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COUNT LEHNDORFFS VIEWS Was Greatest Student of His Day in Production of Thoroughbred Pointed Out America as Source for Breeders of World to Draw From NEW YORK N Y March 11 Count Tchndorff Who was in charge of the German Imperial Stud at Graditz was recognized as the greatest student of his day in the production of thoroughbred and lialfbred horses Ills Recollections embodying the results of his experiences is a classic which should be in the hands of every horse breeder in the land landAs As the head of an institution conducted for the avowed purpose of developing the type of war burse that would challenge the admiration of the world what Count Lehndorff has to say may be accepted as authoritative and final Moth thor ¬ oughbred and halfbred sires were employed at Graditz and among the former was the Kpom Derby winner Ard Patrick No horses were kept that did not answer the strictest tests and the opening paragraph of the little volume is indicative of the spirit that was responsible for the sound j foundation upon which the whole structure of horse improvement in the German Empire rested It says The principal requisite in a pood race horse is soundness again soundness and nothing but soundness and the object of the thoroughbred is to imbue ie limbs the constitution and the nerves of f halfbred horse with that essential jnnlity hereby enhance ils capabilities capabilitiesThe The onghbred can however fulfill its mis ¬ sion onl providing the yearly picdnco be con timmlly s bjoeted to severe trials hi puhlb Tlie two continents is the race course although fts ad ¬ versaries oppose it as too onesided and propose in its stead others of more or less impracticability impracticabilityWINNING WINNING POST ALONE DECIDES DECIDESAfter After declaring that the physical intellectual and mechanical powers must coordinate in the success ¬ ful race horse and that attained speed is not the aim but only the gauge of ixrformance Count Lehndorff apropos of tin racing test remarks The grand ideal principle which places the test so incomparably higher than any other based upon the individual opinion of one or more judges is the absolute and blind justice personified in the inflex ¬ ible winning post which alone decides on the race ourse and the irre itable certainty that neither fashions nor fancy neither favor nor hatred neither personal prejudice nor time serving fre ¬ quently observable at horse shows has biased the decisions of hotly contested struggles as recorded In the Racing Calendar for the space of 170 years This it is that gives the English thoroughbred horse a value for breeding purposes uncqunlcd and looked for in vain in any other species of the animal creation creationContinuing Continuing Count Lehndorff has this to say about racing and incidentally breeding for the two are closely allied I apprehend great danger from the endeavor to improve horse racing like any other linmiin institution not without its shortcom ¬ ings by corrective measures which might interfere with that principle of blind jusiee ils fundamental laws would thereby become undermined and Un ¬ building which it took centuries to erect fall to ruins ruinsNothing Nothing but the framing of the racing propo ¬ sitions ought to serve as indicator of what is re ¬ quired of the thoroughbred every slate in need of an efficient cavalry should be careful how to place authority for that purpose in experienced bands and see that it is used leniently but on clearly established principles As fur the rest it should be left to the immutable laws of nature to gradually mould in outer form and inward compo ¬ sition that horse which best answers those re ¬ quirements quirementsQUALIFICATION QUALIFICATION OF SIRE SIREIn In a further discussion of the qualifications of the thoroughbred as a sire the great expert says that the cleanbred stalliun has to prove his worth before going to tin stud whereas of the halfbreds only those individuals unfit for breeding are put In the test there being numerous races for animals of Ibis type in Germany He asks pertinently What would become of the usefulness of our half breds what of our cavalry without a con ¬ tinuance of crosses with stallions of pure blood bred for stoutness and chosen en account of their proper excellent qualities so as to constantly re ¬ new the necessary steel in the breed breedIt It will occasion surprise in some quarters to learn that Count Lehndorff did not favor steeple chasing as a test for measuring the capabilities of the thoroughbred He holds that jumping is more a matter of agility than power powerThere There is comfort for American breeders of blood stock in the coifelnding paragraph of Count Lehn ¬ dorff s work where he says after a discussion on Englands tendency to inbreeding and her need for Importing sires of preeminence from other countries Experience points to America as the source Trom which to draw in future the rugenc ing fluid for although the American thorough takes its origin from England and is still more or Jess related to its English prototype the exterior appearance and the more recently shown superiority of American horses lead to the conclusion that the evidently favorable climate and the to a great extent vigin soil of America in evcry respect dif ¬ ferent from ours gradually restores the whole nature of the horse to its pristine vigor and makes tlie American race horse eminently qualified to exercise an invigorating influence on the consti ¬ tution of tin thoroughbred in the mother country enfeebled perhaps by oftrepeated in breeding
