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WHERE THE THOROUGHBRED SHINES. Progress has been the watchword of the farmer throughout this country the United States for the past dozen years. Sometimes it has been through irrigation, which could be taken advantage of by only a comparatively few thousands of persons; sometimes, through conservation, which would perpetuate streams and forests. Dut until within the past few years the farmer paid practically no attention whatever to what was, and what is, one of the most valuable assets that the farm has, and that is the horse. , He is one of the few farm products which per-peuates. Natural products do their work, but theirs is the work of a season or at the most of a year. That of the horse continues for a generation. He is the communication between the farmer and his nvirkef or at least, between the farm and the railroads and not merely a convenience but a necessity. True it is that, while his horse is a necessity to the farmer, it is also one of his crops, and then comes the question of what quality of horse is the better for the purpose of farm work. Two requirements the farmer exacts. The first necessarily will be that the horse shall bo one of general utility, and the next is that it will be profitable as a product of his farm, with reference to his salable quality. On both these matters of qualification there can be no question as to the value of the infusion of thoroughbred blood. It assimilates readily and enriches all other bloods. More than that and this point is one of importance to the breeder, whether he he a nnn of ordinary means or one who lias a pretentious establishment the thoroughbred is pre-eminently a horsp of carlv maturity. He is a quicker asset to his owner, whether the owner needs him for services on the farm or in the city, or merely for the BaThis1!iskGiiot advocacy of the thoroughbred as a I work horse himself, but a statement of the value of his blood in building up a high class of. utility horse. There can be no dispute as to his being the basic blootl blood that has conic down untarnished through the centuries. Indeed, for more than two hundred vcars he was the pampered one of his race. Ho was not permitted to mix with his cousin of commerce. Dut nearly a century ago France, Germany and Russia, then, as now, essentially war powers felt the need not only of a superior cavalry horse, but also the absolute necessity of encouraging the breeding in their own countries of this type, for with war on. the horse is contraband. Then it was that attention was first directed to the thoroughbred, which tip to this time had been the plaything for kings and nobles. He was drafted for breeding purposes, and farmers wero encouraged Into breeding to him, with the result that today we find in these countries not merely exceedingly well-mounted cavalry but the finest, hardiest, most valuable general horse in the world. He has bone and utility, has sureness of foot, is extraordinarily intelligent and has speed at any gait. If bred for army purposes, he is equally vice-able for cavalry or for artillery. If he is in cavalry, his instincts aid him; If he is on artillery, his natural gait, the gallop, sustains him. The gun horse is, of necessity, a horse that gallops, and the gallop is the natural gait of the thoroughbred. Dut not all of the thoroughbreds bred on the farm may be bought for army horses. The Canadian army today lacks many thousands of horses, not only for remounts, but also for ordinary service. They would rather buy at home than elsewhere, but there is no source of supply at present. France, which unquestionably lias one of the finest cavalry services in the world, cut loose from the making of the thoroughbred a mere idler, and sent him for duty to Drittany and the Marne and Toulouse and Versailles, until today it has, through the dissemination of thoroughbred blood, not only the best cavalry service in the world, but the finest general type of service horse. England, the first western home of the thoroughbred cared little, in the early seventies, for her cavalry. France, on the contrary, in those days, with a view to the conquering of Europe, encouraged the development of the horse. France wanted a cavalry horse. If it didnt fit. or wasnt needed for a cavalry horse, it would be a horse of bone, of action, of stamina and longevity, and oil over the length and the breadth of the land it placed the thoroughbred. The government cared naught for the cost. And the cavalry of France and the horses of France on the farms have become proverbial for their utility. Germany was the first of the European powers to follow France, though at more than a measurable distance. France, when it found that Germany might bid against her for the great thoroughbreds of the world, set to work and distributed the thoroughbred among her farmers at a nominal price. She established a record of the mares that were served by her thoroughbreds, so that when remounts were needed she could have them with perfect record of their paternity. The book, which is known as the record of the demi-sang. is as perfect as are the Stud Dooks of the English Jockey Club. With England, up to this time, the thoroughbred had been largely an idol. He was used for racing purposes only. France first saw in him a horse of general utility, and then came Germany that paid 100,000 for Ard Patrick, and Kussia that gave 25,000 for Galtee More. Austria followed, and then came the Argentine witli its .50,000 each for Diamond Jubilee, Jardy and Cyllene. Italy and Spain and Japan and Turkey and Drazil paid tribute to the thoroughbred and in the aggregate they spent more than ?3, 000,000 in the purchase of thoroughbreds. Not all of this was for the purchase of