238 Journal of Agriculture. [11 April, 191 o. 



of the horses shown had to be rejected for unsoundness. The weedmg out 

 process has been going on ever since, with the result that certain families 

 which were then predominant have been practically obliterated, and the 

 families now responsible for the show stock of horses do not contain more 

 than 5 per cent, of horses still carrying the taint of hereditary unsound- 

 ness. 



Complete records have been kept of the unsoundnesses for which indi- 

 vidual horses were rejected and of the f amilv pedigrees and histories of such 

 horses. It was realised shortly after the commencement of the scheme 

 that the collection of such information would prove extremely interesting 

 as time went on, as tending to prove or disprove, as> the case may be, 

 the hereditary character of the unsoundnesses in respect of which rejections 

 have been made. In point of fact, a study of these records has proved 

 of greater interest and more importance than ^^as at first anticipated. By 

 them I have been able tO' set forth information of a character such as has 

 not been published in detail before. In a contribution tO' a thesis which 

 I presented to the Melbourne University I was able to furnish particulars 

 of a most interesting character concerning the incidence of unsoundnesses as 

 regards breed and the age period of development of the various hereditary 

 unsoundnesses, as also tables and family histories showing completed evi- 

 dence of the hereditary character of sidebone, ringbone, curb, and bog 

 spavin. As this University paper will be published as an addendum to this 

 report there is no necessity to here repeat the details and conclusions set 

 forth in it.* 



As compared with the draught horses, it is satisfactory to find that onlv 

 9 per cent, of light horses have been rejected, and in the case of ponies 

 the rejections for unsoundness have been particularly low, namely, 3.5 

 per cent. 



Rejections as regards Standard. 



On the other hand, more ponies (16.28 per cent.) and light horses 

 (10 per cent.) have been rejected as being below a reasonable standard for 

 Government approval than in the case of draught horses, of which only 

 7.4 per cent, have been rejected for this rea.son. 



On this asj>ect of the working of the scheme, it is opportune to again 

 draw attention to the necessity (which, in my opinion, is urgent if the quality 

 of the horse stock of the State is to be improved) of strengthening this side 

 of the scheme. I have previously pointed out that the veterinary officers 

 engaged in the work of examination have had no desire to undertake the 

 function of judging as regards breed, type and conformation, and it may 

 be said that they have only exercised this function in respect of stallions 

 presented to them, which it would have been for them a matter of shame 

 to have signed a certificate in favour of. With a staff of competent judges 

 to deal with this aspect of the matter as firmly as the veterinary officers 

 have dealt with the unsoundness aspect, much needed weeding out of in- 

 ferior sires would be brought about in the course of two or three years. 

 It is idle to say that in respect of type, breed and conformation, matters 

 should be left in the hands of breeders themselves to determine. It is to 

 such a drifting policy that, in a large measure, may be attributed the de- 

 terioration as regards quality that is being complained of on all hands. If 

 quality of progeny is to be maintained, the standard of sires must be kept 

 up. Even with the use of the best sires, there is always a sufficiency, if 



*\Yant of space precludes the publication of the paper this month. It will appear 

 in the next issue. — Editor. 



