The New York herald., 1922-04-02

tensely Irish, so did the strain or
horses he bred for his own uses. II is
through his selection that the now ia
nous Irish hunter and chaser has been
evolved and developed.
The Irish horse as lie now appears
owes his origin. as do all other blooded
breeds OF horses the world over, TO the
English thoroughbred. He is the direct
descendant OF that wonderful stock
brought about by the inspired crossing
OF the English thoroughbred and the
Arab. at the head or which in undying
glory stands the great Eclipse. The
Irish horse became distinctively irish
when the crossing was affected between
the English imported thorougfbreds and
the native pony whose ancestry was
Syrian and Arabian. and who IS still
to be found in some parts OF Connemara
and Glare. The present day irish hunter
and hackney combines the qualities Of
these two breeds and the native blood
Is not one bit less pronounced in him
than are the more conspicuous points
which are the heritage OF all English
b'oodstock.
The outstanding qualities OF the Irish
horse are his catlike ability for Jump
ing and his powers OF endurance on poor
sustenance. These two virtues made for
him long ago a market exclusive TO
himself and Irish breeders have made
the most OF them. When racing over
jumps became popular in England Irish
breeders saw their opportunity and took
it. Since then irish horses have tren
bred with the one idea OF jumping and
once they We're sold 70 English race
trainers. for long time their only mar
ket. they were soon taught TO jump
quickly.
20
The best types and specimens Of
Irish hunters arc not bred at the big
studs run by rich landowners and noble
men. II has been the small Irish farmer
who has really done more for the breed
than any one. The farmer uses for
draft purposes 4 half bred horse
very much lighter than those used on
English or American farms, which a,
any moment can be taken from under
the plow or dray and driven in .
| side car over twelve miles to the
hour. During the last two or three dec
/ AIDES the farmer has been taking mares
Of this type TO stations standing al
some local stud farm, or to another
neighboring farmer. who leases stall
| lion from the Department OF Agricul.
/! ture finally to be his when II has done
a given amount OF work, and for a
| fee OF s45 his mare breeds him what
is known in Ireland as "three-quarter
| bred"
This colt or filly he will leave out on
the rich grass for three years or more
He will then bring II in off the gras
and. after a little mounting on a long
rein, will put 1t in harrow with an
old and experienced performer. In the
early spring no puts II in the plow
In Ireland il is believed that plow
work gives a horse a good mouth and
develops the back and legs as nothing
| else can. In June OF his fourth year
this three-quartcr bred will probably be
taken to one Of the nearest big horse
fairs and there, II all is well with him.
he will pass into the hands OF dealer
4 for not more, and probably less, thar
| 1925.
The dealer" who handles tho colt /,
l really nothing else but a horse farmer
That is, he cultivates enough Of his
farm 70 raise hay and oats for twenty
or thirty horses. lie Is generally a
master hand at Transforming rough
shaggy horses, which he picks up a,
the fairs all over the country. into
elegant finished hunters. One OF his
| methods is to take the four-year-ol old
colt TO hunt two or three days in
the week as soon as the season COM
mences and IL the animal is a good
representative OF his type he will prob.
ably sell him at hunt near Dublin "a
some trainer for anything UP to $1,000.
Run In Flat Races.
/ The trainer will then lick him into
shape and place him In some small
two mile flat race during the summer
to develop his speed and racing man
ners and in the fall OF the year send
him over hurdles. If he takes well to