The Horse Parade: Good Horses, aud Breeders of Rubbish. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2014, 29 September 1892, Page 8

The Horse Parade: Good Horses, aud Breeders of Rubbish. TO THE EDITOR.

Sin,— The purity of my love for this, the most Jovable and valuable quadruped God has given to man, will excuse me inflicting some of my views on your readers on the eve of our local horse parade. The country has not yet realised what a valuable industry it has in tho direction of correct horse-breeding, and how well our soils, and pastures, and climates are 'fitted to rear stock which should compare with the best' in the

world. There is nothing but careless breeding to hinder the name "New Zealand horse" being as good a passport as the term " British horse." Our colony has about 200,000 horses, few very good, some good, some moderately fair, but the majority— well, to put it mildly, bad and very bad. Now, supposing by correct breeding our . horses could be steadily improved, say only L 5 per head, putting aside the pleasure that so much better size, shape and soundness would give, look at the net gain to the colony. But it would not stop there ; by raising the name of our horses as to quality we create a demand for them in other countries. India alone for army and other purposes swallows up nearly 10,000 horses annually from Australasia, and yet how small a proportion of them are contributed by New, Zealand ! Now, are' we doing our best to improve and keep up our standards P I think not, for of late years we have not imported new blood in anything like the same ratio as our best sires have been taken from us by Australian and American breeders. Year by year, in the breeding of light horses especially, wo see the process of degenerative- inongrelisation going on, most of our farmers going in for the cheapest and weediest sires that may pass their doors— anything seems to do for them so long as it, has got a gaudy surcingle on it and it can be got'eheap. Nor have we always bred along the tight lines in the past. There has been too great a tendency in light horses to use second and fifth-rate broken down racehorses and to mate them with any kind of mare to try and raise racing hacks to scoop totalizator pools and to serve the purposes of gamblers, whom our too numerous race meetings foster— another bane of unlimited and indiscriminate totalisatorism. The result is seen that, with the slight drain on our light horses caused by our small exports to India and Australia, it ia now very difficult to get a good hackney. Search where you like, in the North Island or in the South Island, there are few of them. And what -few good ones there are the majority are being broken down to serve the god Totalisator — really there will soon be more race meetings than church days. There is too much of this impure alienation of geldings and hackneys, and the country teems with rubbish that , certainly cannot properly pay tho producers.,

• A good horse costs no more to feed and rear than, a bad one — nay, frequently less ; and those of our farmers inland .who complain of not being able to send their corn and hay to the seaside on account of the cost of portage might well consider whether it would not be cheaper for them to send it down within the skins of young horses of proper build and quality, such as a more careful selection of siring and mating would produce. One might learn much from the experience of Germany, Holland, and France regarding the advisability of breeding a ..•better class of hackneys and' harness horses, for I am strongly of opinion that the too indiscriminate use of flat racing horces has had much to do" with the over-production of yewnecked, slab-sided, long-barrelled, long-legged, poor-boned, and badly-quartered weeds, which are to be found in abundance. Of what use are : they? They are, certainly not ornamental. If 14 monsieur" would only further develop his taste for equine steaks we might refrigerate and export them. Now, what I wish to see fostered are good serviceable roadsters and harness horses ;' .weight carriers ratherthan racing weeds ; stock with shorter legs, better action, stronger muscles, bigger bones and wider builds than the miserable laths one sees so much of. Ido not wish to abolish the thoroughbred. Let the best be kept for quality; let us encourage hunters, and use both strains more intelligently than we have done. But for the general class- of roadster let us ' infuse more of the hackney cob strain; secure more Clevelands and Yorkshire coachers, and not neglect the .Welsh pony stamp. There is one of the latter in our district now (I refer to Mr Larnach's grey pony stallion) that seems to me might have, been made more use of. For a .hilly country like Otago the hackney cob stallion is specially adapted. Their strong ■shoulder formation, their clean, wide, free, front action, and especially their peculiar .bending mobile hocks, make them more surefooted for trotting up and down our hills. I saw a good type of hackney cob stallion in , our,, streets the other day. It was a pleasant sight/ and I hope to see more of them in the" next few years. He is a dark brown, with a ■ small, good-shaped head, cleanly set on a wellturned' and crested neck, not over-long in the rein, and ' rising pretty well up out of the breast; large and strong shoulders with a firmly pronounced wither ; a broad chest surmounted by a short back with a large girth diameter and round belly, and well ribbed up ; his limbs were active, strong, and shapely, havifog fairly proportioned and muscular true arms and gaskins, and short shanks with flat bgne^, and hindquarters fitted to swing him along. T<) sit on such a horse with a light hand and see ibis fore feet and knees gracefully rising and'advancing above and beyond his breast, ,and/yet not coming down like thuds and .crashes to the road, while his sweeping and flexible hind action carries forward his hiud -feet ;at the required instant under him to the ground, would be a treat. A rider on such a . horse would feel he was on a little mountain of strength and agility — nor would such i horse .disgrace a pair of shafts. He is about the best stamp of a roadster stallion I have yet seen about here, and like little but big Ahua, the hurdler, I should like to see him remain in this district.

,It is not alone in the selection of sound sires and proper mares our farmers should exercise moro caro. When the foals appear they require more considerate treatment both during their suckling and growing periods. They are far too often left entirely to themselves in paddocks, season in and season out, without

shelter, without stacks, and are often unnecessarily knocked about. And then when st an age ripe for realisation they are only too often sent into the auction mart unkempt and un schooled either to saddle or shafts, and in low condition, and thus the producer loses much of their real value. Many a colt have I bought in his rough state for ons-fifth of what I would take for him after a little care and tuition. But I must forbear. I should like to see New Zealand be in horseflesh— what, with care, I believe she could easily be— the producing ground of horses for the more wealthy equipages of Melbourqe, and Sydney, and London, and the backbone on which India could rely in this direction, and we would all benefit thereby, and I look upon careless breeding as a useless waste of time, energy, and fodder. — I am, &c , September 24. Millen Coughtrey. P.S.— I have since learned the hackney cob I have above referred to is an imported one called "Cock o' the Walk."