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GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS THE HORSE Necessity of Encouraging and Fostering the Breed ¬ ing Industry Vividly Pointed Out The entrance of tlie United States into the great world war brought home to the Federal government the imperative necessity of encouraging and foster ¬ ing the horse breeding industries of this country Considerable has l een written on this subject and the consensus of opinion is that the thoroughbred is the most suitable type to get the proper horse for army purposes In this connection it may be well to reprint the views of former Congressman G AV Loft of New York the owner of a preten ¬ tious racing stable now quartered at Saratoga who immediately prior to the entrance of this country in the war expressed himself as follows followsWhen 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 a gallantly as has man In a contest in which every known method of war ¬ fare has biiii employed the tide of battle has been turned on many a hardfought field by a dashing cavalry charge or a withering artillery fire from an unexpected quarter It was the horse that furnished the motor power for these maneuvers and the stouter hearted and the swifter the horse the greater chance there was for the success of the attack Those attackThose who are familiar with the history of the horse in Euroi e and the part lie has played in connection with the development of continental armies have l cen at a loss to account for the ap ¬ parent lack of interest on the part of this govern ¬ ment in connection with a work of such tremen ¬ dous importance Possessing more than 21000000 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 21000000 head were heavy horses utterly unfit for army service which calls for a quick active type of animal 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 ap ¬ proached the million mark for horses and mules combined that an element in the nation awoke to the gravity of the situation and sounded their SCAECITY OF HOKSES FIT FOB CAVALEY CAVALEYIt 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 United States It is further contended that we could well afford to part company with some of those that have been wild liecause of their mediocrity If we are to take the testimony of those that have been com ¬ missioned to make purchases of the most desirable cavalry type as a guide we must come to the conclusion that there is a decided scarcity of ani ¬ mals fit to horse our cavalry in the same manner as France England Germany AustriaHungary and Kussia equipped theirs at the commencement of hostilities these countries having for a great many years bred a type of horse for this particular purpose purposeWith With little or no control exercised by the Federal authorities over this work until recently it stands to reason that our progress in the pro ¬ duction of a horse suitable for the army which after all is a horse of the generalpurpose type has been circumscribed Beyond the rearing of heavy draft types such as the Perchcrou Clydes ¬ dale Shire and Belgian the developing of the trotter which up to date is our only purely home ¬ bred type and the preservation of the thoroughbred family whose history carries back through cen ¬ turies in England to the Arabian desert our horse breeding activities have been in the main aimless and purposeless to the extremest degree degreeNot Not so abroad where in some countries plans were laid for the production of army horses at the close of the Napoleonic wars AustroIIuugary which today has the most extensive studs under governmental supervision and whose assistance in horsing Germanys cavalry has been a tremendous asset in a campaign of agression waged by that nation is the oldest of the European countries in the formulation of a welldetiued plan which had for its beginning the crossing of the blooded horses on the native mares maresAUSTEIAHUNGAEY AUSTEIAHUNGAEY HOESES FAMOUS FAMOUSSince Since that time the work has been carried on under the watchful eyes of experts until today the horses of AustriaHungary are famed the world over The number of horses in their stud exceed those of France and Germany ex ¬ tensive as they are the latest reports showing MOO stallions doing service throughout the em ¬ pire France boasts of 4200 head of which the major portion are thoroughbred and halfbred Ger ¬ many has for the past thirty years actively fol ¬ lowed the example of her neighbors in army horse production and some of her studs notably that at Trakenen in Trussia presided over by Huron von Oetingen and formerly by Count Lehndorff who was considered the worlds greatest au ¬ thority on horse breeding at the time of his death is a model of its kiud Some idea of its extent may be derived from the fact that the Russians in their initial drive into Prussia captured no less than 110000 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 years to breed or acquire by purchase mares of the type required by the government governmentThere There is another stud in the German empire that is famous also This is located at Graditz Its purpose is to establish through the test of rac ¬ ing what stallions are worthy of going to Trakenen They must show their worth before they are ad ¬ judged Jit to occupy a place in that famous estab ¬ lishment Itussia has kept pace witli her sister countries and for the past fifteen years has been the chief bidder for our best trotting stallions no ligure stopping them when a desirable animal is wanted They have bought thoroughbred stallions in the rutted States also but England has furnished the bulk of the pure blood that has been incorpor ¬ ated into their commonhorse product It will read ¬ ily be understood that these superb mares acquired in Prussia are now a treasured portion of the czars great stud studFJJG1AND FJJG1AND HAS FUENISHED BULK OF BLOOD BLOODEngland England through this period of evolution in horse breeding particularly that of the army horse has occupied