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THOROUGHBRED THE ESSENTIAL TYRE Value in Imparting Desirable Qualities to All Utility Breeds Pointed Out The late Major Foxhall A Daingerfield who for so many years successfully managed the famous Castleton Stud of James R Keene and who Avas regarded as one of the worlds authorities on the thoroughbred horse a short time before his death in an address to the horse breeders of Kentucky on the subject The Thoroughbred Horse His Origin and His Uses pointed out that while the premier position in the equine world belongs to the thorough ¬ bred it is not solely that he is the hero of the sport of kings but that he is the highest develop ¬ ment of a type that is essential in imparting de ¬ sirable qualities to all of the utility breeds Major Daingerfields address is well worth reprinting at this time when the government is seeking the most desirable type for the production of army horses Mr Daingerfield said saidMy My highest ambition in life has been to develop to its highest type and greatest ability every do ¬ mestic animal The game cock fox hound pointer setter shorthorn saddle horse trotter etc and even men have at certain periods of my life inter ¬ ested me but my environments in recent years have enforced the crystallization of my thought and en ergies upon the thoroughbred horse horseThe The breeds used in the establishment of the English thoroughbred were the Arab the Barb and the Turk and horses of these breeds were from time to time imported to England and crossed on the speediest and best of the native English mares and their progeny by pure eastern sires of ona or the other of the breeds named to the fifth genera ¬ tion gave the right to registration as an English thoroughbred Of the importations to England from time to time of these eastern horses all did not prove of equal merit as progenitors of speed and endurance or stamina as it is termed in horse ology and the descendants in tail male from JJar leys Arabian the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerly Turk came to be considered the elect lines the English thoroughbred thoroughbredLater Later the preeminence of certain race horses and sires descended through these and kindred chan ¬ nels brought three horses into such prominence as to constitute their descendants the equine aristoc ¬ racy of England These horses were Eclipse Herod and Matchem And in England and America and indeed in almost all countries where the thorough ¬ bred is known keeping these lines in due proportion in the pedigrees of their blood stock is regarded a measure of safety safetyThe The term thoroughbred when applied to horses has become synonymous in ordinary usage with a horse entitled to registry or registered in the Eng ¬ lish General Stud Book This by reason of the establishment in England from eastern infusions of the breed so denominated denominatedThe The American Stud Book compiled by the late S D Bruce the first volume of which was pub ¬ lished in 1873 only eight years after the close of the war between the states in which Virginia till then the premier state since colonial times in the production of race horses was completely devas ¬ tated by contending armies contains tlie names of horses satisfactorily proven to Bruce to be thor ¬ oughbred but not in all cases by evidence recog ¬ nized by Weatherby as sufficient yet which have proven their patrician ancestry and purity of blood by their deeds and produce produceENGLISH ENGLISH THOROUGHBRED IMPORTED EARLY EARLYFrom From early colonial days racing was popular and English thoroughbreds of merit were imported from the mother country Diomed by Florizel out of Juno by Spectator foaled in 1777 won the first Epsom Derby in 1780 and was imported to Virginia and died the property of Colonel Hoomes of that state From him descended in tail male Sir Archy Timoleou Boston Lexington and all Kentuckians know the rest restGlencce Glencce by Sultan Trampoline by Tramp foaled in 1831 won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1S34 and was imported by James Jackson o Flor ¬ ence Ala in 1836 All the world owes him tribute His name should be written in capitals and spoken by horsemen with uncovered heads headsLeamington Leamington imported by R W Cameron of Statcn Island N Y and Australian Millington brought over by A Keene Richards of Georgetown Ky in the year 1858 have left their impress upon our blood stock Of the many more recent impor ¬ tations some have done good many harm We have hope from some now active and great cause to regret tho removal from our shores of a recent im ¬ portation and more recent exportation which gave more promise as a progenitor from his first than did our remote ancestor of the same name for his hisMy My studies and experience teach that in estab ¬ lishing a type close inbreeding is essential Bates and Booth in the establishment of their unrivaled short horse found it so The families of horses that have survived have started from closely inbred foundations How can we expect a male to be more impressive upon his first offspring than his electively bred mates if he has no greater concentra ¬ tion of the specific blood element desired than the mate has of some less desirable