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YOUNG RACE-HORSES

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000316954

WvOd GNV S3YVW GaYsHONOYOHL

FOURTH EDITION

YOUNG RACE-HORSES

FRESH PASTURES FOR REARING

BY

SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bart.

VINTON & Co., 8S Bream’s Buitpines, CHanxcrery LANE, E C.

GANTOD

Tas,

IgIo

\25)] 5S

PREFACE

Since publication of the Third Edition in
7898, changes have taken place which have
enduced me to reprint this littl work,
making the various alterations and additions
necessary. Lf the subject were not one of
emportance [ should not venture to put
forward the suggestions offered in the
following pages

The history of the horse, including that
of the race-horse, has been my study for
many years. TL have watched the success
which has attended the horses of certain
racing studs from the days of Mr. Bowes,
Lord Glasgow, Mr. Merry, Sir Joseph
Flawley, Lord Falmouth and the Hampton
Court Stud, down to the horses bred and
raced tn recent times

Lt cannot be doubted that horses, whether
Thoroughbred, Shire, or any other breed,
deteriorate after a time, if grazed on over-
stocked pastures which have become “ staled”

through long use by horses

Elsenham Flall, Essex
April, rgro

CONTENTS

PAGE
WRITERS ON Horsis i $a se 48 Yr 1
THe Hors (N HIS PRIMITIVE STATE .. sa a 3
OVER-StTocKING: Its BApD ReEsuLrs a ro i {
LerrinGc Grass LANDS: DAMAGE BY HORSEs .. os 6
STALE PASTURES UNFAVOURABLE .. os ae a Ps
FAILURES WITH YOUNG S1Tock <é Se 9 24 8s
LARGE NUMBERS OF THOROUGHBREDS PRODUCED ey 10
THE EFrect ov ARTIFICIAL FEEDING .. es es IL
THE TRAINER'S DIFFICULTY 2 Pr a is i
NATURAL TREATMENT AND FoOop .. ee las at 13
TREATMENT OF MARE FROM CONCEPTION i es 3
Moutus or HORSE AND OX a sa af wi 14
To BREED THE Besr.. ae a wa sts ot 17

EXPERIENCE GAINED WITH HkEAvy Horses & HACKNEYS Ig

AMERICAN RACE-ITORSES .. ae wt ine et eat
AUSTRALIAN HORSES .. ee es Me oe ste ae
GERMAN HorRSEs oi Ee ae en he: ae aie 23
LIMESTONE SOIL ei ns es oe ae .: 25
OTHER SOILS... i aan ae oe se aa 26
CLIMATE 5 ws ai iy a ae ag 27
INCREASE IN SIZE OF THOROUGHBREDS .. =e re 28
LucK, OR RACING UNCERTAINTIES es a ‘a 29

CONCLUSIONS .. 5 oe we es i ae 31

YOUNG RACE-HORSES

WRITERS ON HORSES

The art of breeding, rearing and training
race-horses has been the theme of writers
both numerous and well-informed ; the books
on the subject would of themselves form
a considerable library

It is strange that of all the leading
authorities—among whom we include the
celebrated writer C. J. Apperley (‘‘ Nim-
rod”), C. Bindley (‘‘ Harry Hieover’’),
R, S. Surtees, Captain F. W. ‘Carlron
(Craven ”), Admiral Rous and_ other
contributors to the old sporting magazines
—not one has fully grasped the significance
of the example set by the horse in his
primitive state, nor realised the potent
influence wrought by natural habit of life on
stamina and constitution

Not one of the writers mentioned, nor any
of the many hundreds of other authorities
whose names might be given, has ever touched

is)

upon the subject of herbage, on the im-
portance of providing fresh and zntainted
pastures, or on the evil results of over-
stocking

The only horse-breeder of former days
who appears to have understood the im-
portance of attention to grazing was a
Mr. E. Corbet,* of whose methods of rearing
race-horses the Rev. Walter Davies says tT :—

