THE THOROUGH-BRED. 431 



time for the declaration of minor forfeits, I consider it 

 most ridiculous that January and February should be 

 selected for the purpose. April would be a much more 

 suitable month. If we could gradually alter our dates, the 

 age of the horse from January i to March i, and our 

 two-year-old racing from March 25 to May i, we should, I 

 feel sure, be taking an important step in the right direction, 

 and sounder, stouter, and better animals would be the 

 result. Far too much encouragement is given to two- 

 year-old racing by adding such large sums of money to 

 the stakes. It would be better for the sport and more 

 conducive to the improvement of blood stock, if a large 

 proportion of these enormous sums were given to com- 

 petitions for older horses, and therefore for races of greater 

 length than five or six furlongs." 



All hunting men know that good thorough - bred 

 hunters perform brilliantly, especially on the grass lands 

 of the Shires, and " do well," if they are carefully tended 

 by the stud groom and his strappers, and are not asked, 

 as a rule, to hunt oftener than three days in a fortnight ; 

 but we cannot get over the fact that they are unable to 

 stand continued hard work and " short commons," as well 

 as the ordinary half-bred hunter. On the subject of the 

 constitutional strength of " blood " horses, Mr. A. B. 

 Paterson, who is a well-known horse expert, gives us 

 valuable practical information in The Sydney Mail, of 

 15th March, 1902. He tells us that the best lot of horses 

 that left AustraUa for South Africa, during the late war, 

 were " police horses sent over by the Government, and 50 

 per cent, of them were fit to exhibit in any show ring in 

 Austraha. They were a magnificent lot of animals, and 

 for one day's gallop they would have distanced any other 

 lot of horses at the front. They were the best lot of horses 

 in Africa, but they did not last long. Their high-strung 

 nerves and eager dispositions made them inclined to fret 

 and refuse their food, and after a long march it was the 

 usual thing to see many of our horses refusing to eat the 