element which may control controlYet Yet while close inbreeding is the only road to the achievement of a perfect and established type to the highest results possibly obtainable it is the most dangerous in the hands of the uninformed or inexperienced for the reason that perfect soundness individual and hereditary soundness must be found in animals of kindred blood to be mated A ten ¬ dency to a specific weakness may be increased by mating kindred animals having a hereditary tendency to such weakness as certainly as specific strength may be intensified and made a characteristic of the progeny of such close union which will be trans mitted to their descendants This is true of tem ¬ peramental as well as physical characteristics characteristicsGREAT GREAT FAITH IN HEREDITY HEREDITYMy My reading and observation give me sucli faitli in heredity that I firmly believe if men and women of purely Puritan stock and kindred blood should intermarry and their children in each succeeding generation have an additional purely Puritan infusion that the fifth generation would be burning witches chasing Itogcr Williams into the wilder ¬ ness and consigning to eternal hell infants not a span long longWhile While the premier position in the equine world belongs to the thoroughbred it is not solely that he is the hero of the sport of kings but that he is the highest development of a type that is essential in imparting desirable qualities to all of the utility breeds The thoroughbred of highest type is neces ¬ sarily the one that must to the greatest extent im ¬ part liis desirable qualities to utility breeds To enable the thoroughbred breeder to procure or pro ¬ duce the best conditions must exist which justify the expenditure of the vast sums necessary to pro ¬ cure produce the acme of perfection of its kind or the nearest approximation possible thereto theretoThe The hunter the charger the saddle horse hack ¬ ney cob French coach demisang the trotter pacer and even the better class of horses for gen ¬ eral agricultural purposes owe niuch of their value their courage beauty and endurance to thoroughbred infusions nnd nil would deteriorate without fre ¬ quent new infusions from this pure source sourceMillions Millions aye hundreds of millions of money are lost and thousands of laborers left unemployed by Ignorant and prejudiced legislation in this land against an industry fostered by governmental appro ¬ priations and official recognition in most civilized and sane countries countriesI I never knew a horse to bet though some gambol on the green If a man has the betting In ¬ stinct lie can find an outlet in his automobile in the jumping frog of Calaveras in two marbles rolled down a plank or I speak only from hearsay as to this in the relation of little bits of pasteboard with pictures on them in a stuffy room full of tobacco smoke when he would have no worse temptation and more fresh air in an afternoons outing at a race course courseHysteria Hysteria is curable and the king will come to his own again in this land of the free and then those who can will buy the best and the general improvement of all classes of horses will be revivi ¬ fied fiedMETHOD METHOD OF RAISING THOROUGHBREDS THOROUGHBREDSA A few remarks on the method of raising thor ¬ oughbreds which will be found almost equally ap ¬ plicable to the rearing of all other kinds of horses and I am done Abundant food kind and gentle handling fresh air and ample range are essentials The oats you dont feed your colt which is to race at two years old cost more than what you do feed him himThe The mare should be well nourished during preg ¬ nancy and mare and foal should have abundant food and ample range with constant access to fresh water and a trough with salt accessible Stables should be roomy and so well ventilated as to keep the animals as nearly in the outdoor temperature as possible in order that they do not chill when turned out for exercise which they should have all day in winter and day and night in Summer except when exceedingly hot at midday middayThe The stables I have found the best for colts from weanling to yearling form are built in a square with a court within the outer walls close to the roof inside boards only the height of the heads of the animals and slatted above and open to the apex of the roof likewise slatted above the wains ¬ coting which separates the boxes which should be fourteen by fourteen feet each or larger if conve ¬ nient nientStallions Stallions should have eight or ten miles of ex ¬ ercise on the road daily under saddle and large paddocks in which to graze after such exercise Their boxes should be twenty feet square and well ventilated The fences of their paddocks should be doubled four and a half to five feet apart to avoid their coming in direct contact with each other or with other animals A fence seven feet high of threeinch plank and one stout scantling nailed flat to the top of the fence posts Is best The horse is by nature a gregarious animal and should be al ¬ lowed to see his kind on every part of the farm With these precautions and a softvoiced gentle quietmannered groom no stallion will ever become a savage and many a savage in training will be ¬ come as affectionate as a Jidys hackney