‘He had five paddocks enclosed with
stone walls, each paddock containing a
shed and traversed by a stream of water.
These paddocks are spring fed with
sheep, and afterwards afford early grass
of a better quality for the young horses.
When they have nearly grazed the first
piece they are turned into the second, and
are succeeded by neat cattle, and these
again by sheep. By this means no tufts
of any kinds of grass are left, the one
species of animal relishing the leavings of
the other”

*The gentleman referred to was evidently Mr.
Edward Corbet, a West-country sportsman, who ran
horses at the Chester, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and
other meetings about the period 1790-1805. He
owned animals sired by Dungannon, Young Eclipse
and other famous sires of the time. I have not been
able to trace relationship between this gentleman and
the famous Master of Hounds, but it seems highly
probable that they were related

1 General View of Agriculture in North Wales (1813)

3
Here, at least, we find recognition of the
manner in which pasture for young horses
may be systematically improved by placing

upon it different kinds of stock in rotation

THE HORSE IN HIS PRIMITIVE STATE

One most prominent characteristic of the
horse in his native wilds has apparently
quite escaped the notice of writers on
horse-mastery, or, at least, has suggested
_ nothing to them: that characteristic is
the singularly wide and continuous roaming
of the horse in search of food; a_ habit
which indicates the animal’s craving for
fresh grazing, for new pastures whereon
he may find natural grasses

We know that the wild horse chooses his
daily, almost hourly, feed over a wider area
than does any other beast ; the horse is even
a greater wanderer than was ever the bison
on his limitless prairies. It is impossible to
ignore the fact that the primary result, if
not the first purpose, of such continuous
wandering is to provide the horse with the

’

freshest grazing ground

The preference of the domesticated horse
for fresh grass may be noticed when animals

4

are turned out to pasture in a field part of
which is under old grass and part of
which has been recently sown. When such
opportunity for exercising choice is given,
the horses are always to be found on the
new grass portion. I shall give more precise
evidence of this on a future page

OVER-STOCKING : ITS BAD RESULTS

It is a matter of common knowledge
among agriculturists and breeders that over-
stocking results in material injury to
pasturage

An example of the bad consequences
which follow over-stocking, or too prolonged
use of land for pasturing horses, is furnished
by the old Royal Stud which was maintained
for many years at Hampton Court

For some considerable time it had been
observed that the yearlings and foals
suffered greatly from throat and other
diseases ; and practical judges, including the
late General Peel, came to the unanimous
conclusion that the ground at Hampton
Court, on which for so many _ years
Thoroughbreds had been kept, was tainted
by continuous grazing and was unfit for

5

rearing horses. Accordingly, in 1894, the
stud was dispersed *

This tainting or staling of land is not
peculiar to horses. The domestic fowl,
where kept in large numbers, does the same
thing to such a degree that poultry-farming
on any considerable scale has always failed
owing to the disease which the birds have
contracted thereby

Pheasants are even more liable to maladies
brought about in the same way, but the
breeders of pheasants are careful to provide
them with a sufficiently large area of land to
afford the birds frequent changes to fresh soil

In the days of cock-fighting those who
devoted themselves to the sport knew well
that fresh ground was essential to the rearing
of strong and hardy birds. It was, therefore,
the practice in those times to insert in
leases a clause to the effect that the tenant
farmer should ‘trun a game cock” for his
landlord ; and it was always understood that
the bird was to occupy ground upon which
fowls had not been previously kept

The system of walking puppies for the

* I do not forget that a few very good horses were
bred at Hampton Court during the later days of the
stud’s existence. The Earl, Springfield and La
Fléche were produced there; but the failures due to
unsoundness were numerous and out ofall proportion

6

Master of the Hounds is a modern parallel
which at once suggests itself. The hound
breeder, master or huntsman, knows the
advantage of getting each farmer in the hunt
country to receive a puppy

