The San Francisco call., 1896-11-29
1R.E maxi thing is the horse show.

govern every thing connectea Win IL
are infiexible and as numerous as those
whichahave made the Medes and ferslans
handy to quote as examples there Will be
Q nothing severe about It.
True, there are rules on Judging ana
.9instructions TO judges, general rules and
o regulations to be observed by exhibitors
and rules relating to the jumping classes,
etc. 0all neatly printed in red type In a
prospectus, but the thousands VINO VIII
aattend the show will never know anything
about thema
o % The judges wilthave the right to ride or
drive any of the contesting horses when
Q it may be considered necessary to test
their respective merits. They will be con-
,spicuous figures while the various exhibi-
> tons are in progress. They will have
autocratic power to dash the hopes OF
riders of jumping horses, who will be the
most fiery mpetitors OF all.
1T has become q custom to hold the San
Francisco horse show later than the New
York show. This enables the more enthu-
sastic of the devotees to visit New York
Ysqd cast critical glance at what is there
loftered for the admiration and emulation
TOt' the. experts. Every year since San
francisco has enjoyed a horse show of its
own, ladies and gentle men, to whom the
sharp, Staccato crack of a whip in crisp
air, on good road, is the best OF music,
have journeyed TO New York. Then they
have returned and devoted their best ener-
ogies tn the exaltation of the California
horse and its appointments.
This year has been no exception to the
rule. What the New Workers say about
their show may be easily summed up, and
. 1t is interesting and somewhat amusing
Each horse show" says an eminent
] writer OF Gotham, lis in some particular
like others, but. also, 1t is vastly different
from all the rest. Thisis not only so with
regard to the horses. but more so, perhaps,
with regard to the spectators"
The truth is that the spectators have
become more attractive than any other
: part OF the show. 1t has been noticed
that.'the high DANES of fashion, the ball
.Eeom bellies and the shy buds in their
: first season chang ge as much as the horses
do to quote from the same New York
authority. The horses that have been
exhibited during the oseason just closed
have been more numerous than heretofore,
and decidedly superior in quality.
Walter Hobart saw the New York horse
show aDd observed keenly it's various
peculiarities. while San Franciscans are
2 completing their fnalo preparations to
make the coming show in this City
dazzling success Mr. Hobart's remarks
come in opportunely.
There was some protest." said Mr.. Ho-
bart, ''at New York because dealers won
SO 9many prizes. Dealers entered the
= gentlemen class, and as they had perhaps
twenty horses to one sowned by theoordi-
nary hofse-owner they had aIarge advant-
age. 0Still,9 said Mr.. Hobart, with the
true spirit of the sportsman, 81 think that
any one who has the best ehorses is en-
otitled to the prizes.
\ The entries at New York were large
There were from fifteen 20 forty entries in
about all the classes. There wereef from
forty to fifty, entries in all the jumping
classes. Last year a mare called Spoons
won tirst-class ribbon. This year there
'were twenty better. animals than Spoons
in the same: class. With few exceptions
last years winners were not winners this
year.
"Ft was true that many in the crowds
Of spectators went more 10 watch each
:other than 10 look at the horses. Yes, sir.
when the hfg est Jumping was going on
the crowd on the promenade looked at the
: boxes, and not at the horses a great
F.: many seemed to be there to see what
oothers wore The people would look at
the occupants'of' one box and then move
on to another box, and seemed to regard
them as curiosities
'One interesting class at New York in
. GUIDED a hackney stallion with four of itsf
get and "a trotting stallion with four of its
get. The get were considered as carriage
horses, and the trotting stallion beat the
:.hackneys. :. 50.
''dhere was one very curious incident.
Ao mare was entered in the hackney class
for two-year-old fillies,s and it was not
hackney. Nevertheless 1T won the first
prize, and defeated all the other fillies of
its class, one of which had previously won
everything when exhibited in England
ando in the United States. Other ex-
hibitors protested, and the protest held,
and tbeoblue ribbon was taken away. But
it had beaten full blooded hackneys for
high-stepping and conformation.
. The jumping classes were very poor.
and not up to my expectations. In one
class OF lumpe no prizes were awarded.
They were not up TO the New. York stan
$ dard' OF oium pers. L think that the i'm
.proyement in the quality of horses exhib-
'ited at New York, year by year, is due to
the. wedding process that the managers
have adopted. II forty horses enter the
ring in oaDy one class the owners of all
excepting eight or SO hear the word !
Gate
"That means that the shorses are to go !
::out OF the gate. There are. perhaps, only
Jour prizes, but the owners of the eight |
horses that were permitted to remain
. have the satisfaction Of not getting the
gate One man would have heen q rriza.