THE CLYDESDALE WORLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3197, 23 June 1915, Page 13

THE CLYDESDALE WORLD.

INTERVIEW WITH A NOTED SCOTTISH BREEDER. WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED AT DU INURE MAINS. A SUCCESSFUL COMBINATION. (See Illustrated Pages.) IBs Ouu Special Commissioner.] GLASGOW, April 16. Dunure Mains, some six miles irom the county town oi Ayr, is, tor the present at any rate, the Mecca of the Clydesdale world. Horsemen of all nations who visit the ancient kingdom of Scotland never; consider their itinerancy complete until they have visited the celebrated stud whicn William Dunlop has-built up on the shores ol the Firm of Clyde. And , there i s no more hosp. table Halting place in the United Kingdom than Dunure Mains. It would be no wonder if in general it was supposed that the one and only interest of William Dunlop is the breeding of the Clydesdale. Such is not the case. Ho has certainly worked upon scientific lines, and given to the world a type ot horse which is nearer perfection than anything previously accomplished, but he has also Rome interests which mark him out as one who can discern the beauties in Art and Nature. When I arrived a.t Dunure Mains the other day he was busily engaged with deputations wiio had come to engage some of his stallions for the season 1916. After a cordial greeting and a hearty word of welcome to his domains, he invited me to have a look through his residence till he had completed his business. This did not take him very long. When people go to Dunure Mams for - a horse there is no time wasted about the premium or the service fees. They know that the terms stated are exactly what will bo accepted, and if they cannot come up to these mere is no harm done. Mr Dunlop’s home is a veritable storehouse of art treasures. There arc numerous paintings by eminent artists of the great horses which have been- and are in the stud, and there are other canvases oi great value which reveal his knowledge ot the importance attaching to the. works ot the ancient, masters. Then, again, there is a splendid variety of umque ivory ornaments, many of them inlaid, while the various rooms contain pieces of antique furniture which must have cost thousands of pounds The whole interior is indeed arranged and furnished with exquisite taste, i was with the manner in which he had his numerous pieces of plate arranged. Many of them are the trophies of the show ring, and although by no means obtrusively displayed, they meet one’s eye m various nooks and corners, and seem to be specially suited to their surroundings. Mr Dunlop has added on a new wing to his residence from his own designs, in which there is a spacious dining room where he entertains his numerous friends and visitors. As i u - trative of his appreciation of the beautiful in Nature, it may be mentioned that.in the garden adjoining Dunure Mains there is a variety of plants rarely to be met with in a place of such dimensions and he knows most of them by name These things have no doubt grown out of Mr Dunlop s sue cess as a breeder of Clydesdale horses; but they give the impression that their owner is capable of appreciating and enjoying the products of the more delicate arts and crafts L well as the beauties of the landscape There have been some important improve merits and extensions since I ™ a f s Tl- - Mains. Although many of the ammits esneciallv the females and the young stock, are in the fields all the year round, the stud lias so outgrown the accommodation that it was found absolutely necessary lo add to the buildings. Again, from his own designs, Mr Dunlop has cut his way through the solid rock at the rear of the Bteadmo- until he has provided some 28 additional loose-boxes. . spacious stabline for mares coming to tnc toalin 0 , with accommodation for the men, mcharge , mr i i' n „ whole promises, as well as Mi Dun loo’s residence, are fitted with electric light made at the farm, the power for this plumose beiim- supnlied by a large oil engine. Thera arc" celt .ufficioat fa. store current which will serve for a whole week. M Dunlop has a blacksmith s shop on his faim, with a staff of tradesmen, who are ranstantiv employed at his own work. As a matter of fact, Dunure Mams « replete m every detail necessary for a in\\y stud farm, and at the head of all there s the man of ideas who knows how to put them into practice. «. , I am not sure that it will, be possible to give any other instance m which one breeder has had in his possession at one time four animals with which he has won the Cawdor Oup-the blue ribbon of tho Clydesdale breed Mr William Dunlop has three stallions with which he has gained tlm distinction, and one mare. What is more, he has put up another record by securing the double event in the same season—winning tho cud for mares as well as that tor stallions in i 914. This is certainly unprecedented in tho history of the breed. Dunmo Footprint (15203), the senior of these champions, gained the cup as a two-year-old in 1910 and his success as a breeder has been phenomenal. Last year he was second on the list of winning sires, and this season, so far as it lias gone, he is f<u’ ahead of any other horse. A son of the celebrated Baron of Buchlyvie (11263), he is out of Dunuro Ideal, a daughter of Mr Bunions great draught stallion Auchenflower (12007). He next won the cup with The Dunure (16839) another of the gets of Baron of Buchlyvie out of Carina II (16323), by the groat champion Hiawatha (10067), with grand-dam by Craichmare Darnley (5667), and tracing back to the noted Farmer (286). Then in 1914 he was victorious in both divisions. The stallion is the three-year-old colt Dunure Refiner (17872). He is by Dunure Footprint from a mare by Hiawatha, with grand-dam by the world-famous Baron s Pride (9122) and great-grand-dam by the £3OOO Prince of Albion (6178). The female cup was won with Dunure Chosen, a full sister to Dunuro Footprint, now four years old. She has never been beaten in her class since she was first shown as a two-year-old. and when not champion she was invariably, reserve for that honour. Besides, there is in tho stud another horse, Dunure Stephen, which was reserve for the Cawdor Cup. He, too, is a son of Baron of Buchlyvie out of the .great draught mare Minniehaba, by the celebrated Hiawatha (10067).

