EXAMINATION OF STALLIONS

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1436, 10 May 1912, Page 8

EXAMINATION OF STALLIONS

RESULT OF A YEAR'S TESTING. The system of examination of stallions fcr unsoundness and the granting of certificates to approved animals, which was inaugurated in South Australia, is being continued with excellent results. Under the system in question, no stallion can be exhibited at any show subsidised by the Government unless previously passed as sound by .Government veterinary surgeons, which policy it is claimed protects breeders. In his annual report the South Australian Government Veterinary Surgeon states that for the season ending August 31, 1911, (he veterinary officers attended sixty-seven parades, examining 546 horses, and rejecting 129. The numbers of horses examined and rejected were:—Draughts: Examined, 349; rejected, 102; per cent, rejected, 29.2. Light: Examined, 197; rejected, 27; per cent, rejected, 13-7. The rejections were made upon the detection of the following unsoundness:—Draughts: Side-bone, 99, or 23.08 per cent.; ringbone, 31, or 8.02 per cent.; thorough pin, 2, or .57 per cent. Light: Ringbone, B, or 3.01 per cent.; bone spavin, 17, or 8.6 per cent.; thorough pin, 1, or .50 per cent.; curb, 2, or LOl per cent. Apart from hereditary defects, six draughts, or 1.7 per cent., and nine lights, or 1.5 per cent, were founf? deficient in standard as regards type, breeding, and conformation.