LETTING GRASS LANDS: DAMAGE BY IIORSES

We find in the agreements relative to
the letting of grass lands in certain counties
stipulations that prove recognition of the
fact that horses cause peculiar damage to
pasture

In Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire and Denbighshire, and
doubtless in other parts of England. it has
long been customary to restrict the number
of horses which may be grazed on any given
area

The following details are taken from the
auctioneer’s bills for the letting of ‘Crow's
Marshes” in Norfolk a few years ago :—

Lot | Names of Marshes Contents ape oe
A. R. P.
1 | Big Thurston Marsh.. te 26 3 9 5
2 | Thurston Hill Marsh a 18 I 9 3
3 | Thurston Fifteen Acre Marsh I4 3 7 3
4 | Two Marshes over Brick-Arch 34.0 9 6
5 | Bill Thurston Marsh ar 23 I 36 "6
6 | Fowler's Marsh i ch Ig 0 35 4

The above shows that, on an average, not

7

more than one horse may be grazed on
about five acres. It was also provided that
‘The hirers will be restricted to the number
of horse stock, as stated in the particulars to
each lot.” There is no restriction concerning
the head of cattle which may be grazed
thereon

Other documents of the same character
show that on some of the best and richest
pastures in Lincolnshire horses are not
allowed at all

One such bill, containing particulars of
twenty-four paddocks and fields amounting to
over 218 acres, specifies four fields, measuring
about thirty acres in all, as lots on which
horses may be grazed. The same stringent
conditions will be found in old agreements
for letting pasture-land dating back hundreds
of years

STALE PASTURES UNFAVOURABLE

Horse-breeders have not grasped the fact
that this deterioration of the horses’ food
reacts unfavourably upon the animals them-
selves

After making some considerable research

I find that Lord Charlemont, the ‘largest
rearer of horses in Ireland at the time, in

8

giving evidence before the Select Com-
mittee of the House of Lords on Horses in
1873, made this statement :—

‘‘T may say that I have three or four
farms for the purpose of changing about.
ZT am satisfied that horses, like any other
animals, eventually sol the land, and they
require to be removed and shifted from
one place to another to preserve their health
and soundness”

FAILURES WITH YOUNG STOCK

From the first selection of the foundation
stock, whether the mares employed be those
that have been running for the owner or
have been selected for breeding purposes,
the possession of a stud is a source of
pleasure to the man who can afford to breed
race-horses without regard to profit or loss

The one object in view should be to breed
the dest, especially in days like these when
the standard of merit required to attain
success is raised so very high

It has been well said that a great majority
of our race-horses are carefully as well as
expensively bred, abundantly fed, and when
put into training or sent to the sale ring are
as handsome as they can possibly be made

Unfortunately, this is only the threshold

2

of the young race-horse’s career; and too
often his claims to public notice begin and
end with the price his sire’s reputation
obtains for him under the hammer

The animals which succeed on the Turf,
after realising a long figure in the sale ring,
are very few in number—how few is not
and in this connection

generally recognised
it will be interesting to refer to an article
on * Blood Stock Sales,” which was published
in the Z7mes of 27th December, 1897 :—
‘There has not been quite such a rush
to pay high prices for yearlings which are
either related to horses that have dis-
tinguished themselves on the Turf or are
promising in appearance, as buyers are
gradually becoming alive to the fact that
yearlings sold for a 1,000 guineas or
upwards are nearly always failures
‘No more striking illustration of this
could be had than in connection with those
sold in 1896 for a total of 51,250 guineas,
These were thirty-two in number, ranging
from a filly by St. Simon—Dart, who
cost 5,100 guineas and has run once
without success, to Meldola, a filly by
Melton—Fame, who has been beaten
each time she ran
“These thirty-two yearlings are repre-
sented by two winners of five races, Florio
Rubattino and La Veine, who have

