view raw text
BREEDING IN WESTERN NEW YORK. "No section of the Kmpire State is doing as much for the preservation of the versatile ty|ie of horse as that embraced by the counties of Livingston and Krie. where the Jockey Club has placed a number of thoroughbred sires for service at a moderate fee." This statement was made by Chris J. Fitzgerald, noted racing official, iu passing through Buffalo on an inspection of the breeding bureau branches for the Jockey Club. "In the region of Mount Morris. Avon and Gene-seo," said Mr. Fitzgerald, "the half-bred hunter has been produced for more than half a century, and the region has long tieen known as the home of brilliant jumpers and intrepid horsemen. The thousands of well-fenced acres under the ownership and control of the Wadsworth family were always open to the public, and there was always an accepted fact throughout the United States that the man and horse capable of negotiating the valley country were safe in any field, at home or abroad. "The farmers of the valley have contributed in no small degree to this condition in the past, as many of them kept a mare of proper type to produce a hunter, and under the stimulus of Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth of the Ashantee Stud, who has organized the Geneseo Valley Horse Breeders Association, the field of endeavor is to be enlarged, through the introduction of additional dams, furnished by the Jockey Club, which has secured them by purchase in various parts of the Union or through donation by public-spirited citizens, who believe they are Iterforming a patriotic duty in keeping alive the type of animal which undoubtedly is the most versatile in existence. There have long lieen many citizens of the valley who lielieved that the half-bred type was best for their general needs. The plan inaugurated by the breeders association, which gives them use" of a desirable mare, in the cultivation of their land, or in any other pursuit that does not destroy the mares qualifications as a mother, and yet also gives them the resultant foal from a mating with a Bureau stallion, appeals to the farmer and horse breeder as a -sound economic proposition. There was, therefore, a demand. "This spring the score of good mares of varying types, from the thoroughbred to the Percheron. which were sent to Mrs. Wadsworth, the originator of the plan, have been given homes in the region round about Avon and Mount Morris. Many of them have already been mated with Wonder Boy, Merry Task and Otis, the splendid sires at the Ashantee Stud, while others will go to Slwtgun at Geneseo. or Arabo at the farm of A. P. Gardner, in the region of Mount Morris, this son of Nomad having been transferred from Springville to the valley within the last few flbys. Already a score of mares have been bred at Artiantee, despite the lateness of the season, and in Erie County Captain G. P. Stryker of Twin Creeks Farm, near Derby, is doing yeoman service in the cause of horse breeding. "At his well-appointed stud, where he has a selected band of matrons, are to be found two of the best-known horses in the breeding bureau. These are Accountant, by Filigrane, dam of the famous mare Reckon, by imported Pizzaro. and Fashion Plate, by imported Woolsthorpe. Accountant was winner of 00,000 in stakes and purses during his racing career, and is a superby individual, though he does not surpass in quality or bone his smaller stable mate. In fact. Fashion Plate is demonstrating his prepotency in remarkable fashion, all of his progeny being recognizable at a glance. Fashion Plate was a noted winner, taking, among other races, the Metropolitan Handicap. "Captain Stryker. who is a simon pure enthusiast on the subject of horse breeding, has gained many friends for the thoroughbred in the region of his home, and it is fortunate for the people near Derby that he established his stud in a territory where a good type of trotting mare could be had. The standard-bred mare of the sort produced at the Village Farm of the late C. J. Hamlin at East Aurora formed an ideal mate for the sire of pure blood. Evidence of the efficacy of this blending will be found at Captain Strykers home stud or at the farm of Messrs. Green and Decker in the immediate vicinity, where separate types of the half breed, illustrating this cross, may be found. "The fact that fairs, where special awards for weanling half breeds are offered, are held in both Livingston and Erie counties, with prize winners eligible t* be shown for the Jockey Clubs big yearling prizes each fall at the Syracuse State Fair, has been a stimulus to the farmers of these communities. It has made them breed a better individual to a stallion, best suited to mate for their mares, and it has also lieen a factor in care and feeding, the importance of which cannot be overestimated. "What many regard, however, as a contributing influence to an enlarged policy of horse breeding is the need fo.- more and better horses for army purpose*, and the expectation of an increase in the maximum to be paid by the federal government for a three-year-old in the autumn of its three-year-old form, which now stands at 75. "Various federal authorities, including Dr. Mel-vin, the director of the bureau of animal industry. Chief of Staff Major General Hugh L. Scott and others are on record as favoring this, and it is bound to come. "Mrs. Wadsworth is assisted in her work by N. C. Shiverick. formerly an army officer, so that there is much harmony of view in the plans of which she is the inspiration and those of Captain Stryker."