a rather unique position inasmuch as while she has not maintained any governmental breeding studs she lias furnished the bulk of the blood which lias leavened the entire lump the thoroughbreds which were 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 200 years of hardfought competition Only the pure gold came from the crucible and as the result of these trials which called for stoutness of heart ilcctness of foot and soundness of limb England assumed an import ¬ ance In the horsebreeding world she Jierself scarcely estimated or appreciated until the war broke out It was then that she was able because of racing and its allied sport of hunting to furnish her cav ¬ alry with 100000 mounts Later on other horses for her cavalry and artillery came from Canada and Australia where the thoroughbred had long had a following These countries 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 demandedIt It was to be expected that Great Britain with her recent experience in mind would endeavor to stop the breach in her armor and the timely and princely gift of one of her bestknown racing men Col William Hall Walker member of Par ¬ liament paved the way for the launching of the enterprise when in December 1915 he donated his fast thoroughbred stud to the nation This collection of stallions and broodmares which had been valued at 1000000 before the war began and which were to have been sold at auction have become the nucleus of Englands breeding estab ¬ lishment and it is safe to predict that from this time forward the best thoroughbred horses which England develops will not be sold to foreign lands but will go into the governmental service If this course is followed it will not take long to rival the establishments of France Germany Austria Hungary and Russia RussiaGERMANY GERMANY PAID 125000 FOE AED PATEICK PATEICKWhen When the German government paid British sportsmen 125000 for Ard Patrick and G3000 for Galtee More both winners of f the Epsom Derby the fact was widely commented on The an ¬ nouncement that they had been bought to mate with coldblooded marcs in order to improve the generalpurpose horse of Germany and that their services could be had for a trifle by farmers and horse breeders in general was illuminating It i 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 These horses and others acquired from time to time had the bone size disposition and con ¬ formation which the Germans wished to breed into their horses and they never stopped to question the price when they found desirable specimens in the male line lineRealizing Realizing that England has developed the ex ¬ cellence 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 perpetuation of the best strains of blood The strongest rivalries developed as a consequence and horses from different countries met in contests that were open to the world We find Austrian German and Frenchbred and owned thoroughbreds winning English turf classics Prizes of great value for which only horses bred and owned in the country promoting the contests were 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 has al ¬ ready been touched upon uponHOESE HOESE BEEEDING NEGLECTED HEEE HEEEIt It will be enlightening to review the status of horse breeding in our own country while Europe lias been performing a policy which challenges the admiration of the world Outside of Kentucky California Tennessee Virginia Missouri and cer ¬ tain portions of New York New Jersey Pennsyl ¬ vania Maryland and Texas where thoroughbreds and trotters were bred systematically with a view to the development of the types for racing pur ¬ poses 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 being made to the production of heavy horses for be it said to the credit of those who are in ¬ terested iu the various draft breeds tllcy have done their best to establish a type and reproduce it The same is true of a district in Vermont where sev ¬ eral conscientious breeders are doing their ut ¬ most to preserve the Morgan with his many desirable attributes attributesIt It was the farmer and horse breeder that fell in between the heavy and light horse types that created chaos and was responsible for the multitude of nondescripts with which the country is burdened The mongrel stallion oftentimes unsound ami vic ¬ ious which was patronized because he was cheap lias 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 lias been truly said that the horses iu many sections of the Union today do not compare for general excellence with those that were to be found at the close of the Civil war when the breeders of the country appeared to conduct thir venture with some degree of intelligence Whether it was because there were fewer breeds at that time and therefore fewer opportunities to err is a matter of discussion discussionLack Lack of 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 breeders with the results of experiments in other countries We could not tell what had been ac ¬ complished at home except in individual instances where some breeder had set out with a definite purpose such as actuated the late C J Hauilin of Buffalo who said that he would breed trotters that were not only fast but had beauty of form as well wellThe The horse shows and county fairs which are held in the autumn after the crops have been garnered should be the best possible mediums in the prose ¬ cution of this work Let each state designate days when lectures will be given by experts and if these talks are accompanied by lantern slides illustrating the type of animal under discussion whether it be thoroughbred halfbred standard bred hackney or draft horse so much the better Breeders will carry away with them the rudiments of an education along lines that will make for progress They will find a fascination in the work d the old clan will have to take a back seat T1e Poultry sheep and cattle experts have made tremendous headway through the employment of this kind of publicity Those who hear competent lec ¬ turers discourse on the