EARLY MATURITY OF STOCK

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2166, 3 February 1881, Page 4

EARLY MATURITY OF STOCK

[“ Turf, Field, and Farm.”]

In previous letters we have tried to show the influence of tha sire and dam, respectively, as exerted on the offspring. Having done this, we will now look at the evil results of following a too early maturity, for it is a fact, well known to all observer, that all onr modern thoronghbreds do mature too young, and wo have heretofore taken great pains, both in cattle and horses, to so develope this quality of breeding young, that we nearly mined the desirable characteristics Qf a family of Ayrsfaires which was our pride a few years ago. As Americans, we are in a great hurry to see stock develops, and in our xeal to bring about early maturity we have produced races of puny, sickly animals, good for nothing only to exhibit in the prise ring.

Speaking of this matter at a recent breeders’ convention, a man, whose opinions are entitled to the greatest respect, said—“lt is an undeniable fact, as I believe, that preternaturally early maturity is incompatible with lasting qualities of any k’nd ; but. though the same rule generally holds good throughout nature, there may be, and doubtless are, some exception-.” In the vegetable world wo eee this statement, corroborated, for the oak is more lasting than tho larch, the elephant outlives the horse, but the goose and the duck, which both mature about tho same age, do not live a corresponding number of years. Again, the forcing process in gardening is always productive of tenderness, whether tho produce be the cucumber or the sea-kale, and this tenderness is only another name for imperfect formation to resist decay. Here the old rule, “ soon ripe soon rotten,” which wo learned in our boyhood school-days, seems to apply with all its force. In tho days of Eclipse and Childers they wore permitted to attain their full growth without forcing, and not being wanted until five years of age, their ligaments, tendons and bones had plenty of time to be consolidated before they were submitted to the strains end jerks of the extended gallop. Tnere is also reason to believe that there were not nearly so much or so soon stimulated by large feeds of oats, as is now invariably tho custom, but that they were allowed to remain at gross, with tho shelter of a hovel, during tho first three or four years of their Uvea. All this is now changed. The colt ia filled with corn as soon as ho will eat it, and, at tho end of the first year, is furnished with as much as the old-fashioned three-year-old.

One great difficulty with the trainer of the present day is to keep the horse sound, and, unfortunately, os diseases ore in most cases hereditary, and too many unsound sires are bred from, this trouble is annually on the increase. Judging from the great number of letters received from breeders, we are satisfied that one great trouble—roaring—is fearfully on the increase, and the possession of enlarged joints and back sinews, is the rule instead of tho exception. During the last ten years tho Derby stakes have five or six limes been won by an unsound animal, which the trainer was almost immediately afterwards obliged to put out of work, either from diseased feet or a breakdown, and yet few breeders think of refusing to use such horses as these fox service for thoroughbred mares. Nevertheless, good legs and feet, and a strong, hearty constitution are no small recommendation, and Mr Merry may thank them for winning him tho great prizes of twenty years ago, with Thormanby, a son of that illustrious mare Alice Hawthorne. Thormanby, however, was not an instance of a colt having been reserved till he was fully grown, for in hie day there were few horses which had been more used, having been run no less than fourteen times as a two-year-old ; but his naturally healthy legs and feet, given him by sires and dams, and tho fine track (down) upon which he was trained, enabled him to pull through unscathed.

If wo look carefully through the entire history of this illustrious racer, we shall see that the principal reliance of hia backers was those goo I qualities, and this proves that_ he was an exception to the general rule, which, however, strictly speaking, only strengthens the rule, inasmuch as it coincides with our arguments in a previous letter, and, being so closely allied to this argument, the line of demarcation is scarcely perceptible. The truth really is, that the average racehorse of our day and age is of such forced growth that he is unable to bear the wear and tear of

training as he used to do, and as a natural sequence, we have a much larger percentage of unsound, broken-down horse* than in former years. To-day, the horse is principally bred for speed, superadded to which is as much stoutness and soundness of constitution os can be procured among the most speedy horses at the service of the breeder. By a perseverance in this method of selection, ha has, with no question, become more speedy, and less lasting in proportion to that speed ; that is to say, his sporting career cannot be extended for as long a time with impunity, as in former years and systems of breeding, rearing, and training. Bat that be cannot cover as much ground in a given time as formerly is, wo think, an error, for we have every reason to believe that any distance may now be ran in as short a time at least, as in either the middle of the lost century, or the beginning of this ; and when we compare the time made with that made a hundred years ago, we are actually amazed; and should the trainers and breeders of racehorses make the progress daring the hundred year* to come, as in the last century, we are unable to determine the rate of speed that will ultimately be announced from the judges’ stand. Is horse-speed unlimited P