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The Hackney in New Zealand The
Hackney breed was introduced to New Zealand in the early 1800’s
when it was still known as either the Norfolk Trotter or the
Yorkshire Roadster but the first registered Hackney that we know
of the stallion CARAT
EHSB 1729 , bred by the famous Cooke brothers of
Thixendale in Yorkshire and imported by T
Teachmaker of South Canterbury. From
then on there was a trickle
of stallions imported
from both England and Australia.
Certainly there were a number of unregistered animals
imported also, but sadly we
have little proof of their breeding other than tantalizing
glimpses; horses with names like Saturn ; Agamemnon
( who may have been a Yorkshire Coach horse rather than a Hackney)
Prince Charming, Merrylegs and Quicksilver, all names
common to the early lines . A feature of the importations was that
relatively few mares were imported, principally because the
Hackney was looked upon as an ideal crossbred sire, leaving
outstanding progeny from all breeds of mares ranging from draught
horses to riding ponies. The
imports always represented the popular bloodlines of the time,
names like Denmark, Danegelt, Matthias, Rosador , Lord Derby
and others. All were large heavy built animals of the type
favoured by cavalry remount breeders and often referred to by some
of the experts as ‘ bus ‘orses’ It
was said that in the mid 19 century because of the tendancy for
English Hackneys to trot very wide behind, purchasing agents were
ordered to buy only
stock that was very close behind. The
second world war saw the decline in the Hackney’s popularity
world wide and things were no different here with only a handful
of breeders and exhibitors remaining and the stock becoming
increasingly inbred as a result. For
a time grey Hackneys were a feature and some of the last to be
bred anywhere in the world were here in New Zealand. By
the time the New Zealand Hackney Society was established in 1976
only very small
numbers of the breed survived and many of them were very old and
their breedings were often conjecture
rather than fact .The breed had been reduced in height also due to both inbreeding and continual crossing to pony
sized Hackneys, so that any animal over 14 h.h. was very prized.
None the less animals
were diligently located from their obscure locations and their
pedigrees enthusiastically researched
and registered until finally the first volume of the New Zealand
Hackney Stud Book was published in 1980. It represented the start
of the breed’s comeback in New Zealand. In
1970 long time Hackney breeders and enthusiasts Jim and Ray Lilley
leased the English horse Hurstwood Sultan for two years
from his Australian importer and used him across some of their
mares by their old English horse Marfleet Baronet who had
arrived in New Zealnd in 1949. Hurstwood Sultan
represented the first of the modern English bloodlines for
New Zealand and his stock were recognizably different. His
bloodlines are still important today. In Australia his broodmares
have proven to be superb breeders and much sought after. In
1973 Makari Director was imported, a pony representing the
Marfleet and Ashley imports of the 1940’s. Director was
used extensively but had
very few purebred mares and has had little effect on the breed
because of this despite the fact that his sire was a full brother
to the much lauded Mr Legacy imported into New Zealand in
the late 1940’s In
1975 after a pony
stallion Dunolly Firelight arrived, imported by HHS
Kyles’ daughter Alison Fraser. Firelight was out of a
daughter of Mr Legacy Alison had previously sold to
Australia. and by the English pony Harley Boy Blue, who had
a profound effect on the Australian ponies in the 50’s and
60’s.Firelight was immensely popular as a sire but few of
his stock had the opportunity to breed on and today he has only
one son at stud. In
the early 1970’s Australians
really caught the Hackney bug and there was a flurry of
importations by several large breeders of the very best of English
stock, mostly from the world renown Hurstwood Stud who had done so
much to save he breed in England. New
Zealand breeders were able to capitalize on this bounty and a
number of horses and ponies, both stallions and mares, were
imported in the following years. There
was also one imported directly from England. The stock from these
imports dominated the ring for many years after. Despite their
successes most of these recent imported bloodlines have been
allowed to disappear and today the older pre war bloodlines are
again dominant. Sadly the number of foals bred each year is down to only a handful and once again the breed is in danger of extinction unless a new generation can be persuaded to invest in this exciting breed |