TUB AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



321 



The Breeding of Saddle and Harness Horses. 



By Feed. Hutchinson, V.S. 



AT the outset I Avill state that my re- 

 marks will be confined solely to the 

 breeding of animals for saddle and har- 

 ness work, and that it is my intention to 

 exclude all breeds of cart-horses such as 

 are generally in use for heavy draught 

 purposes, as I feel sure most breeders 

 will agree with me that cart blood in the 

 class of horse mentioned above is an 

 abomination. 



Owing to the important part the South 

 African bred animal has played during 

 the present military operations, the breed- 

 ing of horses in this country is more than 

 likely to receive a tremendous impetus, 

 and men contemplating taking up this 

 important branch of breeding will natu- 

 rally afk themselves what is the liei-t 

 course to pursue, from a remunerative 

 point of view, to breed successl uUy the 

 class of animal required. 



I may further state (and this will no 

 doubt be taken with general surprise) 

 that it is also my intention to exclude the 

 racing thoroughbred and the Arab as 

 being totally unsuitable sires for this 

 class of horse-breeding, for the following 

 reasons : — In the first place, the raciiig 

 thoroughbred is not bred to any stiiiidiud 

 type ; to qualify him as a sire eveiy other 

 quality must give way to speed, and po 

 long as he is able totransmi- the s.ime 

 power to his progeny (no matter if he is 

 the vilest crock that ever stood on foui' 

 legs as regards general confoimation), he 

 will satisfy the racing breeder. 



I can safely state that, after attending 

 for some years all the important shows in 

 South Africa, I 1 ave not seen a thori ugh- 

 bred sire good enough to win at a thiid- 

 rate Hunter Show in England. I have no 

 wish to decry the racing thoroughbred. 

 I have certainly seen a few prett.y little 

 horses of this class, but not one to which 

 the ordinary breeders of hunters in Eng- 

 land would care to mate his mares. 



"CAST-OEFS." 



In support of this fact, I invite anyone 

 who knew the Orange River Colony 

 before the outbreak of hostilities, to ask 

 himself. What have the cast-offs from the 

 South African racing stables done towards 



the improvement of horse-l)reeding during 

 the last ten or twenty years ? And this 

 is the class of^aninial which, on touring 

 the Orange River Colony, would have 

 been seen on nearly every breeder's farm 

 being used as a sire. 



Again, I will ask for what purpose is 

 the thoroughbred imported into this 

 country, and I am sure everyone will 

 bear me out when I state, solely for 

 racing purposes ; and therefore, as a 

 natural result, every other thing gives 

 way before this latter qualification. This 

 method of selection is all very well for the 

 man who wishes to confin? himself to the 

 breeding of gallopers, and he is perfectly 

 righn in selecting this class of animal, as 

 no other wouUl meet his requirements. 

 There is no denying the fact ihat some of 

 these cast-off's are very fashionably bred, 

 but I wish to point out the utter nseless- 

 ness of the great majority of thpse horses 

 as sires for producing useful saddle and 

 harness horses, 'i he indiscrimi ate use 

 of the thoroughbred sire has left a large 

 quantity of animals all over the country, 

 light of bone, long in the leg, and totally 

 shapeless ; numbers of them so reduced 

 in substance that it would not be out of 

 place to term them " linen-horses." This 

 has been very bad business for the breed- 

 ing farmers, and it is sincerely to be hoped 

 that when the country once more becomes 

 settled more judicious attention may be 

 given in the choice of suitable stallions. 

 Of course, we must recognise the itnpor- 

 tant part the racehorse has played in 

 breeding throughout the whole civilised 

 world. First in the racing, where, of 

 course, he stands out by himself, and 

 certainly the thoroughbred could never 

 have acquired his present importance 

 without racing. Generations of careful 

 mating, scientific crossing, and the infu- 

 sion of variously selected strains have 

 placed him miles ahead of any breed the 

 world has ever known. One cannot but 

 imagine what good results would already 

 have been attained in this country if a 

 particle of this attention had been given 

 to the breeding of a few thoroughbreds to 

 a standard type. All things can be over- 

 .done, and breeding from the racing 



