*^06 ON HORSE BREEDING IN ONTARIO. 



93 



Victoria — Continued . 



great hardship if they were refused a license. Again, if the standard is 

 placed high at first the licenses might be too few for the amount of service 

 required. I do most strongly deprecate crowding a horse for all he is worth, 

 bixty or seventy mares ought to be the limit, and I would be an advocate 

 for peeping the service down to this limit. Let a register of service be pro- 

 duced at the time of obtaining the license, and if service exceeds, withhold 

 hdense. Again, let the Act say to those importing, 'You will not be able 

 *° v'**^'^ ^ license unless jour horse comes up at least to the standard requir- 

 ed by our as^sociations ; importation alone will not count.' This is a most 

 important point and, if enforced, would I think, be the greatest boon to this 

 business. 



"In this section we have been confining ourselves principally (75 per 

 cent.) to the Clydesdale and Shire, and I think perhfeips we have some speci- 

 mens of these las good as are to be found anywhere, but they are few. The 

 reason is not far to look for. Although using imported stock this stock has 

 not been of any higher character, and in very manj cases, a good deal lower 

 than the mares bred. As an instance, three years ago an imported horse was 

 syndicated to the west to me, and I was approached to use my mares. They 

 handed me his card, and I immediately found that he had but one cross on 

 his dam's side, his being only the second cross. Now this horse cost about 

 $2,500. That, with the fact that it was imported, brought to it some of the 

 best mares. Can you look for improvement under such circumstances. We 

 want to stop the introduction of such short pedigreed stock. 



"Now in the case of Standard-breds I think, that breeding (straight 

 line) alone should count. There is no class of horses that needs such drastic 

 measures applied as this class. Observation convinces me that but little 

 improvement has been made, if any, in the appearance and gait of our 

 Road and Carriage class for very many years, and if it is olnly through 

 straight pure-breeding we get improvement in other breeds it cannot be 

 otherwise in this class. Let us have a clear well defined law of registration 

 along this line. 



"Now as to license, I am of the opinion that it would be the wrong way 

 of doing things to place a high license on the 'good horse'. Put it on the 

 other horse. Those are the ones we want to get rid of, and I would grade up 

 his license according to his character, making it as prohibitory as possible. 

 If you place a high license on the good horse, of course he must increase his 

 fee. ,Now, while I would willingly pay a good large fee for good service, 

 my neighbor says 'Well, if I have to give that I simply cannot afford it,' 

 and the consequence is he does not breed. Now that would be a great hard- 

 ship and likewise a misfortune. My idea is to strive to kee;p the good ser- 

 vice down as. low as possible, and the poorer service up so near to it that the 

 difference of fee would be so trifling as not to be considered or valued. If 

 we can only. get there we will be on the forward march. 



"Again, I think it would be a good idea to publish a list of all the horses 

 licensed to do, service, in the local papers, this to be sent in by the Inspector 

 and vouched for by him. This would act as a check on unlicensed service, 

 assuming this service to be punishable. 



"I would make it compulsory to have a certified copy of the character 

 and inspection and name of the horse on the bills or whatever advertising 

 medium he had. I think a commission ought to be appointed in every dia- 



