The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-29 00:00:00

THE HORSE SHOTV.

Monday the Agricultural flail was opened for
the purposes of this exhibition at 9 o'clock in the
morning, and shortly after that hour the visitors
began to arrive in quick succession. It was origi-
nally arranged that the competition for harness
horses shout.! take place at 10, but the trials were
postponed, much to the disappointment of many
who made their way to Islington to witness this
exhibition of strength and form. The horses of this
class, however, were brought into the arena at 3
o'clock, and their practice was viewed in all
cases with pleasurable anxiety, and in many instances
with well-deserve:l admiration. After the animals
had been driven round the arena several times the
ju ages—Sir George W. Wombwell, Colonel N.
Kingscote, C 8., and Mr. Ilarvie Farquhar—
awarded the first priz.3 to Mr. John R. Kirby for
a beautiful chestnut mare, Violet, 15 hands 1 inch
high. Captain Shiers, M.P., Eaton-square, took the
second prize for an exquisitely formed bay mare,
with the appropriate and suggestive name of
Beauty ; and the third honour fell to Mr. Thomas
Bradfield, Bishop's Stortford, for a chestnut horse,
which displayed great style and form in his per-
formance in the arena. Great interest was evinced
in the trials of the little animals grouped under
Class 11—ponies not exceeding 14 handA, in single
harness,—and the high action and clear regular
stepping of many of them were fully commensurate
with the anticipations of the spectators. The first
prize fell to the lot of Mr. James Wilson, Cedar-
cottage, Enfield, who showed an almost perfect
animal, which from its name and shape might
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well be called " Pretty Little Polly." A dun mare,
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degree from her more fortunate rivals. The arrival
in the ring of the tiny competitors in Class 12—of
ponies not exceeding 13 hands—was received with
mingled laughter and applause, the laughter arising
separated
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on account of the littleness of the animals and the
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applause from the spirit and energy which they dis-
played. After a long trial, is which the judges I
found considerable difficulty in distinguishing be-
tween the merits of the most prominent competitors
the blue riband was ultimately presented to Mr. M.
F. Filcher, the owner of Pink, a beautiful cream-
coloured pony, 12 hands high, whose stepping cer-
tainly entitled it to the high position it obtained.
Uncle Tom, the property of Mr. J. W. Richardson,
Willoughton, Lincolnshire, as we have intimated, ran
Pink very closely for the first prize in this class, and
Mr. Lewis Myers's chestnut roan stallion Ruby was
a formidable rival to both the little quadrupeds we
have mentioned. There remains now, we under-
stand, nothing to be adjudicated upon except the
animals of those classes for which extra prizes have
been offered by the management. These will be
,and the number of entries
competed for on
already made induces us to believe that the con-
tests for these awards will be unusually close and
severe. _ _

Besides the horses there are several things now
exhibited at the Agricultural Hall worthy of atten-
tion in a sanitary and economical point of view.
The Dairy Reform Company give an opportunity
to all the visitors to the show to test the pro-
perties of the substitute they offer for what
they cdl in the pamphlet they distribuite " the
London sky blue." It is shown that pure milk is
sold in very few dairies in or about the metropolis,
and this newly-formed company profess to remedy
this really serious evil. If the milk they supply
to their customers be of a kind with that which
they supply samples to the visitors to the Agricul-
tural-hall, we can cordially recommend it to
the general public. As usual, the show of
vehicles is large, and many of those shown are
novel and curious. Mr. Thomas B. Ayisford,
of Walham-green, Fulham, exhibits what he calls
" the village phaeton," which is a truly ingenious
travelling machine. It combines the shape and uti-
lity of a dog-cart with the elegance of a park phae-
ton, and is capable of carrying six persons, and a
considerable quantity of luggag2. It can be drawn
by one horse. and, as may be conjectured from this
description, is light as well as convenient, There is