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WAR DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING THE HORSE. Congressman G. W. Loft of New York Points Out the Necessity of Encouraging Horse Breeding. First Article. "With the gathering of the war clouds— ■lends that may burst at any moment — the war department is giving a gaud ileal of attention to the horse, without which no army is pi s-able." says Morton M. Milford, writing under date of March 10 from Washington to the Louisville Courier-Journal. While considering this important matter it is natural that the watchful eyes of the federal government are turned toward Kentucky — where the thhroughbred is king. In discussing today the question of horse breeding in the United States. Representative Ceorge V. Loft of New York, who owns a racing stable, said: "When the truth of the great worlds war shall have been spread upon the pages of history, it will be found that this useful animal — the horse— has played his part quite as gallantly as has man. In a contest in which every known method of warfare has been employed, the tide of battle has been turned on many a hard-fought field by a dashing cavalry charge or a withering artillery fire from an unexpected smarter. It was the horse that furnished the motor paWCT for these maneuvers, and the stouter hearted and the swifter the horse the greater chance there was for the success of the attack. "Those who are familiar with the history of the horse in Europe and the part he has played in connection with the development of continental armies h.-iv been at a loss to account for the apparent lack of interest on the part of this government in connection with a work of such tremendous importance. Possessing more than 21.000.000 head of horses at the time the last census was taken, and with no thought of war. we have been indifferent to our position in time of trouble. The fact that the greater proportion of these 21.000.000 head were heavy horses utterly unfit for army service, which calls for a quick, active type of SUtmal, meant nothing to the unthinking, and it was only when the agents of the allies invaded our shores about two years ago and inaugurated a purchasing campaign, which has already approached the million mark for horses and mules combined, that an dement in the nation awoke to the gravity of the situation and sounded their warning. Scarcity of Horses Fit for Cavalry. "It has been said by some that there is no cause for alarm, and that there is still an abundant supply of army horses in the Tinted States. It is farther contended that we could well afford U part company with some of those that have been sold because of their mediocrity. If we are to take the testimony of those that have been commissioned to make purchases of the most desirable cavalry type as a guide, we must come to the en, hasten that there is a decided scarcity of animals fit to horse our cavalry in the same manner as France. England. Jermany. Austria-Hungary and Russia equipped theirs at the rommf ntimilll of hostilities, these countries having for a great many years bred a type of horse for this particular purpose. "With little or no control exercised by the Federal authorities over this work until recently, it stands to reason that our progress in the production of a horse suitable for the army, which, after all. is a horse of the general -purpose type, uas been circumscribed. Beyond the rearing of fieavy draft types, such as the 1ercheron. Chiles /dale. Shir I and Belgian, the developing of the trotter, which up to date is our only purely homebred type, and the preservation of the thoroughbred family, whose history carries back through cen-turii s In England, to the Arabian desert, our horse-breeding activities have been in the main aimless and purposeless to the oxtre-mest degree. "Not so abroad, whore in some countries plans were laid for the production of army horses at the close of the Napoleonic wars. Aiistro-Hungary. which today has the most extensive studs under governmental supervision, and whose assistance in horsing Oermanys cavalry has been a tremendous asset in a campaign of aggression waged by that nation, is the oldest of the European countries in the formulation of a well defined plan which had for its beginning the crossing of the blooded horses mi tic native mares. Austria -Hungary Horses Famed World Over. "Since that time the work has been carried on under the watchful eyes of experts, until today the horses of Austria Hungary ale famed the world over. The number of horses in their stud exceed those of France and Germany, extensive as they are. the latest reports showing 1.109 stallions doing service throughout the em para, franca boasts of 4.200 head, of which the major portion are thoroughbred and half-bred. Get many has for the past thirty years actively followed the example of her neighbors in army horse production: and some of her studs, notably that at Trakeaeu, ia Prussia, presided over by Baron von Oetingen, and formerly by Count LehndorlT who was considered the worlds greatest authority on horse br oiling at the time of his death I. is a model of its kind. Some idea of its extent may he derived from the fact that the sTueslsas in their initial drive into Prussia captured no less than 20.000 mares that were a portion of this vast nursery. The cable dispatches said at the time that the loss was regarded as exceptionally severe, as it had taken many Tears to breed or acquire by purchase mares of the type required by the government. "There is another stud in the German empire that is famous also. This is located at Cradiiz. Its purpose is to establish through the test of racing what stallions are worthy of going to Trakeaeu. They must show their worth before they are adjudged fit to occupy a place in that famous establishment. Russia has kept pace with her sister countries, and for the past fifteen yuan has been the chief bidder for our best trotting stal lions, no figure stopping them when a desirable animal is wanted. They have lmught thoroughbred stallions in the Inited States also, but England has furnished the bulk of the pure blood that has been incorporated into their common-horse product. It will readily be understood that Usees superb mares acquired in Prussia, are now a treas-used portion of the czars great stud. England Has Furnished Bulk of the Blood. "England, through this period of evolution in horse