THE N.Z. CLYDESDALE.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 199, 28 March 1913, Page 4

THE N.Z. CLYDESDALE.

AN AUSTRALIAN’S OPINION

During the last decade there has been a marked revival in the interest taken in New Zealand in the Clydesdale horse, and as a result the Dominion has won a good name by the production of some very high-class animals, says “Camden,” in the Pastoralists’ Review. But, the writer adds, “ there has always been a large proportion of low-grade animals, and trading on the name of New Zealand’s best horses the inferior sorts have too frequently been shipped to Australia with results that are not calculated to benefit the trade. “ The rural population of New Zealand comprises a good many Scotsmen, especially in the south, so it is not surprising that the Clydesdale horse is so highly popular. In Otago you hear more broad Scotch in rural districts than anywhere eke in Australasia, and there you will also find the keenest interest taken in the Clydesdale breed. In the North Island there are many noted breeders, but the South appears to more than hold its own in point of numbers. “ Many years ago numbers of fine Clydesdale horses were imported to New Zealand by the early settlers, and a very good type of horse got about the country. But during the period of low prices for stock and wool the breeding was somewhat neglected. Importations ceased, and locally-bred stallions were in almost universal use. The result was that the fine points of the breed were neglected, and far too many inferior, if not mongrel stallions paraded the countryside and left still more inferior crops of foals. Farmers and others became familiarised with this style of draught horse, which was still' called a Clydesdale, so that when, some years later, prosperity encouraged enterprising men to import again from Scotland, the new arrivals represented quite a different type ot animal to the local horse. This was immediately dubbed a “ new type,” and it is surprising how quickly men came forward and denounced it, and how ingenious they were in their condemnation. They deplored the fact that Scottish breeders were breeding out the draught characteristics of the Clydesdale, that they were producing a light-bodied, lightlegged, white-hoofed, poor-con-stitutioned horse, and they claimed, and some still claim, that the modern imported horse is likely to do great harm to the draught horses of the country. “If common sense is brought to bear on these contentions, it is difficult to allow that they hold water. The last of the modern Clydesdale come in for the bulk of the criticism, and it is right that they should, because they are in the foundation of the utility of the horse.

• “If anyone interested in the subject gives unprejudiced consideration to the lines on which the Scottish breeders have been, and still are, working, he can find no fault. They insist upon a large round hoof of tough, not brittle material, proportionately high, and with a wide hoof head. This latter is a point to which a great deal of importance is attached, because the wide hoof head and the soft setting of the sinews into it helps to break the jar when the horse is in action, and prevents a whole string of ills to which the equine leg is heir. As regards the colour of the hoof, dark is preferred, but, provided the foot is well shaped and otherwise good, it apparently has not been proved that the white colour denotes an inferior type of hoof. The best breeders in Scotland and in New Zealand aim for the big round hoof, with plenty of width at the heels, and this is only logical when the weight and pressure the feet have to bear is considered. Ihen another point on which the detractors of the modern type dwell is the pastern, or what is more often called the ankle. They claim that it is getting too long, and that it will eventually become a source of weakness, if it had not already become so. I will admit that the way some breeders dress the hair or spats round the hoofs when showing their horses leads spectators at a distance to believe that the pasterns go much further back, and are more horizontal than they really are, but examination in nearly every case would prove it to be otherwise. One has only to gaze at the feet of some city horses to see the folly of neglecting the long pastern. The short, steep pastern nearly always goes with small, contracted feet, and hideous deformities are the result. If the wide hoof head and the long, sloping pastern are neglected, there is nothing to soften the jarring the feet get when battering along the hard roads. The constant jarring and straining, without the cushionlike protection of a good setting into a wide hoof head, and of a long, sloping pastern, give rise to troubles which extend above the knees and hocks. Therefore, can anyone sensibly allege that New Zealand breeders, who are working on Scottish lines, are on the wrong track ? The whole

fabric of Clydesdale breeding will topple down if due attention on sound rational lines is not paid, first of all, to the feet. Of course, the terms “ big round feet,” “ wide hoof heads,” and “long ankles” are general and relative terms, and no stereotyped measurements can be given because no two horses are alike, and everything, has to be proportionate. But the trained eye can at once take in the symmetry or otherwise of a draught horse’s feet and pasterns. Another defect laid to the door of the imported Clydesdale is the lack of hair below the knee, but if this contention is examined bit by bit it very soon falls to pieces. It is easily explained in the first place by stating that the breeders are going for bone, the best Clydesdale horses are remarkably free from hair, except for a fine silky variety, which grows down the back of the leg and over the springy muscular tissue on top of the hoof head. If the very hairylegged horses are examined it will be found the legs are spongy with flesh, which accounts for the hair growing, and as a rule a round, soft, porous quality of bone goes with the fleshy legs. No one will deny that the flat, hard, flinty bone is a better support to a heavy draught horse than a round, soft, porous bone, so that there is no sense in tne contention that lack of hair denotes weakness. Apart from the structural aspect of the question, the freedom from thick-matted hair is much appreciated by those who have to look after draught horses. It minimises the task of cleaning the legs, and the cleanlegged horses are not troubled with grease or the sores which are nearly always found on gummy-legged horses. “ New Zealand breeders who are hastening to the front in Clydesdale breeding are doing it all by the means of imported horses, and as they have been going these lines for years there are some magnificent horses in the country. Every year the improvement goes on, and each season a better lot of mares do duty at the stud, and those who breed on different lines will soon be left far behind. The clean, strong leg speaks for itself. While attention has been paid to the points above referred to, the hocks have not been neglected; in fact, after looking at a Clydesdale’s feet the eye flies to the hocks. In the best horses the hock is nicely pointed and devoid of all superfluous flesh. A flcshy-hocked horse is given a very black mark. Then the hocks have to be well set under the horse, not stretched away out behind like English hackneys. The draught horse is primarily for hauling, and to get his great weight effectively into the collar his hocks must be set well under. I have heard some of the opponents to imported Clydesdales allege that the tendency to be close in the hocks is one of the great objections to the Scottish horse. As a fhatter of fact, it is scientifically correct that when a draught horse moves he should swing his hocks in. By doing so his legs are in the best position to bear the leverage. Moving the hocks close together means that the toes of the hind feet are turned slightly outwards. In action the hock should be well raised, and the leg smartly bent. The fore feet should be lifted smartly and cleanly, and there should be no dishing outwards or pigeon toes. The correct action of a draught horse is briefly summed up in the expression, “ A good horse should meet you straight in front, and leave you close behind.” “ Another slander on the imported horse is that he is small, but after travelling all through New Zealand I could not find evidence that this is so. I found, however, that the best and most fashionable Clydesdales are very deceptive as far as size is concerned. They are so neat and symmetrical that they do not look their true size even when one stands only a short distance away ; but I would strongly advise those who believe that what is erroneously called the ‘ new type’ is a small animal to stand right against those he condemns in this way. In every case he would be surprised.”