view raw text
A B HANCOCK ONTHE HORSE Breeder Outlines History of Breeding in Chicago Address Stresses Importance of Thoroughbred Strain StrainIn In Conjunction with Improvement of ofOther Other Light Breeds Recently Daily Racing Form published ex ¬ tracts from an address delivered by A B Hancock the Kentucky breeder before the Horse Association of America in Chicago The full text of this address is now avail ¬ able and is printed below Horse Breeding Over There should read Thoroughbred Horse Breeding Over There because the latter is the only kind of horse breeding over there that I know anything at all about This is the topic that has been assigned to me on the program by our very efficient and persevering secretary Mr Dins more who is doing a splendid work for the horse and its allied interests in the country and incidentally for the country itself be ¬ cause the health vigor and prosperity of the country has been built up with the horse as the chief partner in tue great develop ¬ ment of the past and we should be very sure that we have found a more faithful efficient and economical substitute before we part company with him himI I am quite sure that such a substitute has not yet been found About a year ago when farm products of all kinds had slumped fearfully I received a statement of one of our country banks in Kentucky and I asked the cashier how he accounted for his de ¬ posits keeping up so well He replied that a good many of our people have money but they are mostly those who drive to town in buggies buggiesSIMILARITY SIMILARITY OF BREEDING METHODS METHODSThoroughbred Thoroughbred breeding over there now is very similar to thoroughbred breeding over here We can and have learned in the past a good deal about breeding and racing I say racing as one is part of the other from the English and they have learned and can still in my opinion learn a good deal about each from us To speak of the thorough ¬ bred of modern times in either country in ¬ telligently will require a very brief history of the foundation and early development of the industry in England EnglandIn In the twelfth century during the reign of Henry II horses offered at Smithfitld for sale were pitted against each other to show their qualities and I believe as far back as the tenth century there is some mention of matches having been made for large sums The Edwards II III and VI were breed ¬ ers and Henry VIII made some importa ¬ tions from the East From those days until the present time most of the English mon archs have patronized breeding and racing Oliver Cromwell too the great Puritan was a breeder and one of the oldest of our pedi j grees ends with that of White Turk one of his stallions He also had a famous mare known as the Coffin mare from being con ¬ cealed in a vault during the search of his effects at the time of the Restoration Charles II encouraged racing and breeding and in 1670 sent abroad the Master of the Horse for the purpose of selecting mares and stallions for the royal stud at Hampton Court where in later years Queen Victoria bred the famous race mare La Fleche FlecheINCREASE INCREASE IN PRIZES PRIZESDuring During the reign of Charles II the prizes at race courses became more valuable and j pedigrees of thoroughbreds were kept ac ¬ curately From that time until the present many of the best minds in England have given their time and means toward improv Contlnued on twelfth pa e ABHANCOCK ON 1BE HORSE Continued from first pace ing the breed They have Instituted race course tests over various distancees under big weights to search out and find what horses were swift strong same and true and sound and it is a significant fact that all of the stallions of all breeds used for breeding race horses in the early days only three survived these tests to come down to the present time in tail male descent Those three were the Darley Arabian the Godol phin Barb and the Byerly Turk the latter so called because he was Captain Byerlys charger in King Williams wars in Ireland All other male lines have been eliminated because these three were found far su ¬ perior in producing horses of spirit courage strength and endurance enduranceNot Not only are all modern thoroughbreds In all countries descended from the Darley Arabian the Godolphin Barb and the Byerly Turk but our modern trotter owes its great ¬ est strength and speed to a thoroughbred descendant of the Darley Arabian imported Messenger sire of Mambrino sire of Abdal lah sire of Hambletonian 10 the latter horse getting no fewer than three crosses of the imported thoroughbred Messenger and it is worth mentioning that when the rate of speed was in the twenties there were a number of prominent trotting families that had their admirers but when the rate of speed reached 2 10 or faster the superior ¬ ity of the Hambletonian line became more apparent and inbreeding to him has produced most of the fastest and greatest trotters of the present day as measured again by the race course test testAs As in trotters so too in the saddle horse