breeding, particularly that of the army horse, has occupied a rather unique position inasmuch a- while she has not maintained any governmental breeding studs, sin- has furnished the bulk of the blood which lias leaven d the entire lump; the thoroughbreds which ware developed on her race courses and which possessed those qualities, which Other countries wanted to inject into their stock, having been developed by upward of 1*00 years of hard-fought competition. Only the pure gold came from the crucible and as tin- r. suit of these trials, which called for stoutness of heart, fleetncss ,.f foot and soundness of limb. England assumed an Importance in the horse-breeding world she herself scarcely slhnsll d or appreciated until the war broke out. It was then that she was able, because of racing anil its allied sport of hunting, to furnish her cavalry with 100.000 mounts. Later on other horses for her cavalry and artillery cause from Canada and Australia, where the thoroughbred had long had a following. These reentries supplied a great many mounts of top quality. It was fortuitous that the two sports to which she is most devoted should have been so molded by destiny as to furnish the type of horse the occasion demanded. "It was to be expected that Great Britain, with her recent experiences in mind, would endeavor to stop the breach ill her armor, and the timet and princely gift of one of her heet-kneWU racing men. Col. William Hall Walker, ml mill I of Parliament, paved tin- way for the munching of the enterprise When in December last he donated his fast thoroughbred stud to the nation. This collection of stallions and broodmares, which had been valued at si. ooo. uoo before the war began and which were to have been sold at auction, have become the nucleus of Englands breeding estah Hshment, and it is safe to predict that from this time forward the l est thoroughbred horses Which England develops will not be sold to foreign lands but will go into tin- governmental service. If this course is followed, it will not take long to rival the establishments of Prance, Germany, Austria tlrtngarj and Russia. German Government Paid 25 000 for Ard Patrick. "When the German government paid British sportsmen 8125.000 for Aid Patrick and | K ,000 for Gal tee More, both winners ol the Ejisoni Derby, the fact was widely commented on. The ,in- noiiiieement that they had been bought to mate with cold-blooded mares in order to Improve the general-purpose horse of Osimsni. ami that their services could be had for a trifle by farmers and horse breeders in general, was illuminating. It served to show how thoroughly the plans of the empire had been laid for a future supply of horses that would hold their own with the best in the world. Thus horses and others acquired from time to time had the bone, size, disposition and conformation Which the GemtanS wished to breed into a their horses, and they never Stepped to question the price when they found desirable specimens in the male line. "Realizing that England has developed the excellence of her horses through racing. Continental countries inaugurated policies which were so lib-erally endowed and subsidized that there was every encouragement for the production of the best individual and for the perpetual ion of tie beef strains of blood. The strongest rivalries developed as a consequence and horses from different countries met in contests that were open to tin- world. We tied Austrian. Of lull and French bred and owned thoroughbreds winning English turf classics. Priaes of great value for which only horses bred and owned in the country promoting the contests wore-eligible was a part of the plan. It was thus that horse breeding was stimulated on the continent until at the outbreak of the war the production of good horses was reckoned second to no other feature of the economic life of practically every other country save England, whose condition lias already been touched upon. Horse Breeding in Our Country Neglected. "It will bo enlightening to review- the status of horse breeding in our own country while Kuiope has been performing a policy which challenges the admiration of the world. Outside of Kentucky, California. Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri and certain portions of New York. New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Maryland and Texas, where thoroughbreds and trotters were bred systematically with a view-to the development of the types for racing purposes alone-, there was no effort made to produce a horse- that would endure, and whatever breeding was indulged in by the country at large was as a rule along haphazard lines. Reference is not now In ing made to the production of heavy horses, for be it said to the credit of those who arc interested in the various draft breeds, they have dona their best to establish a type and reproduce it. The same is true of a district in Vermont, where several conscientious breeders are doing their utmost to preserve the Morgan with his many desirable attributes. "It was the farmer and horse brioder that fcdl in between the heavy and light horse types that treated chaos and was responsible for the multitude of nondescripts with which the country is burdened. The mongrel stallion oftentimes unsound and vicious, which was patronized because he was cheap, has left his blighting impress on a large portion of our common horses. Heavy and light mares were bred indiscriminately to any kind of a sire, and it has been truly said that the horses in many sections of the Inion today do not nun -pare for general excellence with those that were to be found at the close of the Civil War. when the breeders of th" country appeared to conduct their venture with some degree of intelligence. Whether it was because there were- fewer bree da at that time and therefore fewer opportunities to err is a matter of discussion. "Lack e f education in scientific horse breeding is the chief reason for our present condition. It would have been well if our governments. Federal and State, had acquainted our farmers and horse bteedKXS with the results of experiments in other countries. We could not tell what had been accomplished at home except in inelividu.il instances where some breeder had set out with a definite purpose, such as actuated the late C. J. Hamlin of Buffalo, who said that he would breed trotters that were not only fast but had beauty of form as well. To lie continued.
