PREFA CE xix 



In no part of the British Empire is this question 

 of building up a breed of horses suitable for saddle 

 and harness work of more vital importance than it is 

 in Australia. In that great colony, where stock- 

 raising and sheep-farming are the foremost indus- 

 tries, where the distances to be traversed are great 

 and roads are often indifferent, the saddle-horse fills 

 the same place as it did in the mother-country until 

 the * golden age ' of coaching. 



The supply of horses that can travel at a fair pace 

 all day and for days together has an interest for 

 Australia which, unhappily for the interests of horse- 

 breeding, is not felt in this country, with the net- 

 work of railways covering its every corner. 



With this ever-present need of such horses, 

 Australia is fortunate in her possession of a climate 

 and soil which are second to none in their suit- 

 ability for horse-breeding. On the vast plains of 

 the interior, horses enjoy all the advantages of a 

 natural existence in a climate most favourable to 

 their healthy growth, ranging, as they may, over 

 great areas to pasture on the fresh and untainted 

 grasses which, above all things, are necessary to 

 the development and well-being of young stock. 



The soundness of limb and freedom from chest 

 and throat maladies enjoyed by Australian-bred 

 horses is proverbial ; and if two-year-old and short- 

 distance racing has adversely affected the modern 

 thoroughbred in the colony, her climatic advantages 

 afford the opportunity of raising a fresh type which 



