1906 ON HORSE BREEDING IN ONTARIO. 69 



Dufferin Concluded . 



The public meeting for the county of Dufferin at Shelburne, on Nov- 

 ember 12th, was well attended, about 40 being present, mostly farmers who 

 did not own stallions. The question of an Inspection Act was discussed by 

 them for some time before a vote was taken. The result was that only two 

 voted against an Inspection Act, the rest voting in favor of it. 



SPECIAL REPORT OF INSPECTORS. 



We the undersigned committee appointed by the Ontario Department 

 of Agriculture for the purpose of investigating the horse industry in the 

 district known as No. 4, composed ,of the counties of Perth, Waterloo, Wel- 

 lington, and Dufferin, beg to report as follows : "That we have inspected 

 306 stallion's, Clydesdales ;130, Standard-breds 40, Hackney 20, Thorough- 

 breds 22, Percherons 17, Shires 5, Belgians 4, Coach horses 4, and grades 64. 

 Of the pure-bred stallions we found 15 unsound horses. We found the stal- 

 lions of Clydesdale blood a good lot, the mares as a rule not nearly so good, 

 owing to what the breeders say throughout the district, that until just 

 recently the farmers have, as a rule, sold quite a number of their best mares, 

 and in this way have lowered the standard of the heavy mares in the district. 

 We find, however, that this policy has been to a great extent discontinued. 

 We also find among the heavy class of horses in this district that the Per- 

 (cheron stallions, the Belgian stallions, and the Shire stallions are not near- 

 ly as good a lot as the Clydesdales ; in fact, they were, with onei or two excep- 

 tions, poor representatives of the respective breeds. 



The Percheron and Belgian horses in this district have only been intro- 

 duced recently. With few exceptions these horses have been brought in and 

 sold to from six to fifteen individuals, in most cases farmers, under a system 

 known as syndicating, and in every instance at prices away above their 

 value. We found the universal opinion of those we came in contact with 

 opposed to this system. The reason assigned was that it invariably places 

 a poor horse in a community at a very high price, and further that it intro- 

 duces a breed of horses in a section quite frequently that has a tendency to 

 impair rather than improve present conditions. For instance, in this dis- 

 trict the heavy class of mares are almost without exception Clydesdale-bred 

 mares of from one to three crosses, and no greater mistake could be made 

 than to breed such mares to either Percheron or Belgian stallions. 



The light horses in this district are not so numerous and with few ex- 

 ceptions are not of nearly so high a standard. The Hackneys, as a rule, are a 

 very good lot of the right kind. We also find some excellent Standard-breds. 

 but the greater part of them are very inferior individuals. The grades are 

 far too numerous, and, in most cases are of a very poor class, which would 

 scarcely make good-looking workers. 



Your committee are of the opinion, from what they learned and observ- 

 ed in passing through the district, that the heavy horse can be raised most 

 profitable in this district. From the information we received we are con- 

 vinced that there is no other plan of ownership of stallions that is giving as 

 much satisfaction as private ownership. 



We find that the views of horsemen generally favor a stallion Inspection 

 Act with license attached that would permit of only pure-bred horses with 

 registered pedigrees, free from all hereditary unsoundness and of reasonable 