breeding of good horses will find their interest in the show ring competitions increased a thousandfold and witli the living breathing prize winners present to represent type the lessons will be driven home with additional force forceThere There was a time when the average farmer was content to run his business on the same lines as Ids father had followed Rotation of crops and tlip raising of purebred livestock for the double purpose of land enrichment and an addition to their bank account was something that was unknown Then came the progressive who farmed on scientific principles built siloes underdrained his land and subscribed f r the best journals devoted to agri ¬ culture thai lie could find Purebred cattle sheep Continued on sixth page GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS THE HORSE Continued from third page and swine took the place of the grades in commu ¬ nities peopled by such men and mortgages were raised and holdings bettered as a consequence During this march of progress the horse alone has failed to keep pace with the nations advance Is it not high time that something was done for him The Canadians our progressive neighbors to the north are up and doing in this connection They have a Federal Breeding Bureau and in re ¬ sponse to appeals of clubs of fifty or more mem ¬ bers they will send stallions into any district making a contract with the organization calling for the proper care of the hori and a guaranty that only a moderate fee will be charged for his services Only purebred horses are sent out and there is a rigid annual inspection as no blemished or unsound borne is allowed to stand for mares With an eye to the future preparedness of the country there is a discount of forty per cent to all those that will breed to thoroughbred sires This colony is pattern ¬ ing after European countries in the plan for secur ¬ ing the best type of cavalry remount remountCANADIANS CANADIANS ALIVE TO THE SITUATION SITUATIONWe We find the Canadians keenly alive to a situation which has been discussed extensively in the news ¬ papers of the United States the shortage of breeding stock and the advisability of placing au embargo on the shipment of mares of the proper types to throw army remounts The records in both countries show that over fifty per cent of some shipments which have been made to the countries of the entente allies have been marcs There is no denying that some of them were not regular breeders or were otherwise undesirable but there is also ever present the fact that many were just the sort we could not spare and Canadian authorities are finding fault with some of those in ¬ trusted with making purchases because they passed geldings in hard flesh from regular work and in rxstcd on the purchase of sleek broodmares which should be left at home to producs themselves As the life of the horse at the front is but a few days at best and the gelding would serve the purpose quite as well and in some instances better than the mare it is regrettable that so many fe ¬ males have been sold It is a matter that has al ¬ ready been called to the attention of the proper authorities in this country by sonic of our most dis ¬ tinguished officers in the army and no doubt the situation will be dealt with at the proper time timeIt It was in 1913 that this government undertook the scientific production of horses for army pur ¬ poses and an appropriation of 50000 was made by Congress the work being intrusted to the animal husbandry branch of the department of agriculture August Belmout of New York donated the noted thoroughbred sires Octagon and Henry of Navarre the gift being made to the war department which in turn transferred them to the department of agriculture In the veins of these horses flowed the best racing blood of two continents The govern ¬ ment established breeding stations in Virginia Vermont and Colorado that at Front Royal in the firstnamed state being chief Desirable sires mostly thoroughbred but some of trotting and saddleblood were installed to the number of forty one at the various stations and the project while restricted began work under encouraging auspices Some of these sires were given the government by patriotic citizens who followed 3Ir Belmonts lead and some were purchased in the open market by government experts who frequently called upon civilians to aid them in making selections The system in vogue has been to send these horses into communities where the mares that would suit the individual horse were the most plentiful and the bulk of the work to date has been confined to Virginia West Virginia and 3Iarylaud the terri ¬ tory nearest Front Royal which last year had eighteen horses out of a total of thirtyseven the curtailment from the initial number of fortyone being due to the cut in tiie annual appropriation from 50000 to 30000 The station in Vermont lias l ecii exclusively for Morgans while Colorado has been largely devoted to the trotter and saddle horse THOROUGHBRED HORSE PAR EXCELLENCE EXCELLENCEAs As the result of continental experiments have clearly indicated that the thoroughbred is the horse of par excellence for this particular purpose it is not surprising to find that a majority of the horses at the chief station are of pure blood bloodBefore Before undertaking the work some of the best exiHrts in the government service visited Europe and saw what bad been done there and it was the result of their research which confirmed the gov ¬ ernment of this country in its belief that the quickening influence of the thoroughbred would be all important in the evolution of the type of horse that would be serviceable in peace and an element of power and efficiency in time of war The cur ¬ tailment in the annual appropriation has naturally taken away much of the enthusiasm on the part of those having the prosecution of the work in hand Kcme idea of the difference in the way the industry is living conducted here and abroad may be gleaned from a comparison of tiie figure devoted for the