10

contributed about £2,000 to the total cost;
and there is not, so far as can be known, a
single one of the remaining thirty with any
prospect of making a race-horse

“Tt is the same with the yearlings
which fetched high prices in all the pre-
ceding seasons, no matter how far back
the search is carried

“Thus, in 1895, twenty-two yearlings
were sold for 46,200 guineas, and they
won three races worth 41,080 last season,
and one worth £100 this; while the
twenty-two sold for 34,850 guineas as
yearlings in 1894 have not, though their
racing career is in nearly every case over,
earned one half of what they originally
cost, their only winning representative this
season having been Knight of the Thistle,
who secured three races worth about
4 3,000

“Tf the calculation is carried back as
far as 1883, when these high prices became
frequent, the general result will be found
to be the same ”

LARGE NUMBERS OF THOROUGHBRED HORSES
PRODUCED

The number of race-horses bred is very

large; it is out of all proportion to the

number which win even insignificant races.

Last year—1gog—there were over 3,000
horses of all ages in training

IT

The production of Thoroughbreds is also
being overdone in France. In August, 1909,
609 horses were offered at the sales at
Deauville ; of these only 289 found pur-
chasers, the majority (320) being returned to
their owners unsold

The smallness of the percentage of even
tolerably successful horses out of the pro-
digious number bred at an enormous outlay
should convince owners that a youngster
must possess attributes other than good
breeding and good looks if he is to be worth
training, much more become a. classical

winner

THE EFFECT OF ARTIFICIAL FEEDING
All young stock must have good food to
promote their development, but this should
not be strong artificial food which young
animals cannot assimilate

The fatted horse, fed on artificial food,
will of a necessity be a source of trouble to
his trainer, as before muscle can be put on
useless flesh must be worked off, to the
detriment of his feet and legs; and during
this process the proper development of the
young horse is retarded if not altogether at a
standstill

Thoroughbred foals, like all young highly

he

bred stock, are liable to ‘ joint-ill’”’ and
diseases of the joints. These ailments are
due to their close confinement in boxes and
to the artificial life led by foals ; such diseases
seldom or never occur among young horses
whose dams are allowed liberty and which
are pastured in fields that are not over-
stocked
THE TRAINER'S DIFFICULTY

The over-fed young animal which has not
had natural exercise comes to the trainer in
a condition that demands hard work while he
is physically incapable of standing it; and
the endeavour to give such a candidate
sufficient exercise results in most cases in
enlargement of the fetlocks and round joints

The young horse which from his earliest
days has enjoyed large liberty and has
indulged his innate love of galloping comes
to the trainer in the best possible condition
to be prepared for the racecourse

The trainers work is rendered heavier
and more difficult by the grossness of con-
dition which too often is the foundation of
disappointment to the owner as well as the
trainer

It is worth remembering that in the old
days of four-mile heats and heavy weights,

ae)

when the gentleman breeder was the owner
of the horse trained under his personal
supervision, he allowed the youngster plenty
of fresh pasturage

NATURAL TREATMENT AND FOOD

Horses, then, should enjoy as far as
possible the conditions of life which Nature
has prescribed—that is, be allowed ample
space over which to roam and graze

Disregard of this cardinal feature in the
life-habit of the horse accounts in some
measure, as | believe from the experience
I have gained, for the failures which so
persistently occur

Adopting a method at variance with the
laws of Nature, the breeder expects to
succeed while actually courting failure; and
he can hardly hope to stem the tide of what
he calls ‘bad luck.” Pedigree and good
looks avail but little against over-stocked
or tainted pasture. Artificial feeding can
never beat more natural methods of rearing

TREATMENT OF MARE FROM CONCEPTION

Nor will it suffice to reserve natural treat-
ment for the newly-born foal; the dam—
and this is a point to which the breeder’s
attention may be directed as one upon which

