Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-14
THE NATIONAL HORSE SHOW
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

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sufficient to repay the out-of-town con-
testant for shipping his horse to New
York and paying stall rental during the
display. but q blue ribbon adds inestima-
bly, to the intrinsic value OF the winner
and to the offspring. so that the show fs
really strong stimulus for a better
grade Of horses throughout America.
A glance at one Of the New York pa
pers of twenty-five years ago shows how
great has been
Increase of Interest the increase in
in the Horse Show. hnr.e s Snow y" s,r rne
its Inauguration In 1885 the exhibition
lasted five days and the fact that there
were 400 horses to be put through their
PAGES in the arena was occasion for much
establishment. The average daily attend
ance was $4,000. and. the total expenses
for the show were $4,000, which is the
amount of this years prizes. The receipts
were $4,000. The early shows were popu-
lar with statesmen as we'll as horsemen
and social leaders. This is shown by
paragraph from the New York Sun, which
said: There was one man at the show
who was gazed upon with reverence and
admiration. That man was big and pow
erful one, with an eye that looked as il 1t
could pierce and a very pointed gray
beard that curled and struggled toward
the curl that wound down toward it from
the forehead. That was Roscoe Conkling
examining the horses and passing out
horse wisdom in a way that made pro-
| foSCtOnQlS 1nNl< aQfnniched
The awe with which the horse show is
regarded from a standpoint of fashion is
rather amusingly demonstrated by an Incl
dent which occurred last year when two
peared bearing large white cats in their
arms. Immediately there was quite
furry IN social circles and the rumor was
carried from mouth to mouth that the
rage Of the season would be the bringing
Of cats to the horse show. Much to the
relief Of those persons who did not care
for cats. 1t was discovered upon investiga-
ton that the two girls bearing felines did
not belong to the fashionable 400, but
were chorus girls who were anxious to
gain a little publicity.
4 i
The horse show holds a more important
position in the eyes Of fashion than the
opera, for it per-
Display Of Gowns mits the display
Important Feature. srnoon and even s,
ing gowns, whereas the opera is confined
to the evening and an occasional matinee.
Those who benefit most by the annual
horse show are the milliners and modistes,
for, of course, the occupant of g. box at
this big event never wears the same gown
twice, and there Is great rivalry among
the social leaders to outshine one another
in the splendor of their horse show re-
gala. The descriptions of the gowns worn
by the distinguished visitors are published
with even greater assiduity by the news
papers than the names Of the blue ribbon
winners in each class.
The advent of the automobile, and
earlier Of the bicycle, threatened at one
time to overthrow the popularity OF the
horse, but according to census statistics
the value Of horses In America has
steadily increased. From 1897 to 1900 they
increased $13 a head, and in the aggre-
gate 1851 $1,000 In 1910 there were
u, 2O3 901 horses and colts In the United
blow to the horse, however. was the
adoption Of steam and electric power
for urban traction. The loss in horse
flesh values from this one cause has been
estimated at $5OOOOO,O0O in the United
States.
X
The horse has been the most helpful to-
mankind of all domesticated animals. In
peace and In
Horse Has Been war he has
Mans Best Friend. friend even 40
far back as the stone age. when he was
first captured from the plains of eastern
nd he cSa nP AoSo Co
probable that the horse Of today is a
wild ancestor. The only truly wild horse
known at the present time is Pezeval-
sky's-a small, compact animal existing
In herds on the elevated plains Of west
ern Tibet. There were~no wild horses|
in America or Australia from the be-
ginning Of historic times until the advent
Of the Spanish at the close of the If
teenth century. But today the United
States ranks second only to Russia In
the production of horses, Argentina
ranking third and Austria Hungary
fourth. The most valuable horses come
from America. There are fewer Wild
horses here than in Russia, while Argen-
tina leads the world in the number Of its
untamed herds.
The horse that is the proud product of
American breeding is the trotter, which
has been developed in the course Of fifty
years. 1t is the typical American horse
to be found In every hamlet in the coun-
try, and in recent years has been export
ed in large numbers to Europe where 1t
seems destined to supplant the native
animals for road driving. In the fifty
years Of its development 1t has cut the
speed record for a mile from 237 down
to less than two minutes fiat. and in
addition to speed it has the added virtues
Of adaptability and versatility.
Tomorrow-NUTS AS FOOD.