Sporting Review AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, August 27, 1896. TURF GOSSIP. CERTIFICATE OF SOUNDNESS WITH STUD HORSES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 318, 27 August 1896, Page 4

Sporting Review AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, August 27, 1896. TURF GOSSIP. CERTIFICATE OF SOUNDNESS WITH STUD HORSES.

The case, Mcßae v. Hunter, was decided in the District Court at Hawera recently, in which plaintiff was awarded £250 damages, as compensation for the loss (through injuries received on defendant’s property) of the thoroughbred stallion Morpheus. None but a packed jury would have awarded such high damages, in face of the expert evidence, which declared that the horse was suffering from hereditary disease (ringbone), and consequently was valueless as a sire. However, the decision as to the amount of damages does not trouble us further than that the decision appears to be opposed to the weight of evidence. But there are other particulars in connection with the case that will cause much alarm to breeders. Tt appears that when Morpheus was exhibited in the show ring at Hawera in 1894 the horse was turned out of the ring by Veterinary Surgeon Hawke for being, in his opinion, unsound. When ,the action was taken against Mr Hunter he had the body of the horse exhumed, and then cut off the front legs and despatched them by a reliable person to Mr Hawke for his opinion as to what was the matter with the horse, and Mr Hawke’s reply was that the joints showed unmistakeable signs of ringbone. Of course Mr Hawke did not know from what horse the legs had been taken, so that he had the pleasure of knowing subsequently tha this show ring decision was perfectly correct. Mr Hawke in his expert evidence said : —“ The fact that both bones show the disease goes to prove it was hereditary. People breed from horses with ringbone because they do not know any better. A horse suffering as the horse from which the bones were taken would be worth nothing, witness would not buy him or breed from him.” Counsel for the defendant asked Mr Hawke, “ Are you still of opinion that the horse was unsound and unfit for breeding purposes ?” Mr Hawke replied, “ Yes; and it. is time this sort of thing was stopped. Horses are raced until they show signs of disease, and they are then withdrawn from the turf and put to the stud, and the country is flooded with unsound horses.” Mr Digby Granville, a duly qualified veterinary surgeon, gave evidence as to the bones showing hereditary ringbone. The thanks of breeders are due to Mr Hawke for speaking out straight and drawing attention to the haphazard manner in which breeding in New Zealand is conducted. Many breeders we could mention simply breed from the cheapest stallion travelling in their particular district, and they do not appear to care whether the sire selected is suffering from hereditary disease or not, so long as they get a foal and can sell it tn someone else before the lameness, which is bred in it, comes out. Now, we will accept the expert and other evidence in the case under notice as being correct, and that Morpheus was suffering from ringbone—a hereditary disease. We will accept Mr. Mcßae's statement that Morpheus served over 80 mares the first season, and 60 mares the next season, also as being correct That makes a total of 140 mares, and assuming 100 foals are the result it is pretty rough on the breeders of these foals, that they should be called upon to pay the service fee for the services of a horse pronounced to be valueless as a stud horse. After the

evidence tendered in the- case, few are likely to invest in any stock sired by Morpheus, although personally we do not think that half the stock sired by him will show unsoundness, but then the trouble is to find out which of his progeny are likely to be affected. As a duty; we certainly think that where a breeder is presented with a cripple foal, by Morpheus, that Mr. Mcßae should return the service fee. But our object in discussing this case is to draw the

attention of breeders to. the necessity of banding themselves together and demanding that each stud horse groom should be compelled to produce a certificate, signed by two competent veterinary surgeons, stating the extent of the horse’s unsoundness and whether hereditary. Breeders would then be able to decide whether the unsoundness was of sufficient importance to warrant them in declining the horse’s services. The Government Stock Department should take up this matter if they wish to keep the breed of horses in New Zealand sound. If we were breeding for racing purposes we should insist on seeing a certificate as to the soundness of the. horse we selected. Breeders are only standing in their own light if they do not insist on knowing (by expert, re., by veterinary surgeon opinion) whether they are breeding from a sound or unsound horse, i The price of horses has dropped considerably during the last few years, and the slightest blemish is sufficient, nowadays to condemn the most highly-bred animal, so that they want to be bred as sound as possible.