view raw text
AMERICAN MJETHODS METHODS ISKST DISKS ISKSTAs Nissans As a horse loving Englishman Kelston Keelson of Morning Telegraph has in his time seen much of breeding training and racing methods in the birthplace of modern racing and is also familiar with American methods As a result of his observations he has written some com ¬ panions anions touching the handling of brood mares and young stock that is decidedly interesting Some of his conclusions are here reproduced reproducedWhile reproduced While I would award the palm to the Eng ¬ lish lush breeder in the matter of generally showing more intelligence and looking further ahead in the matter of mating his mares than the Ameri America ¬ can breeder there I think the superiority in management ends as while it costs the English breeder at least three times as much for the actual keep of mares and the rearing of young stock for market the system in vogue among English breeders in the treatment of mares and foals is much more on the artificial order than is the case in the most successful stud farms in America AmericaIn American In the big breeding establishments here the stock generally is much more out in the open and in the care of mares in foal I know from personal observation that even in cold and stormy weather foaling mares equally well cared for in the matter of feeding will show better results year in and year out than mares that are housed twelve hours out of the twenty four from the beginning of October until the daisies are in bloom the following spring springIn springing In the raising of yearlings for market the American breeder is as a general thing away ahead of his English brother As instead of shutting them up in small paddocks they have plenty of range and from early in April troops of young things can be seen gamboling together and racing with one another before they are four months old and after weaning time from twelve to a score or more will be turned out all together to wrestle and race themselves to a standstill standstillThe standstill The result is that the bone is hard the ten ¬ dons and sinews elastic and clean while all of the vital organs are thus kept in good con dition edition It is this system of rearing yearlings that enables so many of them to stand the strain put on them in yearling trials and I notice that the more range they have had before leaving the stud farm the better they stand these early trials and also that they come to hand earlier as twoyearolds toeholds twoyearoldsThe toeholds The average English raised yearling would never be heard of as a racehorse if put through the mill as is the custom here in two or three months after leaving the sales ring Many instances indeed have come under my notice here of youngsters being tried out a quarter of a mile in three weeks after leaving the saleS ring In England a trainer would be reckoned crazy who would attempt trying even so early as the end of August In fact as a rule he knows but little of the running abilities of his young division until the spring when they are 2yearolds which is better than knowing so much of them as yearlings yearlingsBut yearlings But what I want to say is that the average English yearling could not be got into the same condition of fitness to try for the reason that they have not had the liberty and range and have also in most instances been forced and fat ¬ tened tensed the average English studmaster summate being daft on the subject of having eleek melee coated and beefy yearlings to lead into the sales ring It is this pampering of young thoroughbreds on the other side which enables the American bred one to hold his own as well as he does doesThe does The English breeder and trainer have so somany sonny many other advantages that if they were to adopt the more common sense plan as to less pampering and more range and roughing it their horses would be sounder of limb with better constitutions and there would be fewer bad winded ones amon Damon them and the improve ¬ ment meant all around would be most apparent From what I have seen in the two countries this is the one thing that is working injury to the thoroughbred in England and were it not that trainers go so slow and are BO careful in the handling of yearlings there would be far more unsound horses in England than there are and the proportion is as three to one in this country which in my opinion is directly the re ¬ sult Sault of coddling and lack of range in the first fifteen months of their existence existenceIn existence In the matter of the handling and treatment of stallions the system generally in this coun count ¬ try is more on natural and common sense lines on ho best regulated stud farms While tbe tube stallions are well taken care of they are not fussed and babied with but are allowed in tbe tube proper season to have plenty of liberty in roomy paddocks The result of this natural way of treating a horse doing stud duty is that vicious or bad tempered stallions are rare in ¬ deed in this country while in England the op ¬ posite posited is tho thou case which is little to be wondered at considering what they have to put up with in the way of fussing and cleaning while to let a stallion especially any of the swells of the harem have his liberty in a paddock where he could roll in a mud puddle would be to the average swell English studsman studs a shock be would not get over in a hurry hurryIt hurry It is this more natural way of treating thor ¬ oughbreds outbreed generally which is responsible for American horses being so much more free from all sorts of vice which is common in both stal stale ¬ lions and horses in training in England and while the breeders and trainers of America may be able to learn in some ways from their kin across the sea they can give them points in the raising of yearlings and in the handling of stal stale ¬ lions
