The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-05

Since King Edwardj came to the throne, one of his greatest pleasures has been to renovate the various royal palaces neglected during Queen Vic- toria's reign. Nor has he devoted his attention exclusively to the palaces themselves; the outbuildings and sta bles.- have also received their share of improvements Nowhere have greater changes taken place than Is the royal stables adjoining Buckingham palace, writes the London correspondent or The New York Sun.
 This autumn the mewe have been en- 1arged and improved. so that out stud of over 200 horses. Of course 1t IS only on very rare occasions. such as coronation. that so many horses would have to be kept there. Just now, ow- ing to the increasing tme Of motor cars by the royal family. there only ff- ty 9iorses.
 The establishment includes repairing shops, forges, forage and other store houses, a brand new motor garage and an elaborate onice of the master of the horses department. The carriage hous- es continue some fifty carriages as 1t Is necessary on state and semi-state oc- casions to employ horse drawn ve- hicles of various types. and all these are kept at Buckingham palace.
 On the occasion of a court, levee. a state ball or the formal opening of Parliament the coaches. landaus and broughams are sent from the palace to bring high court officials who are to at tend upon the King and Queen. and the royal scarlet and gold liveries are a familiar sight in London. An Am erican, the Countess Granard. made her first public appearance in England last winter in one of the Kings carriages, when she and Lord Granard, who IS the present master of the horse drove to to the opening of Parliament.
 Go In Royal IsQuipages.
 Ambassadors and Ministers desiring to present themselves to the King and submit their credentials on first ar irving in the country also go to the palace, not in their own carriages, but in those sent by the King.
 The chief item of interest in the royal stables is the old state coach. heavily gilt and ornamented. in which the King and Queen travel from the palace to the Houses of Parliament. This carriage is very old and is an excel lent specimen of its class. The panels were painted by an Italian artist, Cipri- ami. and the cost of the coach was S40.- 900 originally. It has a special de- partment to itself when not in use.
 The sleek, we'll -groomed ponies which London expects to see in all state pro- sessions used to be kept at Windsor, where they could roam about at will in the shady paddocks of the home farm. Now the King has had his stables so arranged that there is plenty of room for them in London, so they have beep moved permanently to the city,.
 They are beautiful little creatures Of A delicate cream color with long flow ing names and tails. They are of the pure Flemish breed that is rapidly be- coming extinct, and were originally brought into England by George I. as emblematic of the sign of his hous0. the White Horse of Hanover. Ever since that time they have been em- pIoyed to draw the state carriages of the British sovereigns.
 Unfortunately they have been inbred at windsor to so great an extent since they were first imported that they have greatly deteriorated in both, size and strength. Some years ago 1t was de. cided to try to improve them by the Importation of new stock. and annually representatives of the royal stables have been sent to Holland and Bel vium to seek young horses and mares of the necessary purity of blood to add to the stud farm at Windsor.
 The Bright Bays.
 Naxt fin importance to the cream pom ies in the royal news come the bright hay horses that are employed on semi state occasions and to draw the car riages of the royal family when priv ate visits are made to friends or rela- lives Most of the other horses have also been bred by the King at Wind sor and Hampton Court. All his home bred horses are renowned throughout Europe, and upon the rare occasions when any of them are offered In open market the competition to secure them is very keen
 The officers of the department of the Master of the Horse are carefully ehos- en men. One of theif most important tasks is rehearsing aid training the horses for any state \ procession for several days before ft takes place. The rehearsals are carried out in ex- actly the same manner as, the process sion itself The whole of the route Is gone over and the variousl turns and places of waiting for the Horses and carriages are examined and kested so that all possibility of hitch As reduc- ed to a minimum.
 It is highly important tbAt the horses should be trained to ignxpre the cheering of the crowds in the -S Atreets. so very early tn the morning 1batal-