Re fort on Inspections, igo~, 



which is the unsoundness that has accounted for the bulk of the refusals 

 amongst draught horses, convincing evidence of its transmissibility from 

 sire to sons and from sons to grandsons, and so on has been furnished. 



Although it was not till about one-third of the parades had been dealt 

 with that this aspect of the matter was given attention, and that pedigrees 

 were taken, at least two instances have been traced of sidebone " running 

 in families." These are so striking and eloquent as to be worthy of record. 



In one case twelve male (entire) descendants of one sire have been 

 examined, and all but one of them found to have sidebones. 



In the_ second case ten direct descendants have been examined (nine 

 males (entire) and one female) and of these, eight (seven males and one 

 female) have been found to have sidebones. 



These facts may be more clearly represented thus: — 



Rejected for 

 Examined. Sidebones. 



C 5 Sons ... ... ... 5 



Sire A. \ 4 Grandsons ... ... ... 4 



\ 3 G. Grandsons ... ... 2 



Total r2 ij 



f 5 Sons ... ... ..4 



Sire B. 4 Grandsons ... ... ... 3 



\i Granddaughter... ... ... 1 



Total 10 8 



Two of the animals in Family B. were under 3 years at time of 

 examination. 



Of the 19 animals rejected as unsound in the two families seven 

 were examined and rejected bv mvself, four by Mr. Colebatch, five bv 

 Mr. Robertson, and three by Mr. MacDonald ; and it was not till their 

 pedigrees were traced for the purpose of this report that their relationship 

 was revealed. 



If any further evidence was required to demonstrate the hereditary 

 character of sidebone perhaps the most convincing would be the fact that 

 families have been come across in which all the animals examined have 

 been found sound. In one case, a sire and three sons have been examined 

 and all found sound. In another case three sons of the same sire have 

 been found sound, and in a third case only two out of nine descendants 

 examined have had sidebones. 



Examinations at Shows. 



Closely associated with the scheme for the Government certification 

 of stallions have been the efforts of the Department to introduce veterinary 

 examination at Agricultural Shows so that all breeding stock awarded 

 prizes may be relied on as being sound. 



Veterinary examination of stallions at Shows was made one of the 

 four conditions, three of which had to be accepted, entitling Agricultural 

 Societies to participate in the Government subsidy. This condition has 

 been accepted by about one-third of the Societies, and in the majority of 

 cases the Government Veterinary Officers have been requisitioned 10 carry 

 out the examination. 