purpose in the United States and Russia for ex ¬ ample In 1914 our appropriation was 30000 while in the same year the Russian government expended 4000000 and this splendid sum was augmented by an additional million a gift of the czar France and Germany each spent almost as much so that our pittance is incredibly small and it is astonishing that we have accomplished any ¬ thing measuring by European standard standardTiie Tiie records on file in the Bureau of Animal Husbandry how that there wore in all breeding stations of tiie Federal government in 1913 forry ono stallions to which 1557 mares were bred In 1914 there were fortythroe stallions to which 013 mares were sent The appropriation bad Lien reduced from 50000 to 10000 and with another cut of 10000 in sight for 1915 it became imiierative to reduce the number of horses The records for 1915 show that thirtyseven horses were bred to more than 2000 mares an average of about fiftyfive mares to a horse as against fortyseven in 1914 and thirtyeight in 1913 These figures tell their own story and it will be to our everlasting discredit if something is not done to put this work on an enduring basis cither through a greatly increased appropriation under Federal control or by a thoroughly comprehensive plan in the various states along the lines laid down in Canada or by the Breeding Bureau of the Jockey Club which has for years had a large number of thoroughbred horses in the stud in the various counties of the Empire State and also by the Ken ¬ tucky State Racing Commission which has within the past year adopted a plan for the general improvement of the horses in the Blue Grass region and already have donated a dozen or more repre ¬ sentative thoroughbred sires for the purpose Per ¬ haps a combination of the two plans could be ar ¬ ranged but this is something which could be de ¬ cided after mature consideration by the ablest students of the problem this country affords affordsRAISE RAISE MAXIMUM FEE FOR THREEYEAROLDS THREEYEAROLDSIt It has also been urged in certain quarters that the farmers and horse breeders of the country at large would breed the horses if the maximum figure now paid for threeyearolds In the autumn were increased from 175 where it now stands this sum including the 25 service fee which the government obligates to refund in case of a pur ¬ chase when the mare has been bred to one of its stallions to a figure where a profit would be assured The breeders of the east maintain that they cannot produce a wellnourished threeyear old for less than 250 and that they are lost when it comes to the matter of competing with the breeders of the Texas Panhandle or other districts where animals run on the range throughout the year yearFrank Frank K Sturgis who is the head of the Breed ¬ ing Bureau of the Jockey Club maintains that the wellfurnished eastern threeyearold is cheaper at 250 than the range animal at 175 because the former having been grown and developed on grain will come to hand and be serviceable much more quickly and the government will tiius save the item of extra keep during the process of hardening hardeningIn In connection with the range proposition an idea has been exploited calling for the placing of mares on laud owned by the government in Oklahoma the dams and their progeny running the range while the stallions would be housed in inexpensive but practical quarters and under the care of competent men Those who advocate this plan and there are several army oUicers who think it feasible maintain that the present figure for horse production as rep ¬ resented by the 175 maximum could be beaten No doubt statistics covering this point are available and their presentation would go far toward solving one of the most vital problems of the day Experi ¬ mental figures could be gleaned no doubt from other quarters and with all of the facts on hand the government could proceed intelligently toward the perfection of a policy of horse breeding that would be compatible with the advancement shown by the United States in every other form of en ¬ deavor deavorARMY ARMY IIEEDS2000 HEAD ANNUALLY ANNUALLYMajorGeneral MajorGeneral Hugh L Scott Chief of Staff U S A a Keutuckian by the way is on record as saying that the service in time of peace will need 2000 head annually This was under the conditions existing before the call of preparedness electrified the country How many more thousands shall be necessary the future alone must determine The wastage in time of war is startling We have no records available as to the number of horses killed in the European conflict but some idea of the rate at which they are being eliminated may be gathered by reference to statistics in connection with the army of the Potomac during the Civil War These records show that there were thirtysix cavalry regiments whose effective strength varied during the six months from April to October between 10000 and 14000 men This body of cavalry re ¬ quired the following remounts 3Iay 5073 June GS27 July 4710 August 5499 September 5829 and October 7330 indicating a loss of two and one half horses a man or a ratio of five horses per annum The secretary of war iu commenting on this showing said If a similar state of affairs existed throughout all our cavalry its 233 regiments would require 435000 horses annually annuallyThere There is a feature itf connection with the destruction of these millions of horses in Europe which affects this country tremendously The United States and Argentina will be called upon to supply the bulk of the breeding stock which must be secured by continental countries to replace those which have been destroyed and it behooves us to be ready when opportunity knocks at our door More aid better horses should be the slogan of every publicspirited citizen and every aid should be given the movement for their production whether it be under government auspices of the re ¬ sult of concerted action on the part of those who are familiar with the problem and are ready to work out a solution
