330 



THE AGRICULT 



VEAL JOURNAL. 



thoroughbred has been overdone, for 

 numerous reasons. (I have so far used 

 the term racing thoroughbred to discri- 

 minate between another class of thorough- 

 bred that has been very little heard of in 

 this country, and about which I shall 

 have something to say later on.) In the 

 first place there is an enormous quantity 

 of horses needed for other than racing 

 purposes Secondlj', these horses will 

 never be pi'oduced solely by the use of the 

 racing sire. The continual breeding from 

 broken-down and otherwise useless race- 

 horses has produced a class of animal 

 which is of very little use for any purpose 

 whatever. One has only to look over the 

 enormous quantity of captured stock from 

 the Orange River Calony, *.e.,the premier 

 centre of horse-breeding in this country, 

 to verify this statement, and ask himself 

 for what profitable or useful purpose can 

 one quarter of these animals be put to. 

 Again, we must not lose sight of the 

 wonderful staying powers possessed by 

 the South African bred animal, and their 

 marvellous adaptability to their native 

 yeld. But the question naturally arises, 

 why not endeavour to retain all these 

 qualities and still bring the stock of this 

 country up to a useful and profitable 

 standard. 



THE ARAB. 



I will now draw the reader's attention 

 to the Arab, the horse with the history 

 above all others. 



Numerous advocates would again trot 

 out this " Oriental weed," (for weed 

 he must certainly be classed when com- 

 pared to a well developed and proportioned 

 thoroughbred) as being our only hope to 

 which we may look to success in horse- 

 breeding. I am sure every horseman, on 

 reflection, will admit that our native 

 stock already possesses too many of the 

 Arab's characteristics to again bring him 

 into the field. Again, why recede two 

 hundred years, and lose all the careful 

 and scientific crossing spent by the most 

 l)rilliant horsemen in the world, viz., the 

 British Nation. 



All the Arab's great points were ab- 

 sorbed into the thoroughbred over two 

 hundred years ago, and when so secured 

 he was thrown to one side, and rightly so. 

 Again I ask, why take this retrogessive 

 step 'i 



I admit the Arab might be used to some 

 purpose provided the mares we hava to 

 breed from were of the heavy Cavalry 

 type, but this class of mare is practically 

 tiseless as a foundation stock for this 

 country. If anyone wishes to try the 

 experiment, let him secure forty or fifty 

 of these mares and attempt to make 

 horse-breeding pay. I wish it to be dis- 

 tinctly understood that my remarks are 

 limited to men who wish to make horse- 

 breeding profitable, and not to the fancier. 

 Let anyone who has not tried breeding 

 from imported mares give it a trial, and I 

 venture to predict that he wil) soon tire 

 of the experiment. The imported animals 

 cannot thrive on the South African veld, 

 and not only this, they cannot rear their 

 progeny without an allowance of artificial 

 food all the year round, and I ask anyone 

 with experience, can horse-breeding be 

 made profitable under such condit ons ? 

 Besides this, we must take into considera- 

 tion the enormous risks attendant upon 

 the imported animal, viz. : — Climatic con- 

 ditions and the numerous diseases to 

 which they are subject, more especially so 

 when turned loose on the veld. 



The imported mare must, therefore, be 

 placed outside the pale of profitable horse- 

 loreeding. One or two of these animals, 

 carefully selected, would, no doubt, be of 

 great assistance to any stud for the purpose 

 of breeding stallions, but beyond this they 

 are better left alone, as the cost of support- 

 ing them would prove too great. 



There is not the slightest doubt that in 

 the breeding of Polo ponies the Arab sire 

 could be made to play a very important 

 part, crossed on selected native mares. 



WHICH BREED TO SELECT. 



Now the question arises, from what 

 class of animal should a sire suitable for 

 crossing on native mares be drawn. There 

 are three distinct breeds which come up 

 to the required standard, viz : — • The 

 thoroughbred Hunter sire, the Hackney, 

 and the Ct)ach horse. Speaking generally, 

 I am sure all horsemen will admit that 

 the qualities required in a sire to mate 

 With the nat ve mares of this country are 

 size upon short legs, height stimdard, say, 

 from 15h. 2in to IGh., big bone, substance, 

 shape, and good general appearance, to- 

 gether with a hardy constitution. The 

 breeds I have mentioned above possess all 



