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THOROUGHBRED ONLY IS EXCELLENT A week or two back someone signing himself A Practical Horseman wrote a letter which appeared lu The Sportsman praising up the trotting sire for the purpose of begetting army horses He stated in effect that French and English buyers in Canada found them far superior to halfbreds by thorough bred stallions adding a lot of nonsense about thor oughbreds going mail with fright every time a iur went off in battle As a matter of fact the trot ¬ ter was used as a sire for military horses in France for many years and was practically descarded some twenty years ago A member of the French High Commission who has been in the United States for several years was recently interviewed by the Thoroughbred Record and emphatically expressed the opinion that there was no horse that was a patej upon the thoroughbred for begetting horses for the army He added that the worth of halfbreds sired by thoroughbreds was first proved not only ri the show ring but also in steeplechases cross ¬ country work being an essential part of every French cavalry horses education Seme of these half breds were of such merit that they won open steeple ¬ chases Everybody knows what horses either thdr roiighbred or with thoroughbred blood in them have done not only in the present war but in earlier ones and their reputation needs no further vindication but I cannot refrain from publishing the opinion of the French commissioner Lt G A Leroy who has been assisting the United States army authorities in their search for suitable sires for use at their breeding reservations in Virginia and other states Vigilant in London Sportsman
