The Washington herald., 1911-09-03
By l.. ID. SALE.

/
For be It known that it is serious
matter to ship horses hundreds of miles
in many cases, aside from the risks in
volved in so doing, and then remain idle
for days while the animals In charge eat
oats at so cents per bushel and hay at
the rate Of $50 per ton, and other ex-
penses running on at schedule speed.
An important factor Of cost in addition
Is the freight charges. for IT is notorious
among hursemen that railroad companies
are to horsemen what the robber barons
were Of old 10 the wayfarers and their
rebates or order T., stand and deliver
is quite as much respected.
A bad-weather week works disaster in
a double sense It is not the horsemen
alone who suffer. II 1t is a fair and race
meeting combined or a simple race meet
ing, the management also suffers from
lack of patronage. If the management Is
already in a hole it must wait twelve long
months before It will be able to recoup
its losses. II 1t is not already in a finan-
ciaI hole, its surplusage is mulcted just
so much. Then there is the disappointed
ruralists to be considered. In many COM
munities where annual fairs are held the
country people look forward to the coun-
ty fair with ardent anticipations from
one season to another. The disappoint-
ment is the more keen because holidays
on the farm are few, and every we'll
regulated farmer plans to lay of during
the fair reason a few days. and. with his
wife and children, see what his neigh
bors IN the county have got on him IN
the way Of stock, cereals, &c. Then
there are the 'hoss trots," that enter
tain old and young, and when all is over
! the whole affair furnishes a fund OF con-
versation and gossip to all concerned
until well into the winter months.
It is to be regretted that bad weather
should have interfered with the annual
Montgomery County fair, held for the
past fifty-eight years at the county seat,
Rockville. The fair Is held so close to
| the city Of Washington that large seq
ment Of the citizens OF the District OF
Columbia have unquestionably felt as
disappointed over the matter as the citi-
| zens o6 Montgomery, as thousands or
! Washingtonians annually patroniZe It
| The financial loss to the fair association
| will be keenly felt because or the TACT
| that the association, by reason of quite
recent improvements, is more or less In
debt for the same. A successful week
the association once more on easy street
September IS Detroit will be again in
line for the Grand Circuit performers.
The sixty-second annual Michigan State
! fair will be staged and will run five days,
with purses that make horsemen's eyes
always beam with delight. When II
comes to agricultural exhibits and "hoss
| trots"-weI Michigan is never behind
her neighbors in the matter of attend
ance or clean sport. Men with plenty OF
financial backing are behind the Michi-
| gan State fair, and every horseman who
| presents his ticket at the treasurer
Office will get the gold on 1t. After De-
! troit. there does not seem to be anything
doing for Grand Circuit performers, ex-
cept the two weeks meeting at Lexing-
ton. This year the Grand Circuit ends
at Detroit.
As the season wanes apace, greater
deeds may be done than have gone before.
Ere the curtain finally falls and the lights
extinguished The Harvester must show
| that he is much better than two-minute
rrotter, and when Lexington is reached
! IL not before, make a dash at Uhlan's S
| record in the open, to wagon as we'll as
| to harness He is considered by many
good Judges the greatest stallion ever
| foaled. We shall know more about 1t
| soon II all goes well. None but wealthy
man like Mr.. Uhlein could afford to own
such a valuable animal His earnings
| last season were $500, just about enough
! to nav his expenses of training, trans
portation, and keep. There is nothing in
sight that can give him a race except
| Jhian, and the only way the great horse
can financially remnuerate his owner is
by giving exhibitions against time.
"S"s
Had Mr.. Geers only had The Harvester
to his credit, he would still be rated at
being one of the most skillful drivers
and trainers that ever lived. With per
haps the exception OF Bud Doble, who
won S250,OOO with Goldsmith Maid, Geers
stands at the head of the list of money
winning drivers. In the 2:1O speed divis-
ion he has never had his equal, and there
| is but one man in sight, Thomas MUIR
ply, who promises to equal or surpass
him as a money-winning driver. Murphy
is thirty-six. while Geers is over sixty.
Geers has long been considered a wizard
| in the sulky. He never speaks loudly
to his horse while in a race, is spaFing
of the whip, sits still in the suIky, and
seems to electrically communicate his
wishes through the reins. He knows
horses almost as well as IL he had fur
nished the material of which they are
made and put It together. It would seem,
In reviewing his exploits with the reins
that he had made a profound study OF
equine temperament.
: It is doubtful II there Is a successful
driver anywhere who has not done the
same thing. There is as much difference
in horses as in human beings, and the
more highly bred they are the keener
must be the intellect that controls them.
High breeding in a horse is what we call
higher cultivation in mankind; and We
find temperamental freaks (abnormali-
ties), in horses as we find them here and
there in highly cultivated individuals.
When Geers emerged from the mountain
passes Of Tennessee some thirty years
ago or more, he was provincial. The
Halls were his earliest pupils, and he
made good use of them, for as a
purely pacing family they stand IN a
class By thenseives. He grew fast when
he came in contact with the master mind
Of the late Cicero J. Hamlin.
| h
| II there is such a novelty In the world
as a natural born horsenaan, Mr.. Hanllir.
came very nearly hlling the bill. He had
given much thought to breeding problems.
and he held decided views about them.
He had been q breeder long before he
! made Geers' acquaintance. His fetch
was beauty combined with speed, and no
breeder in all the world came nearer this
| ronraDffan than 6fd the man Of Aurora