WINNER OF MANY CUPS

Southland Times, Issue 24000, 15 December 1939, Page 21

WINNER OF MANY CUPS

A HIGH opinion of Southland as a breeding-ground for high quality light horses is held by Mr R. H. Bisset, formerly of Avondale, near Nightcaps, who now lives in Invercargill. Nobody has better qualifications to express an opinion than Mr Bisset, for he has been actively interested all his life as a rider, breeder, exhibitor and judge.

Mr Bisset says that the pastures of Southland are eminently suitable for raising horses and there is no reason why outstanding animals should not be bred again, provided that thoroughbreds are used. He regrets the infusion of too much pacing blood into horses, considering the need for remounts. Times when there tvas a big demand for remounts for the Indian Army and for artillery horses are recalled by Mr Bisset, who remembers that on one occasion a shipment of horses bred by the late Mr John Grigg, of Longbeach, for India did not leave and the horses were sold in New Zealand, giving farmers a plentiful supply of good hunters and hacks. Judging System

MR Bisset has a rigid system of judging when he is in the ring. A horse must first of all have good feet, he says, and a good head, narrow between the ears and wide between the eyes, with a good wide jowl. Next in order are the rein and shoulders and then the rest of the points, but to finish the work properly it is necessary to mount a horse and view him from the top.

During his 30 years’ stay in Southland Mr Bisset has owned many fine horses, more than 300 prize tickets and many silver cups being in his house to prove their quality. He also has pictures of horses of an outstanding type not commonly seen today. The best horse he ever owned, according to Mr Bisset, was Dun Brown, who won nearly 100 tickets and trophies and jumped till he was 18 years of age. This gelding was bred in a peculiar manner. A stallion said to have escaped ship was running wild near Akaroa and, to obtain a service from him, a breeder tethered out a mare. The resulting progeny was Dun Brown, who later came into Mr Bisset’s possession. Dun

Brown enjoyed great success in the jumping events at the Christchurch exhibition show in 1906. Other outstanding horses owned by Mr Bisset were Clarence, who had Kingfisher and Betrayer blood on each side of his family, Calham (Thumham-Calma), who won the C.J.C. Beauford Steeplechase and the Otago Steeplechase, .Fulmen, who was by Fulmen, joint winner of the New Zealand Cup with Ideal in 1900, and Waio, by Ironworker. Fulmen bore the same name as his sire. On two occasions Mr Bisset, by special request, took Fulmen and Waiau north, once to Dunedin and once to Timaru, during the visits of Governors-GeneraL During the Great War the Southland News Company presented a trophy for the best troop horse in the Southland show. The cup was for annual competition, any competitor winning it three times in succession to retain it Mr Bisset was successful three times in succession, each time with a different horse, and today the cup is in his draw-ing-room. Mr Bisset also has a cup gained for riding his own horse to victory in the South Canterbury Hunt Club’s point-to-point steeplechase in 1904, two cups for gaining most points in the light horse section at the MacKenzie Country show in Fairlie and foux cups for most points in light horses at the Winton show.