. L=)t, thereforp, som9 of our owneir, who aio what are termed born breeders (the faculty in its true sense cannot be acquired), take this matter up and establish a breed of true saddle horses. There are materials in the colonies which, in tho hands of a man of thh otarnp, would, with perseverance, establish such a breed, and there is no question but the undertaking would ultimately pay. Everybody wanes a good hack. Cavalry horses areneeded both here and in India; and I believe if a fair reduction in freight were mado by the large steamers it might then pay to send cavalry horses of the right sort to England. It would certainly pay to send first-class park hacks toLondt n.

" Whilj apain this is the case, there is no part of the world better adapted for breeding saddle horEea than Australia, nor auy country where they can bo keut ai; so little cost till they ara fit for work ; and it is a crying shame that the • keep ' should be consumed by such worthless woed", a3 tho v\st majority of our saddle borsos are. — A. Bedce, Sydney. Chief luap^ctor of Sicck, New South Walts.