Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 359]
Report - 6
In addition to the causes which have tended to the deterioration of other breeds of horses, the class of saddle-horses has suffered from the introduction of light thoroughbreds, from the system of handicap races, and the cessation of the importation of Arabs. This last evil is in a fair way of being remedied. Some new Arabs have been introduced, as after the experience of the last twenty years many breeders are convinced that New South Wales can only recover its former prestige for good saddle-horses by returning to a more frequent use of good Arab sires, and that for our climate the Arab blood judiciously intermixed is a far better strain than that of the English racer.
Wild Horses. - There have been some of this class in the Colony from very early days, but they have multiplied greatly during the last twenty years. In nearly all the unfenced, mountainous, and upland tracts, and even in some of the merely undulating country, there are to be found mobs of wild horses. So also are there in the unenclosed scrubby country on the great salt-bush plains. They are an unmitigated nuisance; they injure stock-owners by consuming grass and water, disturbing the other stock, and mixing with the mares. And this is not the least evil, for they greatly promote demoralisation. Youths, bred in the bush, are tempted to run in and brand stock with their progeny that do not belong to them, and too easily slide from this practice into the form of horse-stealing, known as duffing. It will be greatly for the interest of the Colony when the wild stock is destroyed, and to this the enclosure of runs will greatly tend.
Prospects of Improvement. - The facts and the causes of the deterioration of the horse-stock in New South ales have been sufficiently alluded to, and at the same time the prospects of improvement have been indicated. By way of recapitulation, however, these prospects may be said to lie in, - first, the dearly-bought experience owners have acquired during the last ten years as to the ruinous consequences of mixing different breeds. Second, - the more correct ideas which are beginning to prevail among them as to the true principles of breeding, and the value of pure stock; and consequently, the increased care which is now being given to the culling of brood-mares, and the selection of suitable sires. Third, - the extension of fencing, and the increased value now set on grass. Fourth, - the destruction of wild horses. Fifth, - the demand for the Indian army. Sixth, - the renewed importation of Arabs, and the growing desire to produce a stouter and more generally useful class of well-bred horse.
Export to India. - New South Wales is quite capable of producing the class of horses for which there is a demand in India, but at present the trade is not very extensive. No Indian officer is stationed in the Colony to make himself acquainted with the principal breeders, and to furnish such information and encouragement as might lead to a steady supply. The purchasers are speculative shippers, and of these there are only three or four. The speculation is a somewhat hazardous one, as, apart from the risks of the passage, horses rejected by the Government buyers are at once so depreciated as to be scarcely saleable. During the last ten years the shipment to India has been at the rate of about 250 horses per annum. The average length of the voyage is about sixty days, and the cost of transhipment amounts to about £23.10s. per horse, of which about £12.10s. goes to the ship for freight, and the remainder is spent in food, wages, and miscellaneous charges. The fitting-up of a vessel in Sydney for horses generally costs about 20s. or 22s. per stall. It is necessary to take one groom for every ten horses, whose wages are at the rate of £2 per week, with a bounty of 20s. per head for each horse landed safely. The "super" also generally receives the same bounty. The principal breeders from whose stock horses are selected for the Indian market are Messrs. George Campbell, of Duntroon, W. Rutledge, of Molonglo, Mr. Bell, of Muswellbrook