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1 . . ; : 1 ; ; i : i FEDERAL REMOUNT SERVICE Record of 22,000 Mares Bred Since Inauguration of Plan. Three Hundred and Eighty Stallions Ready for Distribution Next Spring Period of Activily. NEW YORK, N. Y., Jan. 5. The Federal Remount Service with a record of more than 22,000 mares bred since the inauguration of the plan, and three hundred and eighty stallions ready for distribution in various states of the Union next spring has a right to the gratitude of everybody interested in the improvement of the general purpose horse product of the United States. When this auxiliary of governmental usefulness came into being after the close of the World War, fears were expressed in some quarters that it would meet with hostility on the part of breeders of heavy draft horses, over 90 per cent of the stallions distributed by the remount authorities being thoroughbreds ; but the contrary has turned out to be the case. Breeders of Percheron, Shire, Clydesdale and other heavy horse types have gone out of their way to show their friendliness to a cause that is not only providing a safeguard by means of an augmented supply of light horses available for national defense, but is furnishing millions of animals of a type needed for riding purposes and tasks in connection with commercial and agrarian activities where great bulk is not an essential. FORTUNATE BEGINNING. It was fortunate that racing was on a good foundation when the remount service came into being. At the inception of the movement turf authorities gave substantial assistance to the project. Stallions Avere needed badly. Some were given by the Jockey Club. Others were the gift of individuals connected with the turf or in sympathy with the work. The rest were purchased by the remount service, and were a charge against the appropriation of 50,-000 with Avhich the plan was launched. Like eAery other experiment mistakes were made in the early stages of the work, but they were trivial in comparison with the benefits derived. The reduction of the appropriation to 50,000 which went into effect a few years ago when a general policy of economy struck the various service bureaus, checked the growth of the movement for a time. Those in charge of the service faced the situation courageously, however. They sought the co-operation of breeders, fanciers and horse enthusiasts in general to keep the work going. Today tho project has reached a point where there would be a public protest if any attempt were made to check its growth. Farmers and breeders hitherto ignorant of the benefits of using the thoroughbred as a top cross have been quick to note the improvement in the quality of the foals from cold-blooded mares. The mongrel stallion has been displaced, and the scrub horse should be an unknown product in every part of the country in another ten years if there is no interference Avith the programs laid out by the Federal Remount Service. The horsemen of the country should be a unit behind Colonel Whitehead and his asso- Continucd on twelfth page. FEDERAL REMOUNT SERVICE Continued from first page. ciates at AVashington and the various remount depots and Colonel Richard D. AVil-liams of New York and those associated with him in the civilian branch of the service. This is a period of the greatest activity for those interested in the turf. Breeders are filled with anxiety for the mares that are due to foal. Bookings are being made for the approaching season where a stallion is not kept on the home place. Yearlings are the object of as much solicitude as the children of the household. Those that are backward in growth must have individual attention. Feet arc to be trimmed and care taken that worms or other pests are eliminated. Nominations for produce events are due, and there is no idle moment for the man or woman in charge of a farm on which bloodstock is kept. TRAILERS TIME OF STRESS. For the trainer of race horses it is also a time of stress. While there is no actual training to be done the general health of his charges is always a matter of concern to the conscientious expert. The yearling of yesterday two-year-olds overnight on the last day of 1923 have assumed a place of greater importance. It will only be a few months until most of them will be racing and every move will be scrutinized. This will be particularly true of those -that have shown good yearling trials ; though as a matter of fact some of the backward and growthy colts and fillies frequently turn out to be the stars. The open winter has been helpful to the training interests. Horses have been turned out every day and it has given those with animals that are under suspicion a chance to keep them going at moderate work. This is a tremendous advantage in the case of big growthy stallions that are liable to put on a lot of fat during periods of inaction. II takes a lot of work in the spring to remove this surplus weight and many a promising horse cracks under the strain. Some horsemen break bad-legged thoroughbreds to harness and drive them to a cart, not only through the winter, but during a great part of the preparatory campaign. Jim Cushing kept the AVorlds Fair Derby winner, Boundless, going in this way in the spring of 1S93. Cushing was an old trotting horseman and broke all of his horses to drive. Major Thomas C. McDowell broke Allan-a-Dale to harness during the winter of 1902 and shipped the handsome big horse to Billings Park, the splendid trotting track at Memphis, Tenn., early in March. The chestnut horse got all his work to harness until shortly before the race at Churchill Downs and his lees were sound enough to stand the weight of a jockey on his back. History records the fact that the Kentucky Derby of that year was an easy triumph for Allan-a-Dale, with the colored rider, AVink-field, now a prominent trainer-jockey of the French turf, in the saddle.