14

it is impossible to insist too strongly—the
mare, from the moment she conceives or is
known to be in foal, should be grazed only
on pastures which for a long period have not

known the print of a hoof

I may say that in applying natural methods
with a view to the accomplishment of one
important end we shall be achieving another,
or at least avoiding a literally vital danger

It is an axiom among breeders that the
mare in corn seldom stands to the horse;
for which reason brood-mares are always
sent to grass for some weeks before being
put to the stallion

In other words, unnatural feeding is pro-
ductive of such influence on the constitution
of the mare that her reproductive powers
are seriously impaired, and can only be
restored by a return to the food which is
proper for maturing the foal within her

MOUTHiS OF HORSE AND ON

The horse and the ox in their natural
state are purely herbivorous, subsisting
exclusively on herbage or vegetable food ;
their modes of grazing, however, differ
widely one from the other, and in this
difference we discover the reason why the

ou

horse inflicts injury upon pasture so much
more rapidly and in so much greater degree
than the ox

Movutu oF Ox—Showing the toothless pad in upper jaw
The upper lip is lifted to display the pad against which the
front teeth of the lower jaw perform their function

The structure of the mouth of each shows
that they must collect their feed in very

different ways

16

The upper and lower jaws of the horse
are each furnished with front or cutting-teeth
which meet like a vice, evenly and close
from corner to corner, and the animal is thus
enabled to take so sharp a hold on the
herbage that he tears and bruises every stem
that comes between his teeth. He also bites
close to the ground, thereby bruising and
injuring the crown of the plant

The ox—from its fifth year, when it is
said to be ‘full mouthed”—has eight cutting
teeth in the front of the lower jaw and none
in the front of the upper jaw to’ correspond ;
the cutting-teeth in the lower jaw of the
bullock work against a fibrous and elastic
pad which fulfils the office of teeth in the
forepart of the upper jaw

In the case of the ox, the grass is collected
and rolled together with the long flexible
tongue, held firmly between the cutting-
teeth and this pad aided by the upper lip,
and torn, not bitten off

It is evident, therefore, that the stems are
less bruised by the mouth of the bullock than
by the teeth of the horse

The grasses destroyed by the horse take
from three to five years to come again, and
this is particularly noticeable with the white

17

clover and natural small grasses which form
so essential a portion of his diet

Great importance attaches to the quality
and quantity of the grasses in horse pastures,
because these rather than his artificial food
conduce to the growth and development of
bone and muscle

TO BREED THE BEST

The breeder wishing to breed ¢he des¢
should therefore refrain from grazing his
in-foal mares and young stock on pastures
which have been continually and recently
grazed by horses

Preference must be given to fields in
which horses have not fed for two or three
years, and for longer if possible

During the past few years much arable
land has been laid down in grass, and the
young herbage on such lands will be found
suitable for grazing young horses, being
far superior for the purpose to stale and
overfed old grass

The rich fattening pastures such as those
which will “finish” a bullock without cake
are not the most suitable for horses

Several writers, English and foreign, have
dealt with the influence which the rich and

2

18

succulent herbage found on low-lying lands
produces on the horses pastured thereon ;
and also with the contrary influence of sparse
and meagre herbage growing on high lands
with poor soil upon the horse-stock reared
there

At one end of the scale we have the
heavy and massive shire horse which reaches
its greatest size on lowland pastures whose
grasses are luxuriant; at the other the
mountain ponies, whose small size is in no
small measure due to the scanty grazing
available

Such ponies are to be seen, for example,
on the Welsh hills surrounding Llandrindod
Wells. These half-wild animals vary from
10 to 11 hands high ; their stunted growth
is due to the poor feed on the mountains
and exposure to the severity of the winters

The object with the Thoroughbred is not
to lay on fat, which animals grazed on rich
lands have a tendency to do, but to. gain
flesh which can be converted into muscle
by work

The deer of the mountains and the hare
found on downs whose grass is poor rather
than rich are proverbial for their activity,
the result of muscular elasticity ; the same

