A USTRALASIAN HORSES. 27 9 



behind them. The cruel and senseless system of overfeed- 

 ing horses which are intended to be "shown," is a fruitful 

 cause of laminitis and other ills. 



Australasian Horses. — The special good points of Aus- 

 tralian, Tasmanian, and New Zealand horses, from a saddle 

 point of view, are their excellent flat shoulders, light necks, 

 well-shaped legs, and sound feet. Their loins, barrel, and 

 croup are not, as a rule, as good as those of English horses ; 

 but they are able to stand more work. Animals that are 

 brought up on extensive '* runs " till they are, say, four years 

 old, develop better shoulders and sounder legs and feet than 

 those which are " taken up" early ; although, other conditions 

 being equal, they may, perhaps, not be as neatly "topped." 

 Their light forehands and good shoulders make the Austra- 

 lasian horses clever jumpers. The Colonial animals, taking 

 them all round, have more thoroughbred blood in them than 

 their English cousins. 



The Antipodes, as far as I can judge, are far more 

 favourable for the production of thoroughbreds with large 

 bone and substance, than is England. Hence we find, in 

 these colonies, a comparatively large number of animals of the 

 weight-carrying hunter and charger type which have little or 

 no stain in their pedigrees. On the other hand, although 

 thoroughbreds in England have a greater tendency to "run 

 light " than in Australasia, they certainly show more 

 " quality " than those of any other country. Without wishing 

 in any way to dogmatise, I would venture to say that the 

 Colonies are capable of producing more useful saddle-nags 

 and cavalry troopers than Europe ; but not as high-class 

 " sprinters." As an exception to their general utility for 