But William Dunlop, as I have indicated, has ideas of his own about the building up of a Clydesdale stud, and it is by aiming at high ideals firmly held that he has succeeded so marvellously in his enterprise. “My firm conviction is,’’ ho said to me, “ that' the first great consideration in the breeding of Clydesdales is to get their legs right into their bodies. I have now, I believe, got this carried into effect by a combination which has resulted in the production of Footprint and others of my horses and mares. Generally speaknig, the Clydesdale breed of horses have improved enormously since the time of Baron’s Pride, but there were certain points which required looking after. Baron of Buchlyvie, for instance, was one of the finest horses in front I ever saw, and Auchenflower excels in hind legs. By a combination of the two I have got what I have been working for —an animal of good size, with flash legs, abundance of broad, flat, flinty bone, and the finest quality of hair. Footprint’s stock, as a matter of fact, are far heavier all through their bodies than those of Baron of Buchlyvie, and they are truer to the real Clydesdale typo, because you have in them the combination to which I have referred, and this will be handed down, to succeeding generations. But look at- the breeding. In working for this combination I have had _to keep all the main points prominently in view. Moss Rose, the granddam of Montrave Mao, a mare which was invincible in the sale-ring even up to her later years, and Montrave Maud, her daughter, and the dam of Montrave Maof also a Cawdor Cup champion, were a pair of the finest Clydesdale females 1 ever saw with great frames, grand flash legs, and true action. It was this which induced me to pay such a price as £IOOO for Montrave Mac when he was little more than a yearling. That horse has transmitted the best of these characteristics to Auchenflower, while the latter has increased size in combination with the finest breed character.”

“ And then, Mr Dunlop, are you always anxious to have close hock-aotion?” I asked.

“ Most emphatically,” he at once replied. “ If you have a horse with his legs well placed under him he is sure to be a good mover and pretty certain to bo sound. You must have them moving with their hocks close, and you must not forget the feet either. The foot must bo strong and not shaped like a saucer. It must have strong walls, and be fit to carry a shoo to enable the animal to draw a heavy load along the streets of the city. No,” continued Mr Dunlop; “if a horse or mare is not correct behind, I would have nothing to do with them. For instance, if an animal has a bad stifle, his stock might have it, and they would not bd good wearers. We will get them all wrong if we don’t keep those things in view. And size! Yes, we must have twenty of weight. The best breeders are working at that now, and attaining marked success.” Mr Dunlop did not seem anxious to condescend into particulars and sing the praises of his own stock. But I elicited a few particulars • which are worth recording. There are about 100 horses and mares in the Dunure Stud. All the aged horses are hired for this season, and not a few for tho succeeding season, while at least four two-year-olds have been fixed up for districts in 1916. “ I have not,” he remarked, “ a horse in my stud at the present time that I could not sell with every confidence.” Mr Dunlop disposes of a good many horses to go into England, and some find their way to Ireland, while an occasional one goes to America, the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Dominion of New Zealand. Mr Dunlop has a magnificent number of yearlings and two-year-olds at present, all of them going in the pastures in rough weather and fine. In a paddock in front of the steading was tho great colt Dunure Birkenwood, by Apukwa, which he bought last year, and which has an almost unbeaten record. Mr Dunlop has a farm in Ireland, and he sonde many of his yearlings to winter there. He breeds quite as many Clydesdales as he buys, and, of course, ho takes a special pride in bringing them to perfection. Two yearlings of his own breeding topped their classes at the Royal Ulster Show of last year, one being a colt by Baron of Buchlyvie out of a Montrave Mac dam, and the other a filly by Dunure Vintage out of a Baron of Buchlyvie mother. Ireland, ho says, is wakening up in the matter of Clydesdale-breeding. Last year no fewer than ■2O mares came. from the Green Isle to be served by his horses. Mr Dunlop takes a specially keen interest in his mares, and ho is justly proud of them. They looked a splendid lot going in the field—big, thick, blocky animals with superb quality of bone and straight silky hair. He says he gets many of his best females out of Lord Lothian dams. They have plenty of size and substance in combination with excellent quality and robust constitutions, and the latter is a matter of the first importance in a draught animal. Never in tho history of the stud was the percentage of mares in foal so great as this year. All his crack females are in this position. Tho throe which figured so prominently at the shows of last year are due to foal shortly. The champion Dunure Chosen is in foal to the great breeding horse Apukwa; Dunure Toby is in the same condition to Auchenflower, and fefercell is in foal to Dunure Footprint. I remarked that he had given a long price for the latter mare at the Rachan sale. And she is well worth it,” ho at once replied “ Sarcell is the stamp I like—big and roomy, and quality right down_ to the ground. Her sire. Everlasting, is one of the biggest and beet horses of the day, and her dam is a mare by Prince Thomas, as good a stamp of a cart-horse as ever lived.” Dunure Ideal, the great daughter of Auchenflower, is again in foal to Baron of Buchlyvie, so that it may be expected that another of tho same standard as Footprint or Chosen may be forthcoming. Mr Dunlop has also the noted Sarah Pride, the dam of tho great horse Prince Ossian, in foal to Auchenflower, and the fin© mare Mamosa has already dropped a handsome colt to Gallant Stewart, the horse which was reserve champion at the Royal Northern Show at Aberdeen a fortnight ago. he being a son of the celebrated mare Veronequo. That the Dunure Mains Stud will go on and prosper is tho sincere wish of every true lover of the Clydesdale breed. William Dunlop knows his business, and ho deserves success.