The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1885-09-17
BREEDING RACERS.
MATHEW DAwsoNs OPINION ABOUT
IT.
The Celebrated Engii.h Trainer Of
iers Some IIints that ire Founded
on Long Experience.

ters Some IItnts that are Founded
on Long Experience.
A correspondent OF the London Daily
News has been talking to the famoUs Eng
lish horse,breedcr and trainer, Mr.. Mat
thew Dawson, aud gives the following re-
port Of the conversation; lie asked why
SO few Englishmen breed horsesy
"The answer IL very simple" replied
Mr.. Dawson. Immediately. at does not
pay. Except In the case OF thoroushbrcds
and perhaps cart-horses. breeding does not
pay, except as an adjunct TO other farm
ing. Asa pursuit in itself II Is hopeless.
You are kept too long ont of your money.
Five or six years is too long an interval
for one turnover of capital You tell me
that friend Of yours is going to breed
hunters on II large scale. l am glad he Is
rich. for he will want his money. Finan-
cially speaking, he had better breed cart
horses. In attempting to breed chargers.
hunters, and carriage horses It Is quite i'm
possible to tell what kind OF animals your
young ones will turn out. You cannot
say that you will breed a hunter. lie is
a cross-brcd animal, and may turn out
with carriage horses and all cross bred
ones. You do not know what you have
got till the animal has become advanced
in life. II is entirely different with
thoroughbred"
you are probably a believer in the
doctrine of breeding from certain strains
and the nicking of various blood ?"
mot at all. My view is that the pro-
duce OF good animals of any thoroughbred
strain has u fair chance of turning out
well. 1t Is Of far greater importance that
sire and dam should be good specimens Of
n race horse than that they should be of
any so-called fashionable strain of blood.
Robert the Devil and St. Gatien, two of
the best horses of recent years, are what
is called unfashionably bred. and many Of
Lord Falmouth's best animals had not a
fancy pedigree on both Sides"
"You are, lgather, inclined to favor big
animals ~
"A good big one will assnredly beat a
good little one. But the good big one is
rare, so greet many races fall to smart
little horses"
what do you think OF the cry about
horses not being able to stay rs they did
of old We hear n great deal at times
about the Beacon Course, the Round
Course, and SO forth. and about the mod
crn race horses being bred for speed alone.
Do you think them as good as their fore
fathers ~
II think them better. I am a believer
in the improvement of animals by care
and judcous attention. Men are bigger
than they were when they were half
starved, exposed to cold and damp, and
lived at hide and seek. OF the immense
quantity of armor in the Tower of Lon
don, there is not suit you could wear.
Immense big men are not at all rare.
Look at the Sonersets and think Of poor
Burnaby The race horse has been great
ly developed by feeding and exercise. He
grows more and faster than he did, and
natures more rapidly. An exactly SINH
lar experience has been gone through al
most entirely in our own time with cattle
I believe horses to have greatly improved
since the last century. There hangs
Eclipse, by Stubs. You can look ut him
and judge whether he was Il smasher' or
not. 4 coarse headed, short necked horse,
rather heavy in the shoulder, and stand
ing high behind the saddle"
But can the modern race-horsc stay ;"
"Horses stay as they are trained, and
according TO the pace they go. Ii trained
for long courses st. Simon and st. Gaticn
would cut down their field quite as easily
at three miles as at one. Horses can stay
forever II they go slowly enough. AS a
case in point, let me ask you what kind Of
horse you would expect to win n steeple-
chase with ~
"A horse with pace, but not able to stay
in good .company-makes capital
steeplechaser.
good turn of speed, who has been taught
to jump, can keep with lot of hunters
and half BREEDS forever; because he is al
ways going well within himself while
they are gal oping their lest. And when
he wants to come away at the finish he
leaves them as il they were standing still.
! could not give you a better illustration
OF tho fallacy that horses could stay bette.
of old than now. As Just said. Il believe
vast Improvement has taken place,
thanks 10 PocahOntas md greater knOwl-
edge of developing the power of young
race horse. This tells in the long run.
do not believe two better animals ever
trod the turf rs two and three-yea Odds
=
"You appear to attach great i'm
portance to getting young colts forward.
DO not we race our colts too youngyh
Horses are so rapidly developed and
matured under the modern method that
they are nearly year ahead o. the horses
of fifty years ago A good three ycur-Old
at the buck end of the season is nearly rs
good horse rs he is likely to be. In pro,.t
of this mark the great weights carried in
the Cesarewitch by Julius, Robert the
Devil and St Gatien, who all won that
race, run proverblally ut a tremendous
pace MS three-year-olds. Note also the
weights of See-Saw and FoXhall in the
Cambridgeshire. And the Importance OF
early development in hor es Lrngs me
back to the starting point Of our cOnN crsa
ton. Everything now depends upon get
ting quick return for your money. Iou
will not, for instance, wait even u yeal
and half or three quarters to sell yon,
sheep. You would sell them as lambs
You get nearly NJ much money and get il
without delay In the same way cattle
and pigs are bred to put on flesh while
young, and yet in the face OF this there
are people who wonder why we race two
year rods. and why we do not breed
hunters and carriage horses AID wait ilt
years to turn our money over. There l.
no possible reason why these animak
should not be bred. II few on II farm. bal
the practice would never pay On large
scale"
as there any special art in ce:,ing
young colts ferVard early in the season
and generally III assisting nature in de
veloping them -
1.-The general principles OF feeding ant
exercising young horses are fairly wei
understood; but some Judgment and dis
erection are required In applying them
Horses vary in their constitutions hk,
men, and large animals require ditferen
treatment from small, lght.i'eshet
ones"
ITO begin with, however, they nr,
treated much alike, are they nots'
"They are very well fed on the best oat
that can be got, beans, hay carefully Sc
lected, and Of prime quality, occasona
bran mashes and roots, especially carrots
If they seem little used-up. stale, o
weary, we give them litre green meat il
the stable. Within the last few years W
have taken to giving them the artificia
grass, called sainfoin, cut. mp and mixet
with oats. 1t is too strong to be give'
! alone"