the thoroughbred as a war or as a cavalry horse. It was to introduce him into their countries. If war came he would be present. If it did not lie would be the horse of utility. War seldom came, but when it did it was the horse with thoroughbred blood in him that was accepted. Kussia was one of the last of the powers to start improving the size and the breed of its cavalry horses. For nearly three generations the Russians adhered to the old type of the Cossack pony. Then, warned by the work of being done by all the European powers, they realized that their type of cavalry horse was insufficient. First they tried breeding their small mares to the Percheron, but the produce could not stand the work of arduous cavalry maneuvers and their feet and legs gave out. Then the government sent an expert to England, who, after some delay, decided to try Suffolk and Clydesdales sires. These were sent back to Russia and produced a crop of sturdy looking horses, standing about fifteen hands. Dut these were not good cavalry horses. They lacked energy and they also lacked "pace." Again the Russians tried to solve the problem, and this time they hit upon the correct plan buying English thoroughbred sires. From that time until the present there has never been any doubt as to the elliciency of the Russian cavalry horse. So great was the success of the plan that before many years no price was too high for Russia to pay for a good thoroughbred sire, and when the Derby winner Galtee More was offered for sale, Russia paid 25,000 for him. Only recently Lord Coventry, the master of the royal buckhounds. sounded a note of warning to England. He said: "If you want to lie successful in breeding you must breed to young animals. My own idea is that if we wish to increase the number of useful horses in the country we must proceed on the lines that the royal commission has followed for so many years, and provide a larger number of thoroughbred stallions than has hitherto been possible considering the limited sum which has been placed at their disposal. "Dut they set out in the right way in supplying thoroughbred stallions for the use of farmers at a low fee. I would Increase the grant very largely and provide more thoroughbred stallions, which should receive a certificate" of soundness, and I would place those stallions where they could be mated with farm mares. "I do not mean marcs which would produce a high- class hunter, but those which would produce useful animals suitable for army purposes, and in connection with this subject I have always recommended farmers to breed from their light active cart mares if the services of a good thoroughbred sire could be secured. "I have seen the best results from breeding in this way, for many excellent hunters have been got by thoroughbred horses out of ca"rt mares, and I have known these sold for large sums of money. And curiously in many cases they have shown a great amount of quality which we could not have expected." And this is from a man who lias twice, in consecutive years, won the Grand National Steeplechase, the blue ribbon of cross-country sport and the supreme test of a cross-country thoroughbred. Dut it is not of the thoroughbred as the progenitor of race horses with which the farmer is interested. The thoroughbred, to the farmer, is useful as the progenitor of soundness, heroic blood, stamina, perfect assimilation and early maturity. There does not seem to lie any manner of doubt that there soon must come to be a practical realization of the value of the thoroughbred in America, and a consequent profitable market. The department of agriculture In Washington has joined hands with the war department in asking Congress for aid in sending throughout the country the best types of the thoroughbred to be mated with farmers marcs at a nominal fee. The animal industry bureau of the department of agriculture has recommended a grant of 50,000 for the purchase of these stallions and 00,000 a year to send out and maintain these sires. It is proposed that, as a beginning, ten sires should be sent to Maine and New Hampshire; fifty to Virginia. West Virginia, Kentucky, Tenessee, Indiana and Ohio; fifteen to Missouri and Texas, and twenty-five to Montana, Washington, Oregon and California. The report which accompanies the recommendation calls attention to the fact that, although there are more than 20.000,000 horses of all kinds in this country, our cavalry needs cannot be filled with the correct type, notwithstanding that the prices offered would make the breeding profitable. "European countries," says this report, "long ago found it was not only advisable, but necessary, to supervise the breeding of army horses, and every European country, with the exception of England, has for years been encouraging the breeding of the proper typo of remount. England, one of the most important horse countries in the world, has for many reasons only recently been forced to take this step. It Is Interesting to note that practically the same conditions confront England that confront this country at the present time, and almost identical steps are contemplated in the Anglo-Saxon countries to accomplish the same results suitable army horses in sufficient number. "The horses of our mounted branch are severely criticized by representatives of foreign armies, while from our own officers come reports of poor animals and poor performances." It is precisely with the horse as it is with all other animals. A return to the basic blood that has been uneontaniininatcd must result in the enrichment of that which lias gone to it. When kept pure, as it has been in the case of the thoroughbred, it always must Impress itself. John Doden, in King Horse, published by the Canadian National Dureau of Dreeding.