19

animals in parks and on low pasture lands
where the grass is rich have neither the
same speed nor equal endurance

The number of animals should be strictly
limited in accord with the area of the stud
farm, which should be sufficiently extensive
to allow periodical changes to fresh land ;
one yearling to every four or five acres is
plenty. On this point my experience in
breeding stock, especially horses, has led me
to form a very strong opinion

EXPERIENCE GAINED WITIL ITEAVY ILORSES
AND HACKNEYS
An instance of the benefit derived from
the treatment advocated may be mentioned
here, though it is an experience gained in
breeding heavy horses

The theory of fresh grazing has been
tested by placing a certain number of mares,
on their return from service by the best sire
money could procure, upon land where the
pasture was not fresh; in the same year an
equal number of mares, served by the same
sire under identically similar circumstances,
have been placed on pastures which had
been freshly laid down, or upon old grass
land on which horses had not been grazed

for several years

20

The produce in the latter case have been
to an extraordinary extent superior in bone,
muscle and constitution to their brothers and
sisters of the same year

The same plan has been followed with
the Hackney-bred yearlings of which we
have at Elsenham about 30 each year ; they
are sent, in lots of ten, to three different
grazing pastures

When they return in October or November
the superior condition of those which have
been feeding on wide ranges of pasture,
where cattle only had before been grazed, is
most marked

It is easy, when the whole thirty are
paraded together, to pick out the tens and
say on which of the three pastures they
have been grazed. The effects of the fresh
grass are shown in their coats as well as
their bone and muscle

I can attribute this superiority to nothing
else than the fresh grazing. This system has
not been confined to one year, but has been
carried out for several years, and always
with the same results

Is it too much to assume that a method

which has been productive of such strikingly
good results in respect of size, muscle and

2T

bone with young horses, both heavy and
light, would be equally applicable to young
blood-stock ?

In respect to Shire horses, I have been
carefully watching the exhibits at the various
Shows, and am satisfied that the success of
most animals is due to the fact that they
had been grazed upon land which had not
been over-horsed

In some cases the winners came from studs
which had been recently established upon
land that had been grazed only with oxen
before

I may add that similar examples of Show-
yard success among sheep could be cited to
prove the potent influence for good that is

exercised by fresh grazing

AMERICAN RACE-HORSES

The form displayed by American horses
for many years offers testimony in support
of the theory

American and British Thoroughbreds are
descended from the same original stock. The
imported English sires Messenger and
Shark, exported 1786, laid the foundations
of the Thoroughbred on the other side of

22

the Atlantic, and since that date Americans
have been regular purchasers of breeding-
stock in this country, taking some of our
best sires

Between the years 1897 and 1905, some
230 stallions and 540 mares have left
England for the United States. The names
of several great sires among the former
will occur to every student of Turf history.

A proportion of the mares are covered
by the most fashionable stallions in England
before they leave our shores

May it not be that the superiority of race-
horses reared in America, if they be superior,
is attributable to the advantages enjoyed by
their breeders in possessing immense areas
of pasturage in Kentucky and other States ?
These pastures, thanks to their size, have
never been staled or tainted by over-stocking,
and to the freshness of their grazing is no
doubt due the stamina and gameness that
distinguish the horses reared thereon

AUSTRALIAN IIORSES

The popularity in India of the Australian
horse, or * Waler,” is due not only to his
superiority in size and weight-carrying power
over Arabs and country-bred horses, but

23

to the soundness of constitution and limb for
which Australians are famed

The conditions under which these horses
are bred tend to produce a sound and useful
animal. The best English blood has been
imported by Colonial breeders, who have
the advantage of a warm and dry climate,
and, as in America, vast ranges of grass land
over which the horses feed

The large droves of horses in Australia
have an incentive to travel in the frequent
scarcity of watering places; there are localities
where at certain seasons the horses may be
obliged to travel twenty miles to find the
“water hole” or stream whereat they can
quench their thirst ; and it is obvious that
such extensive and frequent travels in search
of water must have as a result continual
change of pasture

