616 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



tice in the Commouwealtli of Peunsylvauia or the owner himself 

 may make affidavit that after diligent inquiry he believes his horse 

 free from hereditary, contagious and transmissible unsoundness and 

 disease. Unsoundness or disease of an hereditary nature will dis- 

 qualify a horse for breeding purposes. 



If you, the stallion owners, have fulfilled your part to the letter 

 there will be issued to you a State license certificate certifying to 

 the description, breeding and soundness of your horse and author- 

 izing him to be used for public service in the Commonwealth of 

 Pennsylvania. 



The conditions that brought this law into effect: 



It is a well known fact that Pennsylvania consumes as many 

 horses as any other one state with perhaps one exception, while 

 in the matter of production she stands away down on the list. 

 Inquiry into the matter leads me to believe that the production of 

 horses is less than it was ten or fifteen years ago with no improve- 

 ment whatever in the class of horses. I have been told by some of 

 the largest dealers in the State that it is impossible to secure any- 

 thing like an adequate supply of horses of the quality, type and 

 breeding which they require without going to distant states, al- 

 though they would prefer to patronize the home breeders and are 

 interested in improving the class and number of horses produced 

 in this State. There can be no question that an increased activity 

 in the horse breeding industry in this State would not only improve 

 the number and sort of horses here, but would be found a source 

 of profit to those engaged in it. I know that there will be excep- 

 tions to this statement made on account of the fact that we cannot 

 compete with the western farmer, who can undersell us and thus 

 get our trade. So far as economy in production is concerned to- 

 gether with the selling price on the farm, this is undoubtedly true; 

 but in view of the fact that the majority of the highest class horses 

 come East and that eastern buyers in the West always allow a liberal 

 margin to cover the cost of getting these horses on eastern markets, 

 our closer proximity to these markets will be found to offset to 

 a considerable extent the advantage enjoyed by the western farmer 

 in first cost of production. At any rate the question is not so 

 much "Can we compete with the western horse raiser" as it is "Can 

 we not find it to our advantage to raise more and better horses?" 



Three things may be charged as responsible for the lack of pro- 

 gress made in the horse breeding industry in Pennsylvania in recent 

 years. The first is the evident lack of a clear conception of what 

 constitutes a good salable market horse. The second is an absence 

 of good blood which may be expected to bring about improvement 

 or the indiscriminate use of what little good blood is already avail- 

 able, while the last and perhaps the most serious condition re- 

 sponsible for the present state of affairs is the persistance of the 

 breeder to patronize the cheap, inferior sire and his failure to man- 

 ifest any disposition to patronize well bred horses of desirable type 

 at the higher fee which their greater cost makes necessary. 



Much may be done in correcting ideals and spreading general 

 information concerning the market types of horses, by the county 

 fair associations. I would emphasize the importance of showering 

 awards as educational features. Successful competition in the show 

 ring would not be regarded as simply a menas of distributing 



