A^FW SOUTH WALES. 



Light Harness Horses. — The number of this class of horse was esti- 

 mated at 133,588^ one-tenth of which maybe ranked as jjure-bred. In 

 the early days of the Colony only a few representatives of this breed 

 were to be met with ; but within the last thirty years, but especially 

 within the last fifteen, a good many Cleveland entires, some Yorkshire 

 coaching horses, and American trotters, with a few German coaching 

 horses, have been introduced, which have brought about a large increase 

 in the number of the better class of our light harness and coaching' 

 horses, and a considerable improvement in their carriage and action. 

 The number of ordinary light harness horses has also been increased by 

 putting light weedy well-bred mares to the Suffolk Punch and smaller 

 Clydesdales, the result being a light harness horse of a very useful 

 stamp, but lacking in style and character. 



Saddle Horses. — It was estimated that our saddle horses at the 1st 

 January, 1895, numbered 212,636, one-tenth of which may be said to 

 consist of thoroughbreds and first-class hacks. In the early days of the 

 Colony our saddle-horses were greatly improved by frequent introduc- 

 tions of thoroughbreds from England ; but the thoroughbred was then 

 a different stamp of horse from the racehorse of the present day. He 

 had a great deal more bone and muscle ; and in substance and shape 

 the thoroughbred was a far more suitable sire for producing saddle- 

 horses than the racehorse now is. A good many high-class Arabs 

 were also imported, and when put to large well-bred mares they left 

 some very superior upstanding saddle-horses, fit to carry a man, and 

 carry him well, day after day perhaps 40 or 50 miles for a fortnight, 

 with nothing by the way but the natural grasses they had at night, and 

 at times but little of that. In fact, some forty or fifty years ago our 

 saddle-horses, taking them as a whole, were among the best, if not the 

 very best in the world ; for it was no uncommon thing then to find 

 horses which could do a journey of 80, or even a hundred miles in a 

 day. With the outbreak of the diggings our saddle-horses began to 

 deteriorate, and from one or other of the following causes: — (1.) 

 Through the hands on the station leaving and going off to the diggings, 

 and the horses being neglected. (2.) Through putting draught entires 

 to the upstanding mares of the saddle breed. (3.) Through the use 

 of light weedy racing entires. (4.) Through the over supply of horses 

 of an inferior sort, and the want of a sufficient export trade in horses. 



Imp'ovement, or an Export Trade in Light Harness and 8 addle-Horses. 



Within the last twelve or fifteen years, however, very much more 

 attention has been paid to the sires used in breeding light harness and 

 saddle-horses, greater care has been taken in the selection of the mares, 

 and there have been frequent importations of Norfolk and American 

 trotters, Irish hunters, and Yorkshire coachiug and saddle-horses, and 

 more recently of the English hackney. With, therefore, such an 

 excellent climate, and country so well adapted as ours for breeding 

 light harness and saddle-horses, we may, in the course of the next few 

 years expect, with proper cai-e, to regain the position we lost, and to be 

 able to say that if our light harness and saddle-horses are not the best in 

 the world, no other country can ]n-oduce better, and at so little expense. 



The increased prices which the right stamp of horses of the light 

 harness and saddle breeds brino- in our own market is sufficient to 



