The Tucumcari news. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1906-02-03
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Better Judging Needed.

"oeShihS JUICES VI HOTscS AZ thcii
work at the state fairs 1t becomes ap-
parent that in very many cases insult
hcient attention Is paid to s~oundness
as a requisite Of winners in the
breeding rings. 1t would seem thai
some OF the judges see prominent un.
~soundnesses, but dislike to throw u
animals on that account, as rules are
not strict in this connection, and to re-
ject the unsound horse would be to get
into trouble with the exhibitor and
eventually with the management. 9th.
er judges do not see unsoundnesses,
and, indeed, either do not look fcr
them or are not educated as TO loca.
ton and appearance of some of the
most common defects. Not long since
we watched a Judge going over several
classes OF draft horses, and his lack
of attention to u~nsoundness was not
only woeful, but positively unfair to
the exhibitors. This is plain Ian.
guage, but 1t is deserved, when we
state that a stallion was placed fourth
although he had huge ringbones on
one hind pastern and an enlarged
fetlock on the same limb, which was
not handled perfectly. The judge
placed this horse over several animals
that were at least sound and to all
appearances quite as good in other
ways as the one chosen for honor,
writes A. S. Alexander in Farmers
Review.
An unsound horse should be dis,
classed, no matter how perfect he may
happen to be in show points. He Is
intended for breeding purposes, and
II affected with a disease such as
ringDone, which is VIGOROUSLY heredi.
tary, or any other disease of similar
seriousness, he should be sent To the
stable before the judging commences.
In order to do this, veterinary inspec.
ton Is required, and we are fast coin-
ing to the time when that must be
instituted at every great horse show.
We have temporiZed with this matter
too long as 1t is, and although alleged
veterinary inspection has been pro.
vided for at some of the horse shows
it has not been carried out to the let.
ter, and, indeed, has seldom been re.
sorted to, except at the request of a
judge who has found something that
he did not feel like dealing with per.
sonally.
Expert veterinary inspection Is prac.
ticed at every great show of horses
In Great Britain and doubtless in Eu.
rope also, the result being that horses
exposed in the judging ring are known
to be sound, and the judge has not to
decide such matters. At the last
show of Shire horses in London, Eng.
land, many horses were rejected from
each class, but the work was done in
private and prior to the adjudication
Of prizes. One of the great live stock
papers of that country in reporting
the show stated, as regards each class,
just how many horses went before the
veterinary examiners and how many
OF them came back to enter the com
petition after being pronounced sound.
In some instances, If our memory
serves us Alright, as many as five
horses were rejected from a single
class.
This Is good work, and IL done in
each country from whence come pure,
bred stations to America 1t conduces
to the breeding Of sound horses locally
but throws out numbers of unsound
horses that cannot be used in theii
own country, because pronounced un,
sound, but which too often sell at q
figure that just suits the importer
who forthwith imposes them upon our
breeders at fancy prices and possibly
on the prestige of foreign show win.
nings earned before they turned un,
sound. These are in many cases the
very horses our lenient judges fai,
to reject at our state fairs and other
shows.
The unsOund horses we have seen
lately in the judging ring were i'm,
ported horses. They were not blem.
i