FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



tucked up or pendulous, but should be nearly straight. Cattle and 

 pigs require little or no exercise ; horses, on the contrary, cannot 

 remain wealthy without exercise. Animals like the horse, therefore, 

 in order to take as much exercise as is necessary, must not have the 

 stomach loaded with bulky food. His food should be regulated ac- 

 cording to his requirements. 



Nothing is worse for a horse than to work him hard for a time 

 and then to leave him idle for several days in the stable, at the same 

 time making no difference in feeding. This is generally the cause 

 at those ailments which make their appearance in the legs and feet. 

 These general principles should be kept in mind, and what is more, 

 acted upon. All that one can say is that horseowners, even for the 

 common motive of their own interests, should act very differently 

 to this much sinned against animal from what so many of them do 

 in this country. The horse at any time should not be subjected to 

 long fasts. But when he is idle the food supplied should be less 

 nutritious in nature than while working, and less in quantity. 



The South Coast and tableland districts of New South Wales have 

 always 1 been noted for the excellence of the horses raised therein, 

 more so in the past than at present. Seventy years ago blackfellows 

 rode far better horses in the bush a/ter cattle than could be seen 

 on most of our racecourses and show-rings to-day. Nevertheless, we 

 have some good specimens now in these districts. Mr. Wil- 

 liam Rixon, in 1883. drove his pair of horses, Jack and Donovan, 

 for a wager of 50, tiity-two miles, from Bega to Bombala, in 4^ 

 hours. This journey included a climb of ten miles and an elevation 

 of buggy and driver of nearly 3OOoft. The wager was that it could 

 be accomplished in five hours. The feat was accomplished with ease. 



A REVIVAL IN HORSE BREEDING. 



Mr. H. D. Morton, of Coolangatta, says : 



In attempting to say something in print on the subject of horses 

 and horse breeding one is impressed with the hopelessness oi setting 

 down anything which has not been said a hundred times. One also 

 feels that, however much may be written, there must still remain a 

 wide gap between what can be actually set -lorth on this subject and 

 the actual teachings of expedience. Perhaps because the horse has 

 been evolved from more than one type, strangely unlike the beautiful 

 equine of to-day, its best characteristics do not become >ati- 

 factorily fixed. The breeder of cattle, sheep, or pigs may depend 

 upon it that the exercise of intelligent selection will result in like 

 begetting like, subject, of course, to occasional variations and re- 

 \ersions in type. 



The horse, on the other hand, has a sportive fashion of showing 

 off in its progeny the characteristics of every line from which it has 

 been derived. It is, of course, certain that a thoroughbred, mated 

 with a thoroughbred, will produce its own kind, and two draught 

 horses will produce another draught horse. The trouble is that the 

 progeny may happen to be very like its sire or dam, but it is just 

 as likely to be unlike both and to combine the worst characteristics 

 of each. It may be 16 hands high and well let down like its mother, 

 or it may be the same height and leggy and weedy like a remote 

 ancestor. The next succeeding one of the same family may be only 

 15 hands and ;i weed, or a Mont, well coupled gentleman with a good 

 set of legs. '1 lie fortune of the hoi's,.- breeder plays him these strange 

 tricks and hundreds of others when he is breeding from established 

 breeds with lung pedigree- to back them up. These are bad enough, 

 but when he undertakes cross breeding he finds that his experiences 

 in the production of pure stock are completely out-distanced by the 

 astounding revelations which ensue as his foals grow into colts and 

 fillies. 



302. 