GERMAN ILORSES

In the memorandum submitted by Major-
General Beauchamp Walker, Military Attaché
at Berlin, for the information of the Select
Committee on Horse-Breeding in 1873,
already referred to, we find the following
remarks on the cavalry horses of Germany.
General Walker quotes from a conversation

24

he had held with a general officer of cavalry
‘““who had also had for nearly a year the
direction of the country studs” :—

“Secondly, he attributed the great en-
durance of the Prussian horse to the hard
and healthy life led by both mare and foal.
Sturdy mother, sturdy child

“In a great part of these provinces, in
Posen and Silesia, the mares and foals,
though by no means starved, have to roam
over a large extent of ground in search of
their daily feed, and necessarily pass the
greater part of the time in the open air.
This develops muscles and lungs, par-
ticularly the former

“The General assured me that a mare
and foal seldom travelled over less than
from four to five German miles [the mez/e
equals nearly 434 English miles] in the
course of the twenty-four hours, and that
he considers this exercise conduced to
give these horses that predominance over
straw-yard or stall-fed horses which there
was no denying was apparent when com-
paring the Prussian with other breeds in
Germany ”

The compulsory exercise is, of course,
highly beneficial to the growing youngster ;
but continuous exercise without good natural
food cannot produce muscle and lay the

a)

foundation of the sound constitution which
gives endurance

The officer quoted by General Beauchamp
Walker was giving valuable evidence in

support of the theory upheld in these pages

LIMESTONE SOIL

The subject of grazing-ground cannot well
be dismissed without passing reference to
the subjects of soil and climate, which are

necessarily involved therewith

As regards soil, much may be said; there
are probably very few soils in England which

are unsuitable for horse-rearing

Limestone is mentioned by many as the
best, the believers in limestone soil holding
that it is in itself superior to all others

Is it not a fact that limestone soils,
provided that the substratum is not of
such character as will retain the wet on
the surface of the land, produce the best
grasses and clovers, which in great measure
are the factors, under proper treatment, in
the development of the horse ?

We need not question the bone-producing
properties of limestone soil ; but recognition
of their existence must not blind us to the

26

fact that limestone soil has grass-producing
properties to which, perhaps, its merits may
with more correctness be referred

Another point in favour of the limestone
subsoil is its dryness ; it usually gives out into
brooks an abundant supply of the good hard
water which is essential for animals’ drinking

OTHER SOILS

The deep soils of the Midlands and York-
shire, when not over-stocked, have also proved
favourable to horse-rearing ; for though the
subsoil is most generally clay, they are well
drained; and although these lands grow
herbage less succulent than those produced
by limestone, they have compensating ad-
vantages in being of wide extent and
exceedingly healthy

The soil and climate of the East are
obviously those best suited to the horse. On
dry soils and in warm climates the Arab
attains his greatest perfection in shape and
proportion and fitness for all the highest
purposes for which horses can be employed

It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that
in this country sandy or gravelly loams with
chalky bottoms are also good; always pro-

27
vided that the substratum is not of such

nature as to retain the wet on the surface

Pasturage on the soils mentioned above
must, however, be used with judgment, and
required to carry less stock in proportion to
their acreage than pastures on limestone
or clay

CLIMATE

In regard to climate, although England
can be placed before any other European
country, Ireland undoubtedly claims pre-
eminence for the reason that its humid
atmosphere so perfectly co-operates with its
nourishing pastures in producing those par-
ticular horse grasses to which reference has

already been made

It must not be forgotten that up to the
present time in Ireland the horse has not
over-crowded his pastures ; and probably we
may attribute something of Ireland’s pre-
eminence to the greater rapidity with which
grasses ‘come again,” thanks to the humidity
of the climate

Several prominent racing men have now
come to believe in the virtues of untainted
grazing lands in England, and have estab-
lished studs in pastures which have not been