thoroughbred blood has been the source of greatest strength and the thoroughbred Den ¬ mark was some years ago voted by a com ¬ mittee of the American Horse Association as the only stallion that was absolutely essen ¬ tial to the American saddle horse Denmark In tail male was a descendant of the Byerly Turk one of the sire lines that had survived the race course test and was himself a race horse of note At the present time many of the best saddle horses are either thorough ¬ breds threequarters bred or half bred bredDuring During the past year there have been held two endurance tests of 300 miles each under heavy weights over all kinds of roads in all kinds of weather to rind out what type and breed of horse was most suitable for army and in each case it was won by a thoroughbred and in the last one the first six horses carried strong infusions of thor ¬ oughbred blood in their veins two of them being thoroughbreds and two half breds demonstrating to quote Major C L Scott of the U S Remount Service that this breed Is the equal if not the superior under any conditions regardless of climate altitude or terrain terrainSOURCE SOURCE OF STRENGTH STRENGTHSo So much for the earlier English thorough ¬ bred and its influence on the modern light horse Coming down to later dates we find that the English preserve the same tests that made the thoroughbred what it is and through these tests they constantly elimi ¬ nate the weak and know the strong virile horses to keep for seed stock Even to ¬ day practically every good race horse in every country is descended in male line from one of eight or nine stallions that were foaled from forty to fifty years ago the race course test being continued to eliminate the weak and preserve the strong strongMn Mn the same way a very large per cent of the female lines have disappeared or are gradually passing out and a very large per cent of the highclass horses of today are descended from one or some twelve or fifteen mares that have shown their ability to trans ¬ mit the desired qualities to their descend ¬ ants The English breeder of today recog ¬ nizes that he must guard well these tests and even in the darkest hours of the recent war held the principal ones to find out which were the best stallions and mares foaled each year to perpetuate the blood After learning it they will make any sacrifice of time trouble and expense to mate the best with the best and the English thor ¬ oughbred is in very great demand all over the world as seed stock I saw between three and four hundred yearlings sell there in September for an average of about 3000 each and a consignment of about fifteen from one stud average over 10000 For one stallion Gay Crusader that had won thei principal tests during one year of the war period the owner had refused 300000 ENGLISH NATIONAL STUD STUDThe The English government too recognizing what an asset thoroughbred blood was in the cavalry went into breeding and the National Stud at Tully has purchased some of the best young stock in recent years We owe much to England and Englishmen for the blood stock of all kinds which they have developed by their time means and study horses cattle sheep and hogs many of which we have brought to this country and carried to greater perfection with our varie ¬ ty of climate grasses and feeds and breadth of acres than they knew in their native home The recent war made it possible for us to import thoroughbred stock that in other times would have been far more dif ¬ ficult to acquire We have done much in the last few years to develop the American thor ¬ oughbred AVe have done much to recoup the losses of blood stock caused a few years ago by legislation against tests similar to those in England and in other foreign coun ¬ tries We have produced from a descend ¬ ant of the Godolphin Barb Man o War one of the most brilliant horses of all times and all countries From a descendant of the Darley Arabian we have produced Ex ¬ terminator one of the greatest if not the greatest racing machines over all distances and under all weights over a period of five years We owe it to ourselves to posterity and to national defense of which General Pershing has spoken so forcibly to you to night to foster and improve this breed of horses that has done so much in peace and in war through its infusions of blood for the light horse of the country countryI I would like for each one to carry away with you the thought that nearly all the horses you have seen in the interesting mov j ing pictures shown here by the department of agriculture tonight including General Persh ings chargers saddle horses harness horses hunting horses cavalry horses and police horses owe much of their good quality to the English thoroughbred and to the Amer ¬ ican thoroughbred which is practically an English thoroughbred gone west and that j each is a development made possible by the race course test and that the only way sires for these hcrses In the future may be eco ¬ nomically secured Is through the blood that racing develops
