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Some Aspects

22nd March 1932, Page 50
22nd March 1932
Page 50
Page 51
Page 50, 22nd March 1932 — Some Aspects
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

the Problem of

TRANSPORT! N(

BLOODSTOCK

THAT the motor vehicle should be selected as the most Suitable conveyance for horses is hardly a development which early motoring enthusiasts would have dared to prophesy. There is, however, no denying the fact. Indeed, the reasons for the selection are to-day fairly obvious, whatever may in the past have been thought of the idea.

To take a horse from its stable to a meet or a racecourse usually involves a journey of some considerable distance. Rarely is the distance so short that the horse can be walked or ridden—at least, without the risk of tiring it and even, in certain circumstances shortly to he named, of injury.

If the railway be used there is still the necessity of transporting the animal from the stable to the train, or from the train to its destination. Moreover, in the majority of instances, the journey is a double one, involving a repetition of these operations, carried out in the reverse order. For horse transport of this description, therefore, the fundamental advantage of the motor, namely, that it collects and delivers from door to door, stands it in good stead.

Road-rail Transport Not Acceptable.

The combination of motor vehicle and railway train, using the former to convey the horses to and from the train, is not an alternative which IA generally acceptable: Thoroughbred hOrses are almost as temperamental as film actresses pretend to be. They often Object to entering bexes of any kind, Whether motor or rail.. • When -they-are called upon to do so six times in the course of a double journey they strongly resent it. ' There are, howeVer, other reasons why the motor is preferred; reasons'onlYPreciSeIy known to those whose business it is to handle bloodstock and thoroughbred animals, and who are personally responsible for the arrival of the beasts at their destination and their safe return to the stables.

There is, for example, the problem of labour in the stables. The usTial ifractice in a training stable. is to allot on stable boy to every two horses. When all areat honae, that is, the 'horses as well as the boys, half the number of horses are exercised at S a,m, and the

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others at 11 a.m. When the horses go away a boy accompanies each animal. If, therefore, on any particular clay, half, or nearly half, the number of horses in a stable be sent away, practically all the staff must be away, too. Even if only a few horses be away, say, four out of 16, there is disorganization in the stable.

That circumstance emphasizes the importance of arranging for horses and grooms to return home so soon as possible, and, of course, is only one of several reasons to the same end, although, perhaps, an important one. When horses travel by rail to a racecourse, it is seldom possible to make the return journey on the same day as the race, unless the distance from the stable to the course be extremely short. The train must wait until the races are over and all the horses Junst be ready to leave before It can start away.

Often that means the deT partare is so late that those in charge of the horses decide to stay the night in a town near the racecourse. Two full days may thus elapse, be cause there is alSo the fact that,When travelling by train, the horses may have to leave the stable quite" early in the morning in order to reach the course in time.

1411 None of these delays occurs when motor horseboxes are utilized. The departure can be postponed until a much later hour, leaving just sufficient time for an easy run to the course, arriving shortly before the race is . to com7 mence. The return can be made immediately after the race has been run, so that the horses are stabled and the grooms are at home in the evening of the same day. The ordinary routine may be resumed next morning.

Mention has been made of the risks attendant on walking horses between the railway station and the course or meet. The distance thus involved may be anything up to seven miles, including, as, for example, In the case of Manchester, the negotiation of eity traffic, the congestion of which may be increased, by 'people travelling to the races. • ' ' • ' After such a journey a _horse must be rested before it runs in a race, whilst afterwards, when returning, sometimes in the dark, there is the ever-present danger of an accident. The possibility of a horse being involved in a collision in the dark is by no means remote. An accident of that kind usually means that the horse has to be destroyed. There is, too, this further advantage of road over rail : that the horses, grooms, luggage, and even fodder for the horses, all travel together In comfort.

Boxes Built by Breeding and Racing Experts.

'So firmly convinced are experts in the business of horse breeding and racing of the 'value of road transport that some of them have gone to the trouble of designing horseboxes to meet the need. An outcome of that has been a definite divergence of opinion in one particular feature of design. The two aspects of the matter • thus involved are well outlined in the views of two well-known experts in the handling of horses : they are also designers and users of motor horseboxes.

In the following pages we set out the arguments of Mr. A. P. Hammond, the Newmarket manager of Daimler Hire, Ltd., and Sir Hugh Nugent, of the Lambourn Race Horse Transport Service, Ltd.

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Locations: Manchester

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