28

grazed by horses. There is but little doubt
that large areas of such land are to be
found

INCREASE IN SIZE OF THOROUGHBREDS

Better proof of the suitability of the
British Isles for horse-breeding cannot be
found than in the steady and remarkable
progress which Turf history shows us has

taken place in the size of our Thorough-
breds *

At the beginning of the last century the
Thoroughbred seldom exceeded a height of
14 hands 2 inches; but from about 1740 to
1770 a compact horse of 15 hands was
described as ‘“‘a racer competent to carry
12 stone”

The Thoroughbred has ever since been
increasing in stature—on an average one
inch in twenty-five years—till we now seldom
proclaim him a race-horse of the first-class
unless he stands 15.3 to 16 hands. In speed
he has far surpassed the Arab stock from
which he sprang

The Scale of MWerghts in Weight for Age,

* Thoroughbred and other Pontes. By Sir Walter
Gilbey, Bart., 1893 (Vinton & Co. 8 Bream’s
Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C.)

29)

and Werght for Age and Class Races,
adopted by the Calcutta Turf Club, show
the difference that separates the English
horse and the Arab on the modern Indian
Turf; the weight allotted a Thoroughbred
horse by the Indian scale is always at least
three stone more than that to be carried
by an Arab of the same age when the two
meet in the same event

LUCK, OR RACING UNCERTAINTIES

When the propositions enunciated in the
foregoing pages are applied to facts, do we
not find much to strengthen them in the
modern history of our breeding-studs ?

We all see well-established and successful
studs degenerate, not from any want of
capital or energy, but simply from loss of
quality in the animals produced

We see newly-formed studs spring in a
season into celebrity by furnishing great
winners; this is ‘(a streak of good luck,” if
we are to believe the public spokesmen of
the Turf

In my humble opinion, there is no such
thing as “luck” so potent that the fortunes
of one establishment consistently decline

30

while those of another rise without apparent
reason or cause

Is it not at least possible that the success
of a breeder wanes when his over-stocked
and over-grazed pastures, staled by genera-
tions of horses, begin to react upon the
animals which fed thereon ?

Is it not equally possible, too, that the
brilliant success which sometimes raises a
new stud to fame is in some measure due to
the possession by the breeder of fresh, un-
tainted pastures on which to graze his mares

and young stock ?

The temptation to draw examples from
the Turf history of the last few years is
great, but it would be invidious to mention
breeders by name. I could mention very
many who, year after year, spend immense
sums of money without winning any success
to repay them for their outlay

We all know that the competition main-
tained in the endeavour to breed successful
race-horses involves the expenditure of an
immense amount of capital. It therefore
seems a great pity that we should ignore the
primary factor in the production of that
stamina without which no horse can come to
the front

a
af

CONCLUSIONS

To sum up from this brief paper on the
necessity for fresh pastures for young blood-
stock, the conclusions which it is desirable
to bear in mind will, I think, be found as
follows :—

First You must have a sound brood
mare, choicely bred, and she ought
to be mated with judgment

Second From the time of her conception
she should be allowed to roam in
fresh untainted pastures; if pastures
where horses have not been for the
last three years, all the better

Third After foaling, the same policy
should be adopted towards the mare
and her foal as regards fresh herbage

Fourth The toal from its weaning should
be treated in as natural a manner as
possible ; turned out and fed on
pastures where the herbage is succu-
lent, and allowed a free run at his

pleasure

Fifth Not more than three yearlings
should be turned out in any one
pasture, and the field should not be
of less extent than ten to fifteen acres

32

Lastly \naccepting the truism that ‘like
begets like” it should not be forgotten
that the adage applies to animals and
birds in their natural wild state

Those who wish to breed from
Nature’s type must bend _ their
thoughts to the horse’s habits in a
state of nature, because it has been
proved that mere size without con-
stitution is useless on a racecourse

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