Beef Cattle.

You will notice that this list does not include the New Zealand breeders of the thoroughbred horse, but the story of the English horse of to-day contains not only the whole romance of breeding, but also the main principles of its science.

As an old writer said: “The English thoroughbred horse is as little indebted for his excellent qualities to the native horse of our country, as are the present race of Englishmen to the Ancient Britons for their national character.” The evolution of the English running horse had started with Roman and Gothic crosses in the misty past. Athelstan, son of Alfred the Great, left horses by name in his will. King John and Edward I imported stallions, but it was not until the reign of James I that horse racing and its accompaniment, the study of breeding, came into its own. He bought the White Turk, and the Duke of Buckingham and the Helmsley Turk. Charles II bought many Eastern horses, but it was reserved for the time of Queen Anne not only to produce a golden age of literature, but to lay the foundation of the world supremacy of the English thoroughbred horse. It is a long story, but the magic fact remains that the whole English equine peerage traces its ancestry to three animals, the Darley Arabian, the Byerly Turk, and the Godoplhin Arabian. Families that are distinguishable have taken form among the descendants of this great trio and names such as Waxy, Orville, Buzzard, Blacklock, and Partisan, are among the early progenitors of aristocratic clans. It was the judicious crossing and intermingling of these lines of blood that was the study of those early studmasters, and its successful outcome created our modern speed machine, heightened the courage, increased the intelligence, and strengthened the stamina of the whole range of horses. For the benefit of lay readers, let me explain that “inbreeding” is the “pairing of animals within the relationship of second cousins,” and an examination shows that nearly all first-class racehorses unite the same strains of blood within that degree. “Crossbred” simply describes an animal that is not inbred (for four or five generations). Then here is a neat and very old explanation of another breeding problem. “If General

A typical weekly yarding at a New Zealand Sheep Sale.

Grant's son were to marry General McClellan's daughter, and the result were to be another good general, the ‘cross’ would be said to ‘nick’.”

It was certain that in the purely British company of New Zealand pioneers, there would be many horse lovers. Within a decade, the importation of thoroughbreds from England and Australia was in full swing. It was our good fortune that in those days we had many men whose skill was undoubted, their vision clear, and their foresight almost uncanny. To them we largely owe our present proud position, for to-day New Zealand stands as almost the peer of the Motherland and has no superior elsewhere in the world. This ascendancy is mainly due, in my opinion, to our possession of maternal sire lines of surpassing variety and extraordinary richness. I like to think that it was distinctively characteristic of our New Zealand forebears that the first New Zealand Stud Book appeared within ten years of the establishment of horse-breeding, whereas in Australia half a century went by before there was any systematisation of records.

It is thrilling to read in a book made in Nelson over seventy years ago, the pedigree of Flora McIvor, of Stock-well, Sir Hercules and Traducer, and a dozen other kings and queens of the turf during their reigns, and a tabloid library of breeding wisdom. Names such as St. Hill, Harris and Innes, Captain Walmsley, Petre, Dillon, Redwood, Moorehouse, and Clifford are page 26 page 27

Fine examples of the Polled Hereford at a Gisborne Stud Farm.

selected at random as pioneers who found time and money to lay the foundations of our own running lines.

In those days, too, times were being closely watched and tables in those yellowing pages show that the speed of colonial races was even then close to the best English standards. The actual times seem quaint to-day, Potentate at Nelson doing a mile and a half in 252, which was seconds faster than the Epsom Derby of the same year. The New Zealand-bred Phar Lap won the Derby in Melbourne and Sydney in a fraction over 2.31, and Wotan, the New Zealander who won the last Melbourne Cup clipped twenty-two seconds off the time and carried a stone more than The Barb, who won in 1866. The latter had beaten the 3,600 guinea colt Fishhook over six furlongs in 1.19 in 1866.

There is not space here to picture the giants who worked over the succeeding years to bring to perfection the New Zealand thoroughbred horse. Every year aristocratic sultans are imported, and throughout the history of our land our studmasters have shown increasing excellence of judgment and expert skill.

The sign and symbol of the success of the years gone by, combine in the Trentham (Wellington) annual yearling sales. These are conducted by the New Zealand firms of Wright, Stephenson, and Pyne, Gould, Guinness, in conjunction with the great Australian house of Inglis. Our picture shows Messrs. Charles Robertson and Derek Gould in the Rostrum. I predict that next January will see the record New Zealand sale of all time. For years past Trentham-sold youngsters have swept the rich prizes on both sides of the Tasman. This year will see a new crop or two, notably that of Beau Pere, and there will be the old reliables such as Hunting Song, Siegfried, Pink Coat, and a dozen others. But, whoever the sire may be, I want to reiterate that the New Zealand advantage always applies. This lies in our heritage of bloodstock built by our first forebears, improved by the devotion and skill of generations, and nurtured in a terrain which is matchless on the whole earth's surface for the growing of the thoroughbred aristocrat. Trentham yearling sales should have the attention of the whole Dominion focussed upon them, for they constitute a national event of vast importance.

Further, on the subject of horses, I expect most readers would get a surprise at the heavy list of Clydesdale breeders. This “best of all” farm horse has been produced by the same intensive breeding system as the racing and hunting thoroughbred. A great horse named “Baron's Pride” is the Byerly Turk or at least the St. Simon of this breed, and no less than ten crosses of his blood can be found in many pedigrees. New Zealand Clydesdale studs rejoice in a plentiful ownership of this strain, our studmasters continually replenish with imported champions, and our Clydesdales are